The human face of urbanization: an exploratory study of its challenges in nigeria

The unprecedented increasing size and densities of human activities in the urban cities have not only created enormous problems of congestion and overcrowding but have also resulted into degradation and haphazard development. The high proportion rate of urbanisation in the less developed countries (LDCs) and the inability of these countries to provide basic services and infrastructure have resulted in the development of slums thereby creating an urban sprawl and decline in the inner city. The rapid rate of urbanization in Nigeria is noted in the uncontrolled density of the urban city, the urban environments seems unable to support the healthy human population at tolerable levels of stress and the provision of rich social and cultural opportunities. These has accounted for the depreciating quality of housing in the country’s urban centre as man had created urban complexes at odds with his behavioral and perceptual patterns which are increasingly dependent on it. The research explores the architecture of urbanisation and the dynamics of housing qualities in Nigeria and furthermore discusses the provisional challenges of urban housing sustainability in Nigeria.