Association of nondwelling attributes with residential satisfaction in segregated urban environments

Abstract

This study is an assessment of residential satisfaction with nondwelling components in segregated urban Jos, Nigeria. Data from 318 household heads collected through self-administered questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that residents were generally not satisfied with their residential environment, but at varying degrees among the parameters that were employed for the assessment. satisfaction was higher with neighborhood social relationships and ethnoreligious homogeny than neighborhood density and access to strategic areas and social infrastructure. They were least satisfied with security and crime. The regression model that was estimated for the study explained 93% to determine residential satisfaction with nine predictor attributes. The very high beta coefficient of the model suggests that residential satisfaction of the inhabitants of segregated urban environments can be enhanced through improvement in the five parameters and more strongly on security and crime, access to strategic areas and infrastructure, and neighborhood density. The insignificance of all the sociodemographic attributes in the model implied that residential satisfaction of violence-induced segregated urban dwellers can be improved irrespective of age, gender, ethnic group, religion, education level, income, marital status, household size, housing tenure, and duration of stay in the neighborhood environment.