The influence of open space utilization on residents' attachment with community: a case study of rural market square in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Open space such as market square is a communal ground where people carry out their various functional activities. This research work is undertaken in order to fill the knowledge gap in areas of people and place relationship, where improvements are needed to overcome challenges in the provision of facilities, design, and planning. The spatial conditions, development patterns, and relationship between the markets' users and their attachment to the community were explored. A mixed-method approach is adopted in which, the spatial transformations of the market and neighbourhood was explored using ArcGIS version 10.3. Similarly,382 respondents' views were sought through self-administered questionnaires and analysed by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) version 22. The qualitative findings revealed time-wise spatial expansions of the market and neighbourhood. The tested hypothesized model reveals that residents' dependence and identity with market square had positive significant impacts on residents' attachment to the community with standardised path coefficient values of 0.32 and 0.48 respectively. It is therefore recommended that appropriate machinery should be put in place towards improving the quality of the market square to further enhance users' interaction cum the sustainability of the community in Nigeria.