Key Challenges for Land Use Planning and Its Environmental Assessments in the Abuja City-Region, Nigeria

Evidence Chinedu Enoguanbhor, Florian Gollnow, Blake Byron Walker, Jonas Ostergaard Nielsen and Tobia Lakes
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Evidence Chinedu Enoguanbhor: Institute of Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Florian Gollnow: Department of Earth & Environment, Boston University, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Blake Byron Walker: Institute for Geography, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Wetterkreuz 15, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Jonas Ostergaard Nielsen: Institute of Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Tobia Lakes: Institute of Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Land use planning as strategic instruments to guide urban dynamics faces particular challenges in the Global South, including Sub-Saharan Africa, where urgent interventions are required to improve urban and environmental sustainability. This study investigated and identified key challenges of land use planning and its environmental assessments to improve the urban and environmental sustainability of city-regions. In doing so, we combined expert interviews and questionnaires with spatial analyses of urban and regional land use plans, as well as current and future urban land cover maps derived from Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. By overlaying and contrasting land use plans and land cover maps, we investigated spatial inconsistencies between urban and regional plans and the associated urban land dynamics and used expert surveys to identify the causes of such inconsistencies. We furthermore identified and interrogated key challenges facing land use planning, including its environmental assessment procedures, and explored means for overcoming these barriers to rapid, yet environmentally sound urban growth. The results illuminated multiple inconsistencies (e.g., spatial conflicts) between urban and regional plans, most prominently stemming from conflicts in administrative boundaries and a lack of interdepartmental coordination. Key findings identified a lack of Strategic Environmental Assessment and inadequate implementation of land use plans caused by e.g., insufficient funding, lack of political will, political interference, corruption as challenges facing land use planning strategies for urban and environmental sustainability. The baseline information provided in this study is crucial to improve strategic planning and urban/environmental sustainability of city-regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and across the Global South, where land use planning faces similar challenges to address haphazard urban expansion patterns.

Keywords: regional planning; urban planning; urban expansion; environmental sustainability; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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