Nathan Tetteh
Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Architecture, Urban planning, Urban design
Biography
Nathan Tetteh is a PhD candidate at the Melbourne School of Design, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne. He is a recipient of the prestigious “Melbourne Research Scholarship”, awarded by the University of Melbourne to high-achieving students undertaking a research study. His research focuses on the development of a Wellness Optimisation Planning Framework for the delivery of Sustainable Affordable Housing using empirical evidence from formal and informal settlements in Ghana. Before commencing his doctoral studies, Nathan worked as an Energy System Consultant at MicroEnergy International GmbH in Germany and was also a Visiting Researcher at the Workgroup for Economic and Infrastructure Policy (WIP) at the Technische Universität Berlin (2021-2022).
From 2019 to 2021, Nathan pursued an MSc in Energy Science (Renewable Energy Policy option) at the Pan African University’s Institute of Water and Energy Sciences in Algeria, with a full scholarship from the African Union, emerging as the Top Graduate of his cohort. Before that, he obtained an MPhil in Urban Planning (2017-2019) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. In 2016, Nathan graduated as the overall best student from the University for Development Studies, Ghana, with a BSc in Planning (First Class), and was also the first student in the history of the Faculty of Planning and Land Management to obtain First Class Honours in the BSc Planning programme. He was among the first four professionally trained teachers in Ghana to receive the Excellence Award for best-trained teachers after obtaining a Diploma in Basic Education (First Class Honours) from the University of Cape Coast in 2010, and taught for 2 years as a professional teacher in Ghana.
Nathan’s research interest lies primarily in the Sustainability of Cities, with a particular emphasis on Renewable Energy, Housing and Environmental Planning. He has a couple of peer-reviewed publications in reputable journals. Currently, he serves as a sessional tutor at the Melbourne School of Design and is an active member of the Zero Energy Mass Custom Home (ZEMCH) research group.
Thesis
Mitigating Climate Change via Incremental Housing in Ghana: Perceptions vs Reality
Incremental Housing remains the most prevalent housing development model across many cities, especially in the global south. Scholars often justify the dominance of this model in African cities through its high degree of adaptability within a framework of an owner-driven decision-making process. This step-by-step approach to housing development allows urban residents to tailor both the housing construction process and post-construction occupancy lifestyle practices to their own needs and wants, often based on their unique socio-economic attributes and resources. Some scholars argue that this approach can in many cases translate to housing of higher standards, with healthier environments relative to standardised housing on the regular market.
Despite scholars agreeing on the dominance of this model and its benefits in mitigating the challenges of the housing sector in cities today, its potential role in advancing climate action has received very little attention in the existing urban planning literature. In response to this knowledge gap, this research seeks to investigate how local actors in Ghana integrate energy efficiency in incremental housing development, and how this can contribute towards the realisation of climate mitigation goals, both in Ghana and in other countries across the global south with similar developmental attributes.
Situated in a uniquely urbanising context characterised by a dominance of informal housing development practices, the research delves into the local knowledge and perceptions of relevant stakeholders, including masons, households, and planning institutions on energy efficiency in Incremental Housing. Using case studies from three selected administrative regions in Ghana’s capital city, the study further examines the current local building practices and post-habitation actions aimed at reducing energy use in buildings, and how these practices are embedded within the policy and institutional landscape for urban housing development in Ghana.
The research culminates in the development of a decision-making framework that can guide actors in Ghana and other countries of developing economies with similar attributes towards accelerating the uptake of energy-efficient strategies in incremental housing development. Ultimately, the research contributes to the ongoing discourse on how local action can be guided to make African cities more climate friendly and provides practical strategies for urban planning towards the realisation of desired goals of sustainable cities and societies, especially in developing economies with unique urbanisation attributes.