The focus of my dissertation project is modernization of Kotokuraba Market, located in the Central Region’s capital city of Cape Coast. The new Kotokuraba Market—inaugurated in November 2016—includes many modern additions: enclosed glass-windowed shops, public restrooms, a drainage system, a multi-level parking garage, an office block, a public fountain, and an attractive glass atrium. Even at first glance these modern amenities, despite their practical value, stand in direct contrast to the narrow streets, open sewers, and weathered pastel facades of the colonial-style buildings that otherwise dominate the urban fabric and spatial culture of Cape Coast.

Using an array of archival research, policy and document analysis, and ethnographic observation in the newly redeveloped market, I explore how various stakeholders were engaged in the market development process, how market stakeholders experienced the recent transformation, and how market sellers and urban residents responded to and adapted to the reconfiguration of the space.

Building upon my dissertation research on the redeveloped Kotokuraba Market, I focus on the spatial adaptations and vernacular placemaking practices that have emerged in the aftermath of the market’s reconfiguration. With this project, I introduce the novel concept of the "becoming phase" - a critical yet overlooked period after formal redevelopment when everyday users reshape urban space to meet their needs. The modernization of the historic Kotokuraba market, while celebrated by state officials as a successful development intervention, revealed fundamental tensions between top-down urban planning and local spatial practices and needs.

Market vendors responded to the shopping mall-style redesign's limitations by transforming spaces in ways that better reflected their commercial and social needs: converting parking structures into produce receiving areas, constructing new lockable stalls, and creating informal vending spaces in high-traffic areas.

This research project explores the social and spatial dynamics of Cape Coast through the lens of motorized tricycles known as ‘Pragyas’. Over the past decade, these vehicles have become integral to the city's transportation network while simultaneously fostering distinct youth subcultures. This research traces the historical emergence of ‘Pragyas’ in the city’s landscape and examines how young male drivers have claimed specific spaces throughout the city. Through ethnographic fieldwork, media and policy analysis, and spatial mapping, my project considers how ‘Pragyas’ function not merely as transportation infrastructure but as sites of social identity formation, economic opportunity, and urban placemaking. The study contributes to broader conversations about informal mobility systems, youth employment in African cities, and the ways in which transportation technologies reshape urban social geography.