Academic literature on the topic 'Urban development in Nigeria'

The issue of indiscriminate urban expansion is not uncommon in Africa. It has created haphazard, unplanned, and unapproved development that negatively affected urban planning for cities in the Niger Delta Region in Nigeria. Using Stone's urban regime theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore from the perspective of developers, associations, and government agencies (referred to as stakeholders), the roots causes of indiscriminate urban development and their activities in the process in the Niger Delta Region. Data were collected through semi structured telephone interviews with 10 participants who had at least 5 years experience working in public and private organizations in the urban setting. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's procedure for thematic analysis. Findings included six themes of limited knowledge, passive role, recognition of experiencing the problem, contributing to the problem, weakness of regulatory framework, and lack of synergy in the process. The principal theme was limited knowledge of the roles and obligations of participants which impede participation in the planning process. The recommendations, if implemented, may result in positive changes and bring many benefits to city residents such as better housing and traffic systems, adequate sanitation and improved access to public services. To do so, government agencies in the urban sector should engage the stakeholders to create synergy. Following these recommendations may help resolve the issue of indiscriminate urban expansion, promote effective planning and management, and ensure good governance and sustainable development in the urban setting.

This thesis presents an explorative study of sustainable urban development practice in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja. The attainment of sustainable development has been a focal point for urban planning researchers and policy makers globally. Despite the Brundtland Commission's report that defined and integrated the pillars of sustainability, the implementation of sustainable urban planning remains a challenge with conflicting perspectives between sustainable development stakeholders through policy programme and practice in developed and developing countries. This research explores the sustainability of Abuja's urban development framework from the triple bottom-line perspective, evaluating current urban planning and experience from both policy and occupant perspectives. Employing qualitative strategies, an ethnographic methodology was used for primary data collection with phenomenology as a theoretical lens for content analysis. Empirical work involved 73 semi-structured interviews that were conducted alongside ethnographic observations; with the resulting data analysis performed using NVivo 11 software. Additionally, archival documents were reviewed, and contributed to the reported findings. The findings highlight social issues as the main area of sustainability challenge with inequalities, urban exclusions, policy inconsistencies, illegal property developments and neighbourhood contrasts as some key outcomes. These factors were linked to public corruption, data limitations and nepotistic practices that created these problems and they highlighted reoccurring defects within the existing policy framework. This thesis contributes to existing knowledge and practice by proffering a set of guidelines for improving social development and practice within the Abuja area. It also contributes to knowledge development in terms of identifying social sustainability challenges and engendering factors in developing nations.

Effective urban and regional planning has the potential to contribute to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, particularly in countries where land is readily available for development. Jos Metropolis has been chosen as a focus of study as it exemplifies the problem of urban sprawl in Nigerian cities. This research seeks to evaluate the need for spatial planning and to develop a framework and guidance for addressing physical planning problems with particular reference to Jos Metropolis, Nigeria. The epistemological position of the study leans towards interpretivism while the ontological and axiological standpoints are towards constructivist and value laden respectively. The research methodological strategy employed is mixed methods involving multiple case studies of the planning authorities from Jos metropolis, Nigeria, that have used the urban master plan as a development control measure. Questionnaires, interviews (face-to-face interview) and documents reviews were the data collection methods. This research revealed that; urbanisation and its related problems can be controlled effectively using appropriate planning approaches in regions of both developed and developing countries. Statistically, the results showed that the components of institutional framework, specifically, tiers of government (institutions), planning legislation and the administrations were not significantly affected by the culture, physical, political, institutions, financial, knowledge, analytical and legal constraints whilst the planning authorities were significantly constrained. The urban planning system in the Jos metropolis is not effective in ensuring controlled urban development and management. Hence, based on these outcomes, a spatial planning framework and guidance is developed for effective urban development and management in Jos Metropolis Nigeria. Finally, this study recommended further research opportunities as the frameworks and guidance document developed are used in urban and regional planning and the activities of development plan /control process in the other 36 States of the Nigerian Federation including Abuja.