Urban Vacant Land and Spatial Chaos in Ogbomoso North Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Vacant land is seen as important component of urban environment capable of generating a detrimental effect on quality of life and the living environment. The study attempts to examine the characteristics, distribution pattern, utilization and the attendant challenges of urban vacant land within Ogbomoso north a local government area in Oyo State, Southwestern Nigeria with a view to assessing the level of maintenance of the vacant lands. In order to achieve these objectives, both primary and secondary data were employed. Primary data were gathered through direct survey and interviews. Simple random sampling was used to purposively select 320 adult interviewed from a compiled list of households obtained from National Population Commission. Secondary data were obtained from internet, books and journals. Data were analyzed making use of descriptive and inferential statistics to present discussion. The results showed that the nature of urban vacant land utilization is dynamic and that they owned their existence to diverse purposes. The spatial distribution of these vacant lands was conformed to regular pattern but spread across the diverse spatial and socio-economic segments of the study area. Less vacant lands were found in the centre of the city while their sizes increased as one moved towards the fringe of the city. Poor management turned out the vacant lands to dumping sites, hideouts for hoodlums and indiscriminate sitting of artisan workshops. The result of research hypothesis showed a strong relationship between the size and value of vacant lands in the study area. It was, however, concluded that the uses of vacant lands were generally poor undermining public health and safety, owing to concomitant low level of public awareness and inadequate system of social support. The study therefore underscored the need for efficient back up of institutional outfit to obviate danger and risk of uses.