Disparity in Peri-Urbanisation Process in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

This chapter assessed the causes of disparity in the peri-urbanisation process in Lagos new towns and the accompanying effect on the characteristics of the transi-tioning settlements. Data collection was primarily through administration of 384 and 370 questionnaires to purposively selected housing units in Ikorodu and Ibeju-Lekki, respectively. These two settlements represent the most rapidly urbanising peri-urban in Lagos State. Primary data collected included drivers of urban expansion, residents’ demography, locational convenience and commuting frequency. To supplement the primary data, spatial images of 2006 and 2016 were acquired as satellite images from Google Earth archive for this study. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics for the quantitative data and time series and satellite image analysis for the qualitative data. The results show a varying extent of transition primarily influenced by the residents’ demography, linkages to the urban areas, quality of life and stakeholders’ response to housing policy. The study concluded that urban policy should be used as a tool to ameliorate the disparity in infrastructure development, which is the major driver of changes, and also, government involve-ment in housing provision should have a spread in all urban periphery settlements in Lagos State.