Culture integration and spatial morphology in public housing transformation in northern states of Nigeria

Abstract

The phenomenon of transformation in built environment is crucial to sustainable housing growth as it upholds family desires and increases households’ performance. Furthermore, the abundance of transformation witnessed in public housing, which is the basic shelter for low income group, is an expression of their housing satisfaction. Yet, stakeholders view transformation as a violation overlooking the benefits therein. Since, investments in public housing schemes by state governments and private developers in Nigeria are growing, therefore, it demands re-thinking of the design concepts. The study aimed to develop a culture responsive design framework for public housing grounded on user initiated transformation experience. The first objective was to identify the core cultural spatial attributes of the housings at the countryside. The second one was to examine their impact on spatial transformation layouts of public housing. The third objective was to derive patterns of transformation in urban housing, followed by the final one which was to synthesize the previous findings in order to establish culture responsive design framework. Ethnographic data collection method was used to achieve the first objective, where spatial layouts of six major ethnic groups were studied. Questionnaire survey and focused observation was used to achieve the second and third objectives. Accordingly, 276 respondents from northern states of Nigeria were surveyed through random sampling. Layouts of 42 of these houses were investigated to find the patterns of transformation of public housing. Employing phenomenological and interpretive paradigms, and by exploiting the researcher’s long term engagement as ‘privileged’ participant observer, the cultural factors behind inhabitants’ transformation were identified. In addition, the study provided empirical evidence through statistical analysis that advances the significance of socio-cultural attributes in inspiring users’ initiated transformation. The findings suggested existence of cultural link of residents with their roots which possess implicit values. That implies that urban housing require pragmatic response leading to a shift in design and policy by developers and regulatory agencies. This is to embrace a paradigm of public housing development that contributes to the understanding of users’ desires and housing needs. Afterward, through qualitative synthesis, several design frameworks for a culturally responsive public housing design were proposed. It can contribute to a healthy urban development of public housing design respecting the users’ housing satisfaction.