Urban transport governance in Accra: Integrative approaches and hybrid modalities of reform

Urban transport reforms, while recognized as central to economic transformation and environmental sustainability, have been difficult to realize across Global South cities. Engaging this challenge, the article explores the socio-institutional dynamics of urban transport reform through the lens of integrative approaches to governance in Accra. It argues that reform processes must be understood not merely as technical or efficiency-driven interventions but as moments of institutional disruption and political contestation that reveal the embedded interests, capacities, and power asymmetries among urban stakeholders. Focusing on hybrid governance modalities and their intersection with existing governing coalitions, the article highlights how such configurations reshape the role of the state and reconfigure relationships with non-state actors. Employing a political settlements framework, the analysis demonstrates how entrenched paratransit actors navigate and adapt to new institutional arrangements to maintain their influence, often to the detriment of transport reforms such as bus rapid transit. The case underscores the importance of historically informed and context-sensitive approaches to research and suggests the potential for comparative typology of integrative reforms to enhance understanding of institutional outcomes and inform future interventions. This article contributes to the growing literature on the governance of urban transport, offering a nuanced perspective of integrative approaches by revealing how integrative approaches, layered institutional innovations, and extant governing coalitions shape the uneven trajectories of urban transport reform.