The Stakeholders And Challenges Of Managing Physical Infrastructure In Urbanized Villages In Nigeria

Smart and Resilient Infrastructure For Emerging Economies: Perspectives on Building Better

“…In line with this assertion, Hong (2015) postulates that urbanization leads to the expansion of urban built areas, without firstly providing for basic facilities (roads, electricity, pipe borne water) into formerly rural villages, hence, creating urban villages with their predominant customary/informal tenurial arrangements within most cities. Udoudoh & Ofem (2016) showed how these urban villages were rural settlements that were later taken over and integrated into urban areas because of urban expansion into the peripheral regions. Zhao (2020) observed that a fallout of increasing urbanization is the exacerbation of the gap between urban and rural areas.…”

“…The phenomenon of urban villages proliferating in our cities arises due to an accelerated influx of migrants from rural settlements into urban areas has been described as worrisome (Kamalipour 2017). These urban villages though not empowered with legal and institutional rights, meet the housing needs of urban refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, new rural-urban migrants as well as the cities indigent population excluded from the urban housing systems (Udoudoh & Ofem 2016;UN Habitat 2016). Despite this Vij et al (2018) observe that there is prevailing legal and institutional orthodoxies that give privileges to cities and their needs over the surrounding urban villages.…”

“…The second scenario, which is the focus of this study, is a settlement inhabited by an urban society that lives and resides in a village absosrbed into a city due to the rapid urbanization process. Urban villages, also known as urbanized villages (Ikurekong 2007) or villages in the city (Cong 2017) are defined as rural settlements that have been taken over and integrated into urban areas as a result of urban expansion into the peripheral rural regions (Udoudoh & Ofem 2016). This implies that large cities fuelled by rapid urbanization continuously engulf more and more communities and villages on its path through a process termed "quiet encroachment"; thus, forming this type of spatiality.…”

“…The study found that inhabitants of agriculture-based settlements are the most legally and physically marginalized as their key resources are increasingly degraded; informal settlers are often exposed to a variety of social and environmental stressors and poor access to basic services (after building new homes), and the rights of informal dwellers are increasingly recognized through formalization policies, improved access to basic social and physical services, and the introduction of subsidized housing to counteract informality and housing deficits. Concurring with these views, Udoudoh & Ofem (2016) advocated that stakeholders including the community should be involved in providing and managing physical infrastructure in urbanized villages.…”