Socio-economic determinants of housing environmental condition in the core area of a traditional city, south-western Nigeria

Abstract

The increasing population growth has led to the bourgeoning of dual morphology (dilapidated inner cities and a lateral mushrooming of peripheral areas) in developing countries’ cities. The existing literature has discussed the various impacts of overstressed facilities and the socio-economic and environmental challenges in urban areas. However, opportunities to achieve economic, physical, social and development goals through housing-related strategies and initiatives have been overlooked. This article examines the characteristics and relationships that exist between housing and environmental conditions in the core area of Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. Data is collected through a questionnaire survey of 1,510 participants. The results of this study indicate significant differences in the quality of housing conditions across the inner-city area. The variables that have higher coefficients about ‘poor housing conditions’ are household size, education status, migration status and length of residency. The variables that have higher coefficients to ‘good housing conditions’ are car ownership, marital status, home ownership and willingness to relocate residence. The study recommends participatory regeneration of the core area of the city to rejuvenate existing socio-economic and physical development. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .