Urban public housing in northern nigeria

The Urban Book Series

Abubakar Danladi Isah

Urban Public
Housing in
Northern
Nigeria
The Search for Indigeneity and Cultural
Practices in Design


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Abubakar Danladi Isah

Urban Public Housing
in Northern Nigeria
The Search for Indigeneity and Cultural
Practices in Design

123


Abubakar Danladi Isah
Department of Architecture
Federal University of Technology
Minna
Nigeria

ISSN 2365-757X
The Urban Book Series
ISBN 978-3-319-40191-1
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40192-8

ISSN 2365-7588

(electronic)

ISBN 978-3-319-40192-8

(eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016941297
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
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To my parents and family


Foreword

According to the United Nations, the number of people living in cities surpassed the
number of rural residents several years ago, and the rate of urbanisation is greatest
in the cities of Africa, Asia and Latin America. A critical issue of contemporary
global urbanisation is the question of how the hundreds of millions of people who
are living in and who will be living in cities will be housed. This question incorporates both the provision of safe and sound houses, as well as the suitability of

houses for the lifestyles and cultural habits of the people who live in them.
This second issue—the cultural appropriateness of housing and how it can be
achieved—is the subject of this book.
In Nigeria and elsewhere, the design of public housing is often based on models
that originate elsewhere rather than through detailed understandings of how people
live in the place where the housing is built, or through reference to historic cultural
patterns. As the author, Dr. Abubakar Danladi Isah, points out, however, this leads
to a mismatch between how people want to live and the housing that is provided for
them—leading in turn to informal and illegal house transformations that result in
highly disordered urban environments.
But the nature of these informal transformations in fact represents the heart of
Dr. Isah’s argument. People change their own houses in order to make them more
suitable for the way they live. The details of these transformations can provide the
basis for new design standards that can guide public housing in ways that better fit
people’s lives and cultural backgrounds. The assumption is—and this is backed up
by numerous studies in the field of environment–behaviour studies—that what
people do provides an accurate guide to their needs and wants.
The book is based on fieldwork involving the careful observation of existing
housing, how people transform that housing over time, and deep understanding
of the traditional housing of different ethnic groups in Nigeria. Dr. Isah’s work
shows how the detailed understanding of housing transformations that actually take
place makes the bridge between people’s cultural backgrounds and the ways in
which public housing design might better accommodate those backgrounds. This

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Foreword

improved accommodation of needs will lead, it is argued, to fewer illegal housing
transformations and a more ordered urban environment.
One of the Dr. Isah’s important conclusions is concerned with the need for
flexibility in the design of public housing. Over the twentieth century, public
housing standards allowed for less and less space, and this led to dwellings in which
activities were more and more spatially fixed. But even though families have
particular culturally based patterns of behaviour in their houses, they also use their
houses in different ways from each other, and those often unpredictable functional
differences also need to be recognised through designs that easily accommodate
them.
This book has implications that go far beyond Nigeria. The acceptance of
informal urbanisation varies from country to country. In some places in Latin
America for example, favelas have come to be understood as part of a legitimate
process of urbanisation, seen as the first step in a sequence that includes the gradual
provision of services and the establishment of legal ownership. But in many other
places, the replacement of informal dwellings with public housing, or the initial
construction of public housing (or private, subsidised housing with regulations set
by public authorities), is seen to be the way forward. In these cases, the careful
initial design of public housing is critical, so that people can feel at home in it, from
the beginning. This book points the way to methodological frameworks that can
help policy makers and architects understand how the cultural contexts in which
they are working can improve the dwellings they design.
Howard Davis

Howard Davis is the professor of architecture at the University of Oregon, USA, and a codirector
of the Collaborative for Inclusive Urbanism. He is the coauthor, with Christopher Alexander and
others, of The Production of Houses and author of The Culture of Building and Living Over the
Store: Architecture and Local Urban Life.

Preface

This transactional phenomenological research in urban housing transformation
centres on typical social building initiated and provided by government as public
housings in the northern region of Nigeria. Basically, the research sets out to
investigate person–environment relations through space and activity space relations. The basis of the study is theoretically ingrained in emancipatory research
philosophy, aligning with several ways of human thought based on diverse social,
political, economic, gender, and inhabitants’ ethnic background in spite of existing
commonalities. Uniquely common to this book is the persistent emphasis on the
need to uncover the yield in housing transformation benefits and regulate
unstructured public housing transformation, a gap yet to be addressed. This book
thus responds to the widely experienced challenges in public housing with respect
to the transition (evolution, growth and maturity) practised in public housing units
in developing countries. It therefore provides direction to the challenges and
changing face of housing spatial problems experienced by public housing residents
living in the urban environment. This arose from the need to provide for clarity in
space perception and its associated relationship with households’ social traits.
Therefore, relating the clarity of building entity to behavioural patterns comprehended from users’ viewpoint, each with its describable, distinct but complementary features.
Minna, Nigeria
2016

Abubakar Danladi Isah

ix


Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the support received from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

in providing the enabling environment for this study. Specifically, the guidance and
encouragement received from Dr. Tareef Hayat Khan were of immense value and
deeply appreciated. In particular, recognition is his patience in the supervision
of the research content and editing the initial draft of this book. Similarly, the
valuable support received from numerous personalities during the data collection
stage is greatly acknowledged. Also, the author appreciates the contribution of
Professor Howard Davis and his acceptance to write the book’s foreword. Finally,
the author sincerely thanks Springer group for cooperating to publish the book.

xi


Contents

1 The Concept of Cultural Character in Public Housing Design .
1.1 General Idea About the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Purpose and Coverage of the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Civilisation and the Indigenous Culture Demands
in Space Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.4 Public Housing Concept in Nigeria, Conflict in User
and Providers’ Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.4.1 Cultural Context of Northern Part of Nigeria . . . . .
1.4.2 Seeking to Regulate Indiscriminate Housing
Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.4.3 Culture Attributes Are Desired by Public
Housing Users in Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 The Dimension of Public Housing in Nigeria . . . . . . . . . .
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2 Optimising User Activity–Space Relations Through
Control Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Historical Outlook of the Environmental Setting . . . .
2.4 Impact of Language Distribution in Nigerian
Regional Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Public Housing Situation in Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.6 Urban Migrants and Housing Impulse in Nigeria . . . .
2.7 Persistent Dissatisfaction of Public Housing Residents
with Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contents

3 Culture as an Integral Phenomenon in Housing Space
Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Culture and Cocreation of Human Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Spatial Morphological Tendencies in Public Housings . . . .
3.4 Adaptation of Culture in Urban Building Configuration . . .
3.5 Housing Transformation in Culture-Sensitive Societies . . . .
3.6 Outline of Transformation Threshold Essentials . . . . . . . . .
3.6.1 Sustainable Housing Transformation
and Sustainable Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.2 Transformation as a Cultural Desire of Habitation .
3.6.3 Shortfall of Transformation Coverage by Building
Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.7 Public Housing Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8 Reflecting Culture and Housing Theories in Housing
Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.1 Etic and Emic Theory of Cross-Cultural Research .
3.8.2 Man–Environment Relation (MER) Design Theory
3.8.3 Explanatory Theory of Environment–Behaviour
Relation (EBR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.4 User-Centred Theory (UCT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.5 Evidence-Based Design (EBD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 Search for Cultural Attributes Appropriate for Design Ideals
4.1 Connecting with Users’ Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Characterising Users’ Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 Ethnography: The Search for Cultural Determinants
and Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.1 Hausa Ethnic Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.2 Fulani Ethnic Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.3 Kanuri Ethnic Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.4 Nupe Ethnic Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.5 Tiv Ethnic Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.6 Gbagyi Ethnic Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4 Life at the Root, Identifying the Core Space Use Values .
4.5 Sustainable Indigenous Sociocultural Attributes . . . . . . . .
4.5.1 Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.2 Visitors’ Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.3 Outdoor Relaxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.4 Household Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.5 Social Events and Domestic Chores . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.6 Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contents

4.6 Dwelling Layout Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.7 Spatial Indigeneity at the Root Space Uses .
4.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 Search for Public Housing Inhabitants’ Link with the Root . . .
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2 Public Housing Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.1 Derivation of Measurement Concept. . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Core Socio-demographic Attributes of Inhabitants . . . . . . .

5.3.1 Family Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.2 Residency Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.3 Age of Household Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.4 Frequency in Transformation Occurrence . . . . . . .
5.3.5 Occupants’ Residency Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.6 Occupancy Cycle in Relation to the Types
of Changes Made. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4 Determining Link with the Root Through Psychometric
Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.2 CFA and Second-Order SEM for the Hypothesised
Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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6 Search for Design Patterns and Design Indices
in Transformed Housing Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Transformed Layout Configurations . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Effect of Built Environment Control Levels. . . . . .
6.4 Basic Transformation Types Among Inhabitants . .
6.5 Architectural Patterns of Transformed Layouts . . .
6.5.1 Conversion of Spaces for Other Functions
6.5.2 Extension of Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.5.3 Addition of Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.5.4 Reconfiguration of Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . .
6.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7 Cultural Determinants and Spatial Patterns of Public
Housing Design Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.1 Introduction: Recapitulating the Emerging Design Standpoint .
7.2 Establishing the Implicit Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.3 Searching for the Implicit Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.3.1 Inferences on Cultural Determinants in the Formation
of Design Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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xvi

Contents

7.3.2

Inferences on Spatial Pattern in the Formation
of Design Guideline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4 The Implicit Domains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7.4.1 Functionality Character. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.2 Ordering of Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.3 Territorial Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.4 Transformation Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.5 Social System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.6 Spatial Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.7 Space Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.5 Re-adaptation of Cultural Attributes; Public Housing
Design Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.5.1 Culture-Responsive Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.5.2 Emerging Urban Architectural Character . . . . .
7.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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8 Rethinking Sustainable Public Housing Design in Cultured
Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.2 Inhabitants’ Adaptation with the Transformed Pattern
Replicating the Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.3 Indigenous Participation in Sustainable Public Housing
Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.4 Rethinking Public Housing Design Concept . . . . . . . . .

8.4.1 Ideals for Policy and Design Implications . . . . .
8.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161


About the Author

Abubakar Danladi Isah was awarded Ph.D. in architecture by Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia. He earlier obtained a bachelor's honours degree in architecture
and a master's degree in the same discipline from Federal University of Technology
Minna, Nigeria. He is a registered architect and has practised for several years
engaging in housing and institutional buildings’ design and construction with vast
experience in both teaching and practice. He also lectures with several years of
teaching and administrative experiences. He has written articles on related subjects.
He has attended intensive training courses in human behaviour, ethics and peaceful
coexistence. This qualifies him as a volunteer and consultant in human moral
reforms. His expertise includes space use and human behaviour, building and
culture, sustainable housing, research methods, and ethics.

xvii

About the Book

The philosophy expressed in this book centres on developing rational findings that
resulted from the information elicited and evaluated through empirically established
methods and sequence as evidence of its outcome. Astonishingly, this process
minimises the author’s emotion and biasness that are often embedded in the perception and subsequent interpretations of research outcome. After presenting results
in models, charts, layout plans and diagrams, this book reports by means of analogical argument and reasoning the deductions of findings in generally accepted
scientific conceptions. The concept of implied analogical argument adopted in this
book connects existing causal effects between sets of attributes examined which in
turn links prepositions with logical insights (Thouless 1953).
Exclusively, the research work reported in this book has demonstrated an
innovative dimensionality. It has proved that indigenous urban housing architectural character can stem from users’ initiatives of synthesis between root values and
modern design ideals in order to attain culture-responsive urban housing design.
This was achieved through its unique approach of validating user-initiated public
housing layout transformation with root’s cultural values. Thus, it represents a
leading attempt in suggesting the adoption of transformation benefits to control
spontaneous public housing layout transformation, as well as ensuring user satisfaction. Overall, the book defines the path towards attaining sustainable public
housing design in culture-sensitive societies.

xix


Abstract

Introduction: This book, Urban Public Housing in Northern Nigeria, the search for
indigeneity and cultural practices in design is written in the context of culture
sensitive communities. Beyond its explicit ideals, the book extends the knowledge
on transformation phenomenon that remains an essential and inevitable aspect
of the built environment which is desired in sustainable housing growth, because it

espouses family space requirements while increasing housing performance.
Besides, public housing residents express housing satisfaction in the accelerated
transformation witnessed therein, even as the benefits are ignored and often considered as violations of building laws.
Background: These transformations rather suggest the exclusion of cultural
practices in design. As such, the author embarked on the contextual analytical study
of the phenomenon in order to redirect stakeholders’ vision in the provision of
public housing.
Goal: The research work is therefore directed towards developing
culture-responsive public housing design framework that is rooted on existing
users’ transformation experience. As a result, a broad picture of prime design brief
emerges from users’ experience.
Philosophy: In order to accomplish the goal, the study employed phenomenological and interpretive dimensions banking on the researcher’s participation as a
privileged observer. In the process, the cultural factors behind residents’ transformation were unveiled.
Analysis and Finding: Afterwards, the book provided readers with two practical
evidences. First, through statistical inquiry, the significance of sociocultural elements that encourage user-instigated transformation was identified. Second, using
layout pattern analysis, transformation patterns were observed, hence revealing an
unbroken cultural link amid residents and their roots.

xxi


xxii

Abstract

Practical Implication: The outcome significantly realigns the reader’s thoughts
towards the architectural characters revealed in the transformation stages that offer
pragmatic response to design and policy directions, where public housing development is based on the understanding of users’ desires and housing behavioural
patterns.
Originality/value: This housing delivery dimension where synthesis of the implicit

outcome unfolded several design intuitions on culturally responsive public housing
upholds users’ satisfaction by streamlining their mainstream values in housing
design.

Á

Keywords Culture responsiveness Design patterns
Indigeneity Public housing Space

Á

Á

Á Housing transformation Á


Chapter 1

The Concept of Cultural Character
in Public Housing Design

Abstract The value and the proficiency of architectural creations are often associated with the success that relates culture and space which are distinct to architecture. Architectural products host social activities with several challenges in their
bond that lacks proper understanding and demands that complexities arising
between culture and space be resolved. Truly, conflicts arising between cultural
ideology and societal civilisation often lead to failures in the existing bond between
architectural products and social communities.

1.1

General Idea About the Book

The value and the proficiency of architectural creations are often associated with the
success that relates culture and space which are distinct to architecture.
Architectural products host social activities with several challenges in their bond
that lacks proper understanding and demands that complexities arising between
culture and space be resolved. Truly, conflicts arising between cultural ideology and
societal civilisation often lead to failures in the existing bond between architectural
products and social communities. This is intricate as forces of changing civilisation
override, instead of sustaining and enhancing social values in dwellings. In particular, technological progression that should reinforce human habitation rather
sometimes fails to bridge space communication with societal norms in a dynamic
housing delivery and operational context. Essentially, comprehending the conceptual relationship that bonds space and culture in housing ensures the understanding
of households’ desires in order to attain housing satisfaction. This book addresses
this concern by exploring transformed public housing units focusing on operational
pattern in a transformation phenomenon related to the integration of culture in space
morphology of public housing in northern states of Nigeria.
In this situation, the book focuses on the benefits and features in users’ transformation initiatives that are seldom utilised in subsequent public housing developments. Thus, the built environment is yet to address the glooming perception and
desires of inhabitants as end-users, which is reflected in housing transformation, in
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
A.D. Isah, Urban Public Housing in Northern Nigeria,
The Urban Book Series, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40192-8_1

1


2

1 The Concept of Cultural Character in Public Housing Design

spite of the recognition of the phenomenon as a predictable outcome of built forms.
Arguably, ignoring cultural expectations in initial public housing designs accounts

for housing transformation embarked upon by residents due to functional weaknesses in activity spaces of the initial housing provision. Likewise, the worsening
liveability cause by housing stress experienced by residents leads to unprofessional
transformation decisions.
Therefore, this research in a systematic sequence first sought to know the core
activity space uses common to major ethnic groups in order to establish significant
cultural features at the root. Afterwards, probe the significance of these features
to public housing inhabitants by examining their experience and perspectives.
Beyond the significance of the features, the study further identified and classified
the configuration patterns of transformed units as well as common features of
transformed spaces. The essence was to establish that residents’ attained housing
satisfaction by meeting their cultural and spatial desires through spatial transformation. This outcome is crucial to determine the integration of root cultural core
in public housing configurations, which provides the path to develop design
and policy framework for culture-sensitive communities. Besides, it will streamline
community’s mainstream values and protect neighbourhoods from unguided and
unstructured transformations.

1.2

Purpose and Coverage of the Research

Entirely, this book focuses on households’ rudiments regarding the spread of social
living within activity spaces providing security, privacy and satisfaction in tune with
status and culture (Correa 1991). In the regional background setting being studied,
household is conceived to extend beyond the nuclear family and to include close
relatives such as in-laws, brothers, sisters, nephews and niece, and domestic service
providers who often reside together. Therefore, this study looked at the spatial system
that defines the physical world beyond material boundaries in order to accommodate
cultural subjectivity as envisaged by Ekholm and Fridqvist (2000). In particular,
social activities in African homes spread to its environments and constitute social
setting of inhabitants which defines the house’s cultural form. Therefore, the house is

not limited by tangible boundary, thus allowing cultural features to determine space
coverage and material components of space control and hence making cultural features crucial cultural determinants of house configuration. Besides, inhabitants’
interactions rely on the ease to perform social activities which in turn determine the
effectiveness of housing configurations that leads to user’s satisfaction, because
inappropriate space arrangement leaves users with social difficulties (Harvey 2010).
Accordingly, the built environment rather than been a platform for social performance is a structure that exhibits social behaviour reflecting predetermined
insight values and patterns of its creation (Hillier 1996). Impliedly, the assertion
divulges culture as significant attribute of building configuration. Thus, it becomes
vital to understand social behavioural pattern of space as experienced by public


1.2 Purpose and Coverage of the Research

3

housing residents. Culture defines social behaviour and is referenced to spatial
practices, attitudes, perceptions and people’s lifestyle (Hornby 2006). It agrees with
sociological analogy that relates cultures’ role in societies as a similitude to the role
of DNA in biological sciences, so cultural process is assumed to function in socially
created systems (Battani and Hall 2000). It then connotes that in hosting social
activities, spatial forms exhibit cultural expression that is a synergetic relationship
of interest between culture and space.
Since architects link users’ personality with buildings in order to express
social ideals with physical forms in relating social values to architectural forms, then
its success will reduce housing abandonment (Brand 1995). Intensely, it remains
significant to clarify complexities in architectural creations (Jones 2011). Mostly,
there is need to analyse ideological conflict between indigenous and general perceptions with regard to public housing in both concept and relationship. Consequently, Hillier et al. (1984) affirm social meaning as most significant in
in-built buildings. This is achieved with creative theories grounded on natural insights
(Bafna 2012). Changes on initial design of public housing by inhabitants were thus
measured. Significantly, these changes related the spatial morphology of public

housing structures particularly in the context of quality and lifestyle of inhabitants in
Nigeria. This research therefore is an extension of existing studies on housing
transformation that have constantly upheld the need to consider transformation benefits, including culture in design in attaining users’ satisfaction in housing delivery.
The scope of this research is limited to the low-income public housing initially
owned and established by government and sited in state capitals. The cultural focus
was on the major ethnic groups living in northern Nigeria. According to Mustapha
(2006), dominant ethnic groups in northern Nigeria are Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri,
Nupe and Tiv. Equally, Dudley (2013) outlined the major ethnics as Hausa, Fulani,
Kanuri Nupe and Tiv. However, Anthony (2013) named Hausa and Fulani as most
dominant ethnic groups in the region, followed by Nupe, Tiv and Kanuri.
Thereafter, ownership of these housing units was later transferred to the inhabitants.
The settings chosen for evaluation offer rich information on heterogeneous public
housing units transformed from homogenously designed neighbourhoods. Public
housing is foremost among public buildings in expressing inhabitants’ cultural
values, hence a key landscape element in urban settings. In culture-sensitive
communities such as in Nigeria, hybrid multi-ethnic cultural setting and lifestyle
need to be fused into the built environment in order to achieve sustainable urban
development. Greatly, this research contributes in developing users’ experience that
covers cultural ideals introduced during transformation practices into design guides.
Buttressing this, Rapoport et al. (1980) assert that in the search of environmental
standards, environments are culturally specific in providing design requirements.
Housing is not devoid of social challenges particularly with cultural diversifications in cultured spatial settings where housing stress easily erupt, a situation
commonly associated with inhabitants of public housing in Nigeria. Interestingly,
inhabitants portray distinctive collective culture unlike what is witnessed in the
cultural origin which expresses a necessary postulation for ethnographic inquiry
(Patton 2005).


4

1.3

1 The Concept of Cultural Character in Public Housing Design

Civilisation and the Indigenous Culture Demands
in Space Uses

Remarkably, architects tend to compromise either of creative and cultural meanings
in building configuration for the other even though they are widely acknowledged
to be distinct (Bafna 2012). Emphasis is thus focused on developing the building
from the perceived space functional arrangement rather than reflecting inhabitants’
social relation with spaces. Arguably, the effect of indigenous culture and modernisation witnessed in urban housing is attributed to this situation. This has
brought to light the remarkable degeneration of insight about indigenous culture
aggravated by acculturation as witnessed in urban settings. People of diverse ethnic
inclination find relieve in public housing allocation even as functional challenges
pertinent to public buildings initially lead to housing shock. However, changes are
later effected in the arrangement.
Civilisation distinguishes countryside from the urban settings and between the
current situations and the previous circumstances. It is the epitome of nations’
advancement and rural transformation. Hence, most developed nations had shorter
time lag for transforming the countryside. Rural development was accelerated by
deurbanisation and creation of suburban programmes. In contrast, such development
takes time in developing nations, consequently encouraging migration with new
arrivals retaining rural ideological perceptions in their lifestyle. They exhibit these
ideological perceptions in their cultural desires for spatial choices. The implication is
for urban housing to be flexible as existing provisions tend to make little social
meaning to the inhabitants. Considerably, cultural ideals are indigenous features that
should no longer be ignored, hence revealing the significance of this book.
In addition, experts have echoed persistent inconsistency in the development and
management of low- and medium-income public housing, reiterating the absence

and need to consider socio-cultural attributes common to most culture-sensitive
communities particularly in Africa (Abbaszadeh et al. 2009; Awotona 1990; Ejigu
2012; Oladapo 2006; Sulaiman and Yahaya 1987; Ukoha and Beamish 1997). They
attributed the setbacks recorded to the adoption of structures that were based on
colonial principles and influence, thus lacking indigenous socio-cultural content,
but rather characterised by inflexible norms and criteria. The resulting physical
development is therefore culturally, socially and psychologically alien to indigenous desires of inhabitants (Ikejiofor 1998); however, they rather fit Western
socio-cultural context (Abbaszadeh et al. 2009).
Such principles undermine the existing bond between social living and the built
environment, and housing delivery schemes leaving the buildings provided with
eventual functionality and operational difficulties (Ejigu 2012). On the contrary,
spatial configuration of a vernacular structure and its accompanying household
interactions guides numerous functions in contemporary housing- Crabtree and
Hemmings (2001). This could support liveable communities where indigenous
socio-cultural ideals are incorporated in public housing upon which Abbaszadeh
et al. (2009) suggested for further inquiry. Besides, researchers affirm that


1.3 Civilisation and the Indigenous Culture Demands in Space Uses

5

indigenous social dwelling layout features respond to modern housing challenges,
hence improving principles of housing development at the same time sustaining
indigenous concepts (Dincyurek and Turker 2007; Gotham 2003; Ikejiofor 1998).
Consequently, this scenario could provide the tendency that sets a threshold of
developments in traditional cities as means towards guiding physical development
over a period (Akbar 1988).
Lastly, urban population growth and cultural differences of public housing
inhabitants are gradually changing their cultural perception due to acculturation

making policies in response to urbanisation crucial. Against this backdrop, this
study significantly desires establishing a public housing design and planning
paradigm that considers socio-cultural needs of occupants, hence reducing subsequent spontaneous transformation. Optimally, it provides a dimension of evidencebased design concept that contains empirically developed design guidelines to
equip architects and developers with skills to conceive, create and execute public
housing designs. It also allows for future projections due to flexible cultural desires
as suggested by Afolayan and Boyowa (Afolayan 2009; Boyowa 2005). Similarly,
this concept enables the comprehension of rural and urban housing arrangement in
presenting house form patterns that are developed through cultural influence as
encouraged by Davis, and Kotharkar and Deshpande (Davis 2000; Kotharkar and
Deshpande 2012). It is therefore an operative mechanism of qualitative housing
policy and provision in a sustainable environment experiencing rapid urban growth.
This concept affords a synergetic stage for applicable indigenous social architectural
character in technologically driven housing delivery system.

1.4

Public Housing Concept in Nigeria, Conflict in User
and Providers’ Views

Several researchers have disclosed relentlessly, the act of dissatisfaction exhibited
by public housing inhabitants in Nigeria as they experience housing stress.
Accordingly, studies by Aderamo and Ayobolu (2010), Alao (2009), Awotona
(1990), Dassah (2011), Ibem and Amole (2011), Jaiyeoba and Aklanoglu (2012),
Jiboye and Ogunshakin (2010), Ogu (1998), Ukoha and Beamish (1997) reveal
occupants displeasure with public housing provision in Nigeria and by extension in
Africa (Tipple et al. 2004). Furthermore, they persistently ascribed these failures to
unsuccessful policies and its applications. Evidently, the policies lack indigenous
socio-cultural considerations.
Clearly, there is lack of design communication between public housing providers
and users which has increased the act of unhampered housing transformation while

seeking to satisfy changing spatial desires in response to housing stress and cultural
preferences. In view of this, Boyowa (2005) advocated the need for research in
design, space provision and its usage focusing on cultural dispositions of diverse
groups.


6

1 The Concept of Cultural Character in Public Housing Design

In a related situation, Olowoyo and Khan (2012) identified three concerns with
respect to trends in public housing in Nigeria. These include non-occupation of
housing by targeted beneficiaries due to inconsistency of provisions with social
activities of potential users. Also, some group choose to abandon the houses when
they are stressed up and these houses can no longer be adjusted to meet their desired
spatial needs, hence subjecting the household to undue stress (Seek 1983). A third
group, who cannot afford to move and change dwelling resolve to ignore existing
building standards experts’ guide and plot density in adjusting their dwelling units.
The outcome presents a confuse sprawl with unhealthy living environments that are
hazardous to the community, which this study believed to be a crucial challenge to
the urban setting and requires an empirical study. Accordingly, Oakley et al. (2010)
acknowledge that such situation exacerbates the poor liveability of inhabitants by
increasing their housing stress.
Meanwhile, since initial architectural designs did not accommodate indigenous
social desires, residents embark on spontaneous public housing transformation to
satisfy spatial needs and social liveability which appears in transformed units.
Moreover, Mberu (2005) linked the situation with urban residents’ lifelong link
with their root.
Conversely, the historical indigenous social lifestyle practised by inhabitants
while interacting with the buildings is usually ignored by stakeholders, hence a

refusal to heal socio-spatial desires of residents in the built environment. However,
architectural discipline combines both process and product in solving spatial
problems; therefore, inclusive broad-based architectural character is required in
public housing design in Nigeria.
Accordingly, this book extends public housing tendencies by exploring public
housing residents’ behavioural culture through evaluating their experiences in
housing transformation. It includes identifying underlying factors associated with
the act of transformation required to guide the design process in order to enhance
public housing provision considering cultural elements and ensuring public safety.
Therefore, it focuses on culture inclusion in design by identifying cultural ideals for
standardisation and subsequent consideration for spatial configuration to check
unrestrained public housing transformation. It facilitates advancement of research
findings into design framework for both designers and policy makers, which is
habitually ignored by researchers (Martin and Guerin 2006).

1.4.1

Cultural Context of Northern Part of Nigeria

Obtainable studies on public housing transformation relative to culture specific
environmental context (Rapoport 2000) in Nigeria are limited. Numerous studies on
housing dissatisfaction and stress experienced by public housing occupants, which
ends in housing transformation, relate situations in southern Nigeria and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT). This led to the determination of northern Nigeria’s geographical setting for this study. The region also enjoys similar environmental


1.4 Public Housing Concept in Nigeria …

7

characteristics relative to culture and social meaning. In addition, the region
comprise of historical ancient towns with densely populated districts that are fast
growing into bigger cities with housing challenges. As a result, negative trends of
unhealthy districts expose inhabitants to health risks while diminishing the quality
of housing and the cityscape at large. Overall, it hampers the attainment of sustainable housing provision as demanded by global requirements on qualitative
housing in urban environments.

1.4.2

Seeking to Regulate Indiscriminate Housing
Transformation

Integral transformation that appears in dynamic housing growth carried out by
inhabitants is usually ignored by architects. Rather, the previous emphasis was
centred on demography, housing location, land issues and management as factors
responsible for housing transformation. However, seeking to provide solution to the
looming impact of housing dissatisfaction requires undertaking studies that focus
on projecting design consideration from user’s perspective and experience.
Afterwards, it provides guidelines that are in line with the dynamism characterised
with housing as reflected in public housing transformation to direct design that met
user’s cultural needs. Analytically, public housing transformation attributes are
explored to overcome spontaneous housing transformation which is uncommon.
Reasonably, housing transformation is inevitable (Carmon 2002; Khan 2008;
Popkin et al. 2005; Seek 1983; Sueca 2004; Tipple and Salim 1999; Tipple 2000),
particularly with the demand from the growth of household. Besides, in accord with
housing adjustment theory, public housing residents commonly choose to adjust
rather than move out of their homes (Tipple 2000). Such changes result in creating
indigenous configuration from modern building layouts (Tipple et al. 2004), hence
synthesising transformers’ grounded culture determinants as design indices are
significant and uncommon. A research void identified and focused on by this book.

1.4.3

Culture Attributes Are Desired by Public Housing
Users in Design

Significantly, attributes of culture bonds with vernacular architecture particularly in
culture-sensitive communities of developing nations. Urban housing in these
environments has received the influence of traditional lifestyle rooted in traditional
built forms. The crisis witnessed in the relationship of urban house form and
traditional lifestyle appears in unguided public housing transformation due to
ideological differences. Ambiguously, the ideological differences are often interpreted based on insider root perception and outsider systematic perception.