Urbanization and housing development in Enugu State Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated urbanization and housing development in Enugu State. The objectives of the study were to: determine the effects of urbanization on housing characteristics in Enugu state; ascertain the effect of urbanization on house rents and choice of settlement; and examine the effect of urbanization on housing quality in Enugu state. Three research questions and three hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The study was anchored on the push-pull theory as propounded by Ernest Ravenstein. The descriptive survey design was applied to the study, which was carried out in three local government areas within Enugu metropolis namely: Enugu South; Enugu East; and Enugu North. Through purposive and multi-stage random sampling technique, they study selected a total of 410 respondents out of an estimated population of 4, 101. The researcher used self-structured questionnaire instrument for data collection while mean score and standard deviation were used to analyze the research questions and t-test statistic used for hypotheses. The findings showed that: urbanization positively affects housing characteristics in Enugu state, urbanization affects house rents and choice of settlement in the state and urbanization had a significant effect on housing quality in Enugu state. As a result, the study recommended among others that; government need to check rural-urban migration by providing even development policies that provide for equitable development between rural and urban centres. The study concluded that the demand for affordable and quality housing in Enugu is very high and growing steadily owing to rapid urbanization.