Analysis of Successive Land-Use Changes in Old Residential Area of “Festival of Art & Culture (FESTAC) Town” Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

In recent times, land use for commercial, residential, and transportation purposes among others is dislodging former units and bare sites as a result of structural alteration, mostly in the urban centers of Nigeria. The changes are due to various guises and structural shift, outright demolition and redevelopment and their impact is consequential. This paper assesses the current pattern which residential zones have assumed within the old Festival of Art and Culture (FESTAC) Town in Lagos, Nigeria. The methods used in the study included the delineation of the study area into six avenues which the researcher(s) adopted for the purpose of even coverage, as well as the use of structural questionnaires, base map and GPS in sourcing for necessary data on the field. Additionally, the data collected were assembled, coded and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and conventional mapping techniques. The findings revealed the factors responsible for the alteration of land use to enhance financial gains, such as changing neighborhood characteristics and the evasion of permission from the town planning authorities. The findings also provided evidence that many structures still remain vulnerable to conversion, alteration, and/or demolition. The paper recommends that adequate permission should be granted by the legal authority before the conversion and rebuilding of any structure into a new land use.