Urban Residential Satisfaction and the Planning Implications in a Developing World Context: The Example of Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

As urban expansion continues into the 21st century, one of the daunting challenges facing many developing countries is the planning and the management of cities in such a way as to meet a planning reformist role of promoting equitable, ef cient and sustainable urban settlements. In the face of mounting criticisms of technocratic top-down approaches to housing and infrastructure development, there is a need for studies on the interface of satisfaction assessments and planning on the one hand and the social and cultural implications for urban management on the other. This is particularly so in the context of developing cities that are often characterized by dwindling public nances, urban poverty, spatial variations in housing and services, and poor socioeconomic conditions, as well as top-down approaches to urban management. A systematic spatial assessment of urban satisfaction is presented using Benin, a traditional West African city, as a case study. The signi cance of the satisfaction approach for planning, social and equity concerns is identi ed, and it is argued that we should look beyond it and incorporate community participatory approaches in the urban development process.

Occupants housing satisfaction: does age really matter?

“…Most of the residents of public housing in Maiduguri, north-east Nigeria are found to have few bedrooms, which is a source of occupants' dissatisfaction (Ozo, 1990). In contrast, Ogu (2002) discovers that occupants of housing estate in Benin City, south-south Nigeria indicate positive residential satisfaction with their dwelling features. The differences in housing satisfaction on dwelling features between Maiduguri and Benin might be associated with demographic and cultural settings in these areas.…”

“…Housing satisfaction models as advanced by many researchers have found a series of factors as significant determinants of overall housing satisfaction, these include physical characteristics, demography and socio-economic characteristics among others (Jiboye, 2009;Liu, 1999;Lu, 1999;Ogu, 2002;Salleh, 2008;Teck-Hong, 2012;Ukoha & Beamish, 1997). Previous studies have shown relationships between demographic factors and occupants' housing satisfaction.…”

Social housing programme of Selangor Zakat Board of Malaysia and housing satisfaction

“…It is basically a noneconomic and normative quality evaluation approach which is used to assess the quality of housing units and services. The assessment is based on a 'minimum standard or intervention points' beyond which something needs to be done to avert further deterioration of the housing condition (Ogu 2002). The idea of housing satisfaction has been used as a guide by many planners, designers, developers and policy-makers who attempt to provide housing to a variety of people (Ukoha and Beamish 1997).…”

“…Lane and Kinsey (1980) reported that housing characteristics were more crucial determinants than demographic characteristics of housing occupants. Ogu (2002) studied urban residential satisfaction of inhabitants living in core, intermediate, suburban and planned areas of Benin City, Nigeria. The author found that while most housing component variables generally contributed positively to residential satisfaction, environmental variables made negative contributions.…”

“…HIx represents the index of habitability (Ogu 2002) of variable x and N is the number of respondents, while ay'x is the actual score on the five-point scale for the yth respondent on Source: SZB (2008) Social housing programme of Selangor Zakat Board of Malaysia 149 the xth variable. 'A' represents the maximum possible score that respondent 'y' could give to variable x on the five-point scale.…”