A quantitative model for assessing the impact of land use planning on urban housing development in Nigeria

Abstract

The institution of land use planning in the cities of Nigeria significantly affects development. It is responsible for delays in securing land and development rights, affects plot sizes, and imposes unrealistic standards on housing development. No approach appears to have been developed so far to quantify these impacts systematically. Present methods rely on descriptive studies typically based on casual empiricism. A review of existing literature provides evidence of the application of quantitative methods for assessing the impact of planning on urban housing development in the UK, the USA and Hong Kong. While noting the differences in the planning regimes between developed and developing economies, this paper develops a multiple regression model to quantify the impact of land use planning on cities in Nigeria. The aim is to provoke more research in this area to generate measures to improve the system of land use planning in African cities.