Determinants and Influence of Drivers of Growth in the Emerging Urban System of Vandeikya Local Government Region of Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Most studies on urban system tend to focus more on bigger cities and towns at the upper levels of national and global urban hierarchies neglecting the emerging urban system at the lower levels in the hierarchy. This study set out to determines and assesses the influence of drivers of growth in the emerging urban systems of Vandeikya local government region of Nigeria. Data was collected on 52 central place functions in 67 settlements through physical enumeration and analysed using descriptive statistics and principal component analysis. The result of the study identified four drivers of growth within settlements in the emerging urban system accounting for 86.836% of the total variance within the data set. The result also shows that level of influence of the four drivers of growth vary among settlements in the study area; and the availability of non-agricultural functions constitute these drivers of growth and catalyst for transforming the rural settlements into urban in the study area. However, there is wide development gap among these set of settlements as observed by the wide range of scores associated with each components. Based on the findings, the study recommends development planning that will ensure a balanced and coordinated socio-economic development of the region.