Contemporary urban development in Calabar – promoting sustainability by curtailing ecological footprints of (housing) development

Ajah Ekpeni Obia ,Ekpeyong B Itam,Aniedi E Archibong

doi:10.4314/gjpas.v22i1.9

Abstract

The need to regulate land use and the exploitation of natural resources has led to the concept of sustainability, and by extension, ecological footprint (the total amount of land required by an individual to grow his/her needs). This paper examines ecological footprint savings in urban growth and housing development in Calabar (middle-sized Nigerian city) by comparing compact house development with single detached units per lot size. The method involved first, exploratory studies, mainly in the form of physical observations, conducted across the city towards the determination of the principal land use activities that are responsible for rapid urban growth in Calabar. Second, concepts of housing were analyzed by the use of experimental projects in order to demonstrate housing development paradigms that would be ecologically more beneficial for the city, with a view to minimizing the ecological footprints of the city in the future. The result showed that the existing urban development spread could be reduced by more than 150% if the current trend of individual one-unit housing practice is replaced by aggregation of units in a single block. The study also shows that ribbons of farmland could be saved between developments for urban agriculture. Keywords: Ecological footprint, sustainability, housing, urban development

Highlights

The world has become an urban planet; the phenomenon being driven by in-migration and population growth
This tendency to place emphasis exclusively on urban planning leaves one important question unanswered in the case of Nigeria: Why do the problems occur in cities where master plans were established at the outset of rapid urbanization? We suggest that the problem is located more critically in the realms of urban development management; and this is the posture of this paper
Following the logic of urban ecological footprints, this paper has focused on the study of urban development trends in and around the city of Calabar in Nigeria

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The world has become an urban planet; the phenomenon being driven by in-migration and population growth. It has been noted that population increase "in developing-country cities will continue to be the distinguishing demographic trend" of the 21st century, "accounting for nearly 90 percent of the 2.7 billion people projected by U.N. demographers (in their medium-growth scenario) to be added to world population between 1995 and 2030" (O’Meara, 1999) Following these unfolding scenarios Africa began to emerge as one of the world's most critical zones of intense population growth and rapid urbanization. Uncontrolled urban growth that results in uncontrolled destruction of peri-urban agricultural lands incorporates within itself a serious ecological dilemma - expanding the capacity of the city to accommodate more people while, at the same time, curtailing the capacity of the same city to meet up with the daily demands for food by the increasing numbers of city dwellers This is the principal context of this work

Theoretical Framework

Development in Calabar

Findings

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION