Mr. vice Chancellor,
Deputy Vice Chancellor
Registrar and other Principal Officers,
Deans of Faculties of R S U S T
Directors of institutes and Centers
My colleagues in the Faculty of
Environmental Sciences
My Academic Children of the Faculty of
Environmental Science
All R S U ST Students present
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I will like to wish every one here good
evening and welcome to this inaugural lecture.
Mr. Vice Chancellor, ladies and
gentlemen, today is a special one for the faculty of Environmental Science and
for me as I humbly accept the honor of presenting the first inaugural lecture
from the faculty after twenty-seven years of its existence. am
very sure this is the beginning of visible academic excellence in the faculty.
Generally, the first dilemma facing an
inaugural lecturer is the choice of a topic. Second, it is customary that the
chosen topic highlights a particular problem in which the discipline to which
the lecture belongs has contributed or is contributing towards resolving.
Third, the problem relates to the need to present the lecture in a less arcane
language so that every one present will understand. Although it is not always
easy to resolve these problems, however I believe an inaugural lecture must
strongly structure her presentation in a language that can be easily understood
by the audience especially those in other disciplines.
Mr. Vice Chancellor, ladies and
gentlemen, I think that I am one of the lucky lecturers in Architecture in
WHY? - I practiced architecture for
about tin years before joining the faculty in 1981. Thus, my lectures since
then are not based on theory alone but also backed by professional experiences.
During most of the decade in practice, I was the architect at the defunct River
State Housing Corporation where I designed, supervised and constructed houses
for all income groups. A problem that worried me then and up till today is the
fact that when housing programs are targeted at the low income group, the end
product never reached them. Thus, when I joined the Faculty in 1981, my area of
research was already formed - simply- to find out the problem causing the
inability of government, its agencies and the public sector to provide housing
for the low income group in urban areas in
Over the years, I realized that the
problem has not been as simple as I thought about it in 1981. However, one
thing I was sure of (then and now) is that the problem is more than design of
units. This evening I will like to share some of my research findings with you.
I want to quickly state that I am still researching the problem and I have also
come to realize that there is no panacea for providing housing for the low
income urban households. Hence the title of my lecture - HOUSING THE URBAN POOR
IN NIGERIA: A REFLECTION OF
What is Housing?
Globally, there is no consensus on the
definition of housing. Three schools of thought exist. The first school defines
housing in terms of its physical form 9the structure), and its shortage as one
of the small secondary evils of the capitalist mode o f production (Burgess,
1982). The second school defines housing as a dwelling that enders
a bundle of services, which range from the units to bases from which economic
activities can be pursued (Burns and Grebler, 1977).
The third school defines housing as a process which makes the act of dwelling
possible (Turner, 1976 and Habraken, 1972).
In
a) Low Income Housing
provision of housing for
that cadre of residents that are classified as low income by the Nigerian
Constitution.
b) Middle
Income Housing
Provision of
housing for that cadre o f residents that are classified as middle income by
the Nigerian constitution. However, this group has been wiped out
by inflation and governance practices in
c) High
Income Housing
Provision of
housing for that cadre of residents that are classified as high income by the
Nigerian constitution. This group can afford to rent, lease, buy or build
housing unit(s) for themselves in choice locations and as far as I am
concerned, they do not need any assistance but in reality they get all the
assistance they need from relevant government agencies.
Historical
Perspective of Housing for the Poor
Housing the urban poor is a global
problem. In the urban areas of developing countries, the shelter conditions of
the poor are not only deteriorating, over one billion poor people are without
adequate shelter and basic services. With half of the world population living
in urban areas, the challenge or improving the living environment of especially
the poor urban dwellers cannot be over emphasized.
By early 1970s, residents in cities of
most developing countries were getting disillusioned with public housing
programs that ere earlier launched as the solution to the proliferation of
slums and squatter settlements. The shortcomings of this approach were perceived not to have
necessary resources to match the housing needs of the poor urban population.
Second, the rising cost or public housing (with rigid planning and building
standards, corrupt practices and persistent const and time overruns
meant that public housing always missed the intended target group (Oruwari, 1987a). third, housing finance institutions could
not keep up with the growing demand for housing loans, and they remained
patently conservative and inflexible when it came to collateral requirements.
Invariably, low-income populations were
squeezed out in favor of the middle and sometimes high-income group in the
cities (Oruwari, 1992b). Very important lack of jobs
in both formal and informal sectors precipitated the amount of resources
available in the households (Oruwari and Owei, 1990). And most, importantly, the authorities assumed
that housing was the major priority of the low-income population whereas, being
gainfully employed (either in the formal or informal sector) was the major
problem. The preference was in renting affordable housing and eventually owing
one when the household is stabilized. Also not recognized is the fact that
housing for the poor in urban areas, for example in
From 1970 onward, there has been growing
experimentation with the sites and services approach (where the plot along with
the roads and other services are provided). This approach offered many
advantages in principle over (on in conjunction with) the public housing
programs. First, the available public funds could be stretched to benefit many
more households. Second, the approach allowed for more flexibility in building
and possibility of self-help or community help could keep the cost affordable.
Third, the construction could be spaced according to the capacity of the
beneficiaries, who are already handicapped financially. Many of the poor
beneficiaries of site and services approach ultimately remained project
oriented (limited to some successful demonstrations) rather than a major
component of government housing policies (Tebbal and
Ray, 2001).
By the mid-1970s, the rapidly growing
informal squatter settlements were calling for the attention of government agencies.
As new commercials and residential development were squeezing out poor
populations from choice locations in the urban areas, peri-urban
and marginal lands were not only accommodating up to a third of the city
populations, they offered the only affordable housing option to poor
households. These informal settlements (although close to urban services lack
that most basic infrastructure and services.
As the limitations of public housing
policies become evident, governments started investing in upgrading of slums
and squatter settlements upgrading programs failed to create citywide impact.
They also failed to cater for those displaced by upgrading
By the late 1980s, the shortcomings of
sites and services, and slum upgrading provided important lessons to planners
and policy makers and helped to shape the emergence of the enabling approach.
The enabling approach focused on the mobilization of the full potential and
resources of all the actors in the shelter production and improvement process
so that the people concerned will be given the opportunity to improve their
housing conditions according to the needs and priorities that they themselves
will define. The people are therefore put at the center stage with governments
committed to the role of facilitator. The approach brought to the fore these
main constraints: lack of secure tenure; speculative land market; inflexible
housing finance systems; inappropriate planning and building regulation and the
inability of institutional frameworks to involve people in the development process.
Participation and partnership were emphasized as being important in achieving
the goal of "adequate shelter for all."
Currently there
are many campaigns by The United Nations
Center for Human Settlements (UNCHS-Habitat) directed at improving housing
provision for the urban poor, e.g. Global campaign for secure tenure, Cities Alliance that
development a "Cities without slums" action plan, the millennium
development goal that in identified improving housing as an integral part of the global development. These were
followed by signing of resolutions by Heads of States and government attending
Global Habitat for a since September 2000.
The outcome of all these interventions
is that the slums are still there in the urban developing countries and they
are still expanding and the deplorable conditions there are still growing. All
of these interventions in the urban areas have added negatively to the built
environment. The danger presently is that most governments and planner have
come to accept the idea that that the squatter settlement are an inevitable and
integral part of the city. They began to see the slums as the solution or at
least part of the solution. While in actual fact the slums are rather the
manifestation of the failure of the state and the professionals and required
housing for the low income urban households.
Housing Provisions in
Historically, provision of housing in
urban areas rested in the hands of private developers. The government concerned
itself with various levels of development controls. Provision
and maintenance of urban services. Municipal councils, through the
instrument of bye-laws controlled land use and ensured standards of building
coverage; provided access and essential services to properties; and maintained
health and safety standards. Private developers erected building within the
limits of existing zoning regulations and as their capitals and profit
expectations allowed. There was a dogmatic adherence to outdated town planning
laws and building codes formulated along the lines of the British Standards
prevailing at the time. Presently, every thing is chaotic. Housing provision by
the public sector was the affair of the regional administrations of which the
scope and consequent impact was small. The federal government did not accept
housing as part of its social responsibility until the Mr. Vice Chancellor,
ladies and gentlemen; I think that I am one of the lucky lecturers in
Architecture in
Over the years, I realized that the
problem has not been as simple as I thought about it in 1981. However, one
thing I was sure of (then and now) is that the problem is more than design of
units. This evening I will like to share some of my research findings with you.
I want to quickly state that I am still researching the problem and I have also
come to realize that there is no panacea for providing housing for the low
income urban households. Hence the title of my lecture - HOUSING THE URBAN POOR
IN NIGERIA: A REFLECTION OF
What is Housing?
Globally, there is no consensus on the
definition of housing. Three schools of thought exist. The first school defines
housing in terms of its physical form 9the structure), and its shortage as one
of the small secondary evils of the capitalist mode o f production ( Burgess, 1982). The second school defines housing as a
dwelling that enders a bundle of services, which range
from the units to bases from which economic activities can be pursued (Burns
and Grebler, 1977). The third school defines housing
as a process which makes the act of dwelling possible (Turner, 1976 and Habraken, 1972).
In
a) Low
Income Housing
provision of housing for
that cadre of residents that are classified as low income by the Nigerian
Constitution.
b) Middle
Income Housing
Provision of
housing for that cadre o f residents that are classified as middle income by
the Nigerian constitution. However, this group has been wiped out
by inflation and governance practices in
c) High
Income Housing
Provision of
housing for that cadre of residents that are classified as high income by the
Nigerian constitution. This group can afford to rent, lease, buy or build
housing unit(s) for themselves in choice locations and as far as I am
concerned, they do not need any assistance but in reality they get all the
assistance they need from relevant government agencies.
Historical Perspective of Housing
for the Poor
Housing the urban poor is a global
problem. In the urban areas of developing countries, the shelter conditions of
the poor are not only deteriorating, over one billion poor people are without
adequate shelter and basic services. With half of the world population living
in urban areas, the challenge or improving the living environment of especially
the poor urban dwellers cannot be over emphasized.
By early 1970s, residents in cities of
most developing countries were getting disillusioned with public housing
programs that ere earlier launched as the solution to the proliferation of
slums and squatter settlements. The shortcomings of this approach were evident
on a number of counts. First, a lot of city governments (or even national
governments) were perceived not to have the necessary resources to match the
housing needs of the poor urban population. Second, the rising cost or public
housing (with rigid planning and building standards, corrupt practices and (Oruwari, 1987a). third, housing finance institutions could
not keep up with the growing demand for housing loans, and they remained
patently conservative and inflexible when it came to collateral requirements.
Invariably, low-income populations were
squeezed out in favor of the middle and sometimes high-income group in the
cities (Oruwari, 1992b). Very important lack of jobs
in both formal and informal sectors precipitated the amount of resources
available in the households (Oruwari and Owei, 1990). And most, importantly, the authorities assumed
that housing was the major priority of the low-income population whereas, being
gainfully employed (either in the formal or informal sector) was the major
problem. The preference was in renting affordable housing and eventually owing
one when the household is stabilized. Also not recognized is the fact that
housing for the poor in urban areas, for example in
From 1970 onward, there has been growing
experimentation with the sites and services approach (where the plot along with
the roads and other services are provided). This approach offered many
advantages in principle over (on in conjunction with) the public housing
programs. First, the available public funds could be stretched to benefit many
more households. Second, the approach allowed for more flexibility in building
and possibility of self-help or community help could keep the cost affordable.
Third, the construction could be spaced according to the capacity of the
beneficiaries, who are already handicapped financially. Many of the poor
beneficiaries of site and services approach ultimately remained project
oriented (limited to some successful demonstrations) rather than a major
component of government housing policies (Tebbal and
Ray, 2001).
By the mid-1970s, the rapidly growing
informal squatter settlements were calling for the attention of government agencies.
As new commercials and residential development were squeezing out poor
populations from choice locations in the urban areas, peri-urban
and marginal lands were not only accommodating up to a third of the city
populations, they offered the only affordable housing option to poor households.
This informal settlement (although close to urban services lack that most basic
infrastructure and services.
As the limitations of public housing
policies become evident, governments started investing in upgrading of slums
and squatter settlements upgrading programs failed to create citywide impact.
They also failed to cater for those displaced by upgrading
By the late 1980s, the shortcomings of sites
and services, and slum upgrading programs provided important lessons to
planners and policy makers and helped to shape the emergence of the enabling
approach. The enabling approach focused on the mobilization of the full
potential and resources of all the actors in the shelter production and improvement
process so that the people concerned will be given the opportunity to improve
their housing conditions according to the needs and priorities that they
themselves will define. The people are therefore put at the center stage with
governments committed to the role of facilitator. The approach brought to the
fore these main constraints: lack of secure tenure; speculative land market;
inflexible housing finance systems; inappropriate planning and building
regulation and the inability of institutional frameworks to involve people in
the development process. Participation and partnership were emphasized as being
important in achieving the goal of "adequate shelter for all."
Currently there
are many campaigns by The United Nations
Center for Human Settlements (UNCHS-Habitat) directed at improving housing
provision for the urban poor, e.g. Global campaign for secure tenure, Cities Alliance that
development a "Cities without slums" action plan, the millennium
development goal that in identified improving housing as an integral part of the global development. These were
followed by signing of resolutions by Heads of States and government attending
Global Habitat for a since September 2000.
The outcome of all these interventions
is that the slums are still there in the urban developing countries and they
are still expanding and the deplorable conditions there are still growing. All
of these interventions in the urban areas have added negatively to the built
environment. The danger presently is that most governments and planner have
come to accept the idea that that the squatter settlement are an inevitable and
integral part of the city. They began to see the slums as the solution or at
least part of the solution. While in actual fact the slums are rather the
manifestation of the failure of the state and the professionals and required
housing for the low income urban households.
Housing Provisions in
Historically, provision of housing in
urban areas rested in the hands of private developers. The government concerned
itself with various levels of development controls. Provision
and maintenance of urban services. Municipal councils, through the
instrument of bye-laws controlled land use and ensured standards of building
coverage; provided access and essential services to properties; and maintained
health and safety standards. Private developers erected building within the
limits of existing zoning regulations and as their capitals and profit
expectations allowed. There was a dogmatic adherence to outdated town planning
laws and building codes formulated along the lines of the British Standards
prevailing at the time. Presently, every thing is chaotic
Housing provision by the public sector
was the affair of the regional administrations of which the scope and
consequent impact was small The federal government did
not accept housing as part of its social responsibility until the
Housing provision by the public sector
was the affair of the regional administrations of which the scope and
consequent impact was small. The federal government did not accept housing as
part of its social responsibility until the 3rd (1975-80) and the 4th
(1981-1985) national development plans. Hitherto housing was lumped with town
planning that was regarded as a low priority sector. Initial policies were geared
towards government’s active participation in the prevision of housing for all
income groups. By 1980, an actual physical achievement in the terms of housing
unit completed was 19% in
Since the collapse of the federal
housing scheme, there had never being n effective national housing scheme
geared towards the low-income households. States have tried o provide housing
for people resident in the urban areas. The units are paltry compared o the
demand and amount of resources expanded. The provisions are highly politicized
and more attention is paid to the publicity as opposed to the provision itself.
And most importantly, the issues emanating from either providing low cost
housing (which is highly subsidized)or housing for the low-income people where
solution are geared to the purchasing power of the targeted group(i.e. low
income urban families )have not been resolved by every one until today.
Even in the case of site and service
schemes, provisions had been geared towards the high-income groups (e.g. GRA
Phase 2, Port Harcourt ;Federal Housing/AGip Estate Rumueme, Port Harcourt).This bring to the fore the question
of human right abuse arising from the
low-income indigenous urban communities (whose only assets are the large tracts
of land formerly used for farming and now becoming valuable land for physical
development),with payment of paltry compensation on a once and for all basis.
These tracts of lands are then well laid out, serviced, parceled and allocated
at paltry cost to high-income urban residents with political clout. Some
develop expensive structures on hem or sell them at highly inflated prices in
the open market. In the case of slum upgrading, most of the government agencies
favored slum clearance and building of new units, in all the cases, the
residents were of a higher income group.
Presently, a lot of noise is made about
enabling approaches, cities alliance campaigns etc with out appreciable
physical development of housing unit to show for it. A quick summary may be
started that the enabling approaches provide an avenue for the government
agencies not to be involved in housing provision, thereby embezzling the resources
that could have been allocated to actual provision of housing. Meanwhile the
urban areas are increasing astronomically in population both from natural
increase and immigration.
The Rental Sector
The rental sector in urban areas in
In the case of the middle and
high-income public workers, the rent t charge is very low for the facilities
provide considering the fact that these are the people that by virtue o their
economic status are better placed to compete in the open market. Presently, the
federal government is trying to phase out public housing by selling the houses
to private entrepreneurs as they now occupying prime areas in the cities. For
example, in
The private rental sector consists of
housing units provided by private landlords and a few supplied by companies to
the house their staff s part of incentive better productivity. Some companies
provided their junior staff in response to the federal government directive in
the early 1970s that companies should assist in housing the people by providing
housing units for both their junior and senior staff. At present, as no one is
monitoring or enforcing this policy, the amount of housing provide in this
category is also negligible.
The bulk of the supply of housing unit
in the rental sector in the urban areas is in the hand of private landlords. It
is appropriate therefore, that when considering intervention in rental housing
or any housing type especially for the low-income urban residents in Nigeria
most of the attention should be put on the private rental sector in other to
have maximum impact.
The available housing stock in the
private rental sector is not only grossly inadequate; it is continuously diminishing
due to gentrification (Oruwari and Owei,1986).at the
same time the rate construction is very slow, thus widening the gap between
supply and demand. This phenomenon had resulted in an astronomic increase in
the number and population of squatter settlements in the cities in
The most I important aspect of housing
to the land lord is commercialization, and in recent years the effect one the
housing market is discouragement of construction of rooming houses by landlords
(these are the units patronized by the low-income residents), and the
conversion, renovation and construction of more profitable housing type for the
middle and high-income households in existing low income neighborhoods. This is
gentrification.
By 1987, Oruwari
and Owei in their study of the rental sector in
Some factors highlighted in some of my various studies.
Mr. Vice chancellor sir, ladies and gentlemen,
I will like to present four of the factors highlighted in my studies and their
relevance to low income housing provision:
a. Housing Finance
b. Housing Subsidies
c. Supply of land for housing
d. Building Materials
a, Housing Finance
In looking at the present housing
finance systems, several things stand out. First housing holds are not able to
save substantially so as to affect the resources available for housing finance
(Oruwari, 1992b).this is because of the harsh
economic realities of the present times. Second, the construction methods
determine the methods of financial savings, which result in a lot of money
being expended in building housing units (Oruwari,
1987b).Third the public mortgage bank have not benefited the low income
households and presently they have almost become existent (Oruwari,
2000).Fourth, the private mortgage banks springing up presently cannot benefit
the low income households in urban areas, as their rates of interest are very
high (minimum 30%). Also their prospective client is expected to produce a down
payment of at least 50%, of the construction cost on application. The question is,
if the client has up to 50%what does she need the mortgage bank for? As result,
the present housing finance system in the country serves mostly the high income
households. in the case of renters, for the benefit to
reach the targeted group, it has to be indirect e.g. when entrepreneurs re
encouraged through easy access to housing finance to produce houses patronized
by the low income households. the only organization that can make this
suggestion possible presently is the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria
(F.M.B.N).As part of its policy, about 60%of its lending annually must be for
rooming houses. This mount can be adjusted with time. The central Bank of
Nigeria (C.B.N.) has to make sure that the policy is adhered to not on a
one-time basis but for all times (Oruwari, 1991b).
b. Housing Subsides
General, researchers and development
agencies in the developed world always recommend that housing in developing
countries must be provided by the people from their own resources. I was
surprised when I went for a course at the institute for Housing studies,
THE argument is that the government
wanted its people to have minimum basic comfort in their homes .WHAT an irony?
However, housing researcher from developing countries have all realized over
time that it is not possible to provide housing for the low income group
without assistance. The problem in Nigerian is the form the assistance should
take. Direct subsidies always end up benefiting the already well-off. Studies have also shown that households can
afford to put about 10% of their earning into housing (Oruwari,
1992b, Oruwari and Owei,
1990).Also, on the hierarchy of needs, food is the most important. Thus, the
amount left for housing is to get less in the near future as the food bill is
continually increasing. The subsidy has to be indirect and at the same time
invisible, since if visible in the budget, the subsidy easily suffers cut and discontinuance.
Cross-taxation (whatever the nature of tax e.g. production, imports etc) can be
used on all the aspects of the building process. This will automatically reduce
the cost of rooming houses. For example, by removing the tax on an extensively
used building material- corrugated iron sheets for roofing –will make the price
to fall in the open market. To augment the national revenue, there can be
cross- taxation on roofing sheets
patronized by rich client e.g. aluminum
.The argument is that a material that is durable ,whose technology is already mastered by the local
craftsmen –corrugated iron sheet –is easily available at a reasonable cost . If
the owner of the building wants a more sophisticated roofing material
–aluminum- he has to pay highly for it.
Supply of Land for Low income
Housing Development in Urban Areas.
At the present cost of land in the
private market, a prospective developer cannot provide the units that can be
rented by the low income household if she wants to recoup her investments. To
make land available for low income housing development, three of the available strategies
are discussed. In all the strategies, acquired land must include mixed
developments for all income groups with majority skewed towards low income
housing development. This will assist cross- subsidization and reduce
transportation cost .The strategies are:
I Land
exchange
Ii Land
pooling and readjustment
Iii Guided
land development
I. Land exchange
This is done by exchanging urban land
for rural land. The exchange is worked out in relation to market values. For
example, the community whose farmland at Rumueme in
Ii. Land pooling and re-adjustment
Generally, fragmented ownerships are
taken together as a pool with the planning department preparing the development
plan in the area. This has to be done before development reaches the area.
Without considering former boundaries, the public agency provides the
infrastructure (or the plan for it) and reallocates to the former owners in
proportion to their original holdings. As the area is now planned and serviced
(or to be serviced I n future), the price goes up and the government is paid
(in kind) by retaining a percentage of the land for its use after the government
obligation to provide services for its people has been taken into
consideration. This is called land readjustment. This strategy has additional
advantages of: bringing unused urban land into the master plan of the city;
guide against the present middle and high income slums (i.e. although the
housing units are grandiose, the environment is slum) springing up in some of
our metropolises; and gives the communities concerned the opportunity to
participate in the planning of their areas. The government can buy more land
like any other entrepreneur and allocate it for low income housing development.
iii. Guided land development (G.L.D)
Schemes are initiated by the land and
planning for roads, water supply lines, electricity, telephone supply lines and
the rights of way in consultation with the land owners and village heads. This
creates a legal/planning framework within which low income households can be
provided for. Subsequently, an implementation and financing plan is drafted for
the incremental provision of infrastructure. The plan not only enables and partly
determines the gradual development of the new settlement; it also concentrates
on providing (or suggesting) a cost efficient layout of roads and basic
services on sparsely developed land in urban fringe areas.
However, land owners are not compensated
directly for providing land to be used for infrastructural development. The
increasing value of their land (caused by provision of infrastructure) is
expected to be a sufficient compensation in itself. GLD seeks to provide land
for all income groups small scale industries and commercial uses that will
create jobs within one settlement, thus allowing for a significant degree of
cross-subsidy through cross-taxation. Spaces will be reserved for religious buildings,
play areas for children and recreation.
In all the strategies, the planning
authority has to be more alert to its duties that include: preparing long term
plans for physical developments in the cities; suggesting on a regular basis
about the merits and the demerits of the different systems (instead of
chasing and harassing developers for personal gratification as obtained
presently).
iv. Building materials
What has being highlighted in my studies
(Oruwari, 1987b) is the high cost and inaccessibility
of conventional building materials. Table 1 show that several items affect the
cost of building. To reduce the cost of a building substantially, all the items
must be reduced simultaneously. Paying attention to reducing only one item s it
is done presently e.g. block walling, does not affect he cost of the building
to an appreciable level. The implication of this observation is that the
building research organizations in the country have to consciously commission
researches into all aspect of the building in terms of: local source -base raw
materials that are environmental friendly construction techniques, and
effective and regular flow of information to the end user of the research
results. of course o be effective, the organization
must e well funded on continuous basis and at he same time their activity must
be monitored and evaluated regularly. To encourage the use of the end products,
government project should be the most important advertisement for new products
that are not only contemporary but improved regularly.
The challenges ahead
I will like to discuss four of the
challenges ahead. These are: the challenging role of the architect in housing
design (that includes architectural training and low income housing, that
housing process, relationship with the political system and word of advice for
architectural education); role of women in housing; housing end globalization;
and bridging the gaps.
|
S/No. |
Stage of construction |
Percentage (%) |
|
1. |
Preparation |
5 |
|
2. |
Substructure (Foundation DPC) |
10 |
|
3. |
Block walling/flooring |
15 |
|
4. |
Roofing and ceiling |
17.5 |
|
5. |
Plumbing works |
7.5 |
|
6. |
Electrical works |
7.5 |
|
7. |
Glazing works |
5 |
|
8. |
Carpentry works |
7.5 |
|
9. |
Finishing |
20 |
|
10. |
Site works |
5 |
|
|
Total |
100 |
Source: Oruwari
(1992c)
A) Changing role of architect in low income housing
Architectural training and low income housing
Viewed in all its facets, the
architectural training as it is being practiced presently does not prepare the
architect to design housing for the low in-come people. The architectural
student is taught how to design that is complete in every detail. As the
architect is a person of vision, most times her works fails in the are of housing for the low income people. This is
because in order to chive what the architect requires, the occupant must want
to do what she intended. If they reject the concept on which the design is based,
it would become meaning less. As architectural practice realities are taught a
core of design courses, there is a tendency to impose solution that worked in
one place on another. This search for universal solution is a central theme of
architectural practice and when applied to housing, the architect does not have
place in low-income housing.
Also, to build is to exercise power and
to change he environment (Habraken, 1980). The
dweller should be recognized and understood as a power. it
is only when the users themselves exercise power, by directly influencing and
controlling a part of physical environment, can be expected healthy, vital, and
improved environments. The architect can not and must not take all the decision
in housing provision. Providing housing calls for a duality
of responsibility. The architect helps to create a physical environment
that allows for change by the users, and the users must ct on their own behalf
as well as participate in the shared or community aspects of their environment.
When the dwellers are not consulted, they make the building to adapt to them
and not the other way round. When this happens, the architects’ designs are
defaced with the outcome, failure.
We cannot say or
argue that all the initiatives must be left to the people. People must have the
content in which to act. They need a physical structure in order to develop
their own. The is a need to find appropriate balance
of power between the architect, the other professionals involved and the
people. However, settlements must be cultivated, and gradual investment over a
long period of time is more economically sound.
The Housing Process
Clearly stated
provision of housing especially for the low in-come urban residents a process
and the major role of the architect is in giving
social and political realities physical form. What architecture has not been
able to do is to generate principle and methods that can be widely applied.
Realities have shown that projects have to be increasingly assessed not only in
terms of how much shelter they provide, but also more on their capacity as
vehicles to scale up housing activity and therefore contribute to national
development. For the performance of the architects in respect to low-income housing
to be positive therefore, they must involve themselves with his generation of
methods and techniques that help improve physical and social system that must guarantee
program continuity. Thus, to work within this frame of work, architect must
expand their terms of reference (and therefore their professional roles) into
areas of management of the various facets of the built an environment,
technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation etc. The architect must act as
a social catalyst and t the same time exert his/her skills in he alchemy of
forms. It can be seen that with he current curricula in schools of architecture
In Nigeria, the students has been poorly prepared to act like an enabler in the
housing process. The challenge is in developing methods and procedures of being
able to work with he low-income people and associations and giving hem the
chance to decide their priorities vis-à-vis appropriate, effective and
sustainable housing for them. Of recent, with the influence of globalization,
housing provision process has expanded from government agencies o include the
following client groups: Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs), community based
organizations (CBOs). Associational
and neighborhood groups etc. For the architect to be relevant in housing
provision therefore, her duties must be expanded to enable her assist client
groups assess their own needs, priorities and resources available and accessible.
It is only then that actual design can take place. Genuine consultation with
the client group must be part of design process for it to be complete and the
last act in the process is that of the occupant.
The architect
must redefine her role in order to participate in low-income housing. The
preconditions for developing or incorporating participatory design education
into existing architectural education include a transformation of the professional
and institutional structure of architectural schools and their curricula. Simply
stated, it is a different state of mind. Thus, design coalitions will not
automatically make housing design any more participatory than at present. It is
the conceptual, political economic and organizational content of architectural
knowledge and its structure that require transformation to make the design
process participatory. Specifically,
generations of architects trained along he present
objectives of the profession cannot just change. We have to grow out of and
deny our ideological make up first. This is a formidable task but an important
first step.
Relationship with the Political
System
Another problem
that has never been tackled in schools of architecture is the importance of
politics to housing provision. Politicians who are at
the apex of policymaking have never necessarily listened to the advice of
architects or other professionals for that matter.
Their being in
position is not related to their previous performance on the job or the
actualization of their promised projects during electioneering campaigns. Thus,
if we want the best for the low-income urban residents, we must respect the
power of existing systems and pressures (e.g. political, bureaucratic and
markets) since proposals are much more likely to be favored by the current
political power if they are backed or supported by strong political and
economic forces. Simply stated, if our proposals are the right and appropriate
ones for specific situations, they will not see the light of day if we cannot
carry the politicians and the political systems along.
b) Role of women in housing
Mr. Vice
Chancellor, ladies and gentlemen, I am not standing here to defend a case for
recognizing everyone, is that we must recognize their role, as women have
special relationship with human settlements by virtue of their daily tasks in
the business of living. In performing their triple roles in the environment as:
managers or maintainers of the environment as it exist; as rehabilitators of
the natural environment in a sustainable sense; and as innovators in the use of
appropriate technology (Moser and Chant, 1985), the women protect the
environment. And there can be no improvement in the environment except these
relationship are considered in the design of housing and planning of activities
in the cities, as these roles have significant impact on the ways both men and
women use the environment.
Housing
provision in the country has been informed by rules that are oppressive to
women. What has been emphasized in gender researches generally is that in
ignoring the contributions of women to economic and social development, the
country is losing and wasting a vital human resource in the development
process, since the women make the most intensive use of housing. However, the
consequences of deficiencies of housing provision fall most heavily on them.
Also, the spaces provided are not defined by the women as to their use (Oruwari, 1996).
Studies have
shown that there is the need for an integrated approach to politics and
programs in housing and urban development that will bring women into focus. To
be considered also, are gender peculiarities that are based on different
perceptions and usage of spaces in the environment. These are not by design or
accident but by fact and reality of life, that cannot be ignored. Their
participation in urban development must be direct. This dictates gender
specific considerations in formulation of urban politics.
For housing for
the low income urban households to be affective, we must recognize the changing
role of women in the home, and then we should cater for their changing uses of
spaces along with the factors affecting them.
c) Housing and globalization
There are a lot
of definitions of globalization. In this lecture, we will use the one by Nayyer (1997) where he defined globalization as the
phenomenal interlink ages, interactions, integration and independence among
nations that are manifested in unprecedented trading volumes, massive financial
and information flows, and concentration of corporate power in progressively
fewer multi-national players. In theory, globalization can have a positive
impact on economic growth, in practice; it benefits those with technology,
resources, contacts, information and access to the world markets (Mule, 2001).
However, globalization has a negative impact on the poor.
Globalization
and urbanization have a symbiotic relationship (Warah,
2001). On one side of globalization-urbanization phenomenon, the
characteristics of cities help to shape and promote globalization by providing
the infrastructure and labor (although highly specialized) on which
globalization depends as well as the innovative ideas that result from intense
urban activities. The impact of globalization is most acutely felt in the
cities as the global economy has changed the structure of employment and
altered the demographic make up of cities.
Increased
fragmentation of cities has made the costs and benefits of globalization to be
unevenly distributed between and within cities e.g. in Nigeria, a lot of people
are living in the squatter settlements (popularly called watersides) in the
same city with gleaming corporate skyscrapers, whose budgets are enormous.
Urban poverty is also a growing problem as real incomes fall, cost of living
rises, and there is great unemployment of able-bodied people especially well
educated young school leavers. at the same time, he
people are exposed to sophisticated international consumer goods. All of these
experiences have led to creation of “enclaves of poverty” and frustration of
the populace that is manifested in conflict and violence the slightest
perceived provocation.
On the other
side of globalization-urbanization phenomenon, new political spaces have been
opened in which the poor are engaging in different forms of social organization
that are facilitated by their proximity to urban-based political and social
institutions, and information network facilities.
Ironically,
globalization has nurtured rather than destroy he organizational capacity of
the poor urban dwellers. Thus while the urban poor may have little influence
over global economic forces, they are taking an increasingly active role as
agents of their own development. For example, where banks do not lend to them
for informal businesses, they save and lend to a better appreciation of
policies that support the poor and which assist them to their full potential.
Noted, existing
approaches do no address urgent problems of access to adequate housing. There
is need for new ways of managing and governing cities and local governments
have a crucial role to play in this regard. There must be a re-orientation of
the tradition of unaccountability by local government authorities.
Cities hold the
potential to maximize the benefits and offset the negative consequences of
globalization. A well managed city can provide an economic environment capable
of generating employment opportunities as well as offering a diversity of goods
and services. However, market forces do not sufficiently address the needs of
the vulnerable section (i.e. the poor) in the society. To do this,
globalization must therefore serve other goals beside economic growth if it is
to benefit all sections of the society. Cities in
d) Bridging the Gaps.
A very worrisome
phenomenon is the gap between our research finding and their uses by the
parishioners in the field. What has always bothered me is how this gap can be
filled because if not, why are we researching? In developing countries, we can
not ascribe to our selves h luxury of researching for the sake of it. Here are
too many developmental problems to be solved. Here is a need to therefore to
develop urgently effective communication channels between most practical
researchers carried out in our universities and institutes on one hand and the
industries and government agencies that are expected to use our findings in
improving he lives of our people on the other hand. His is formidable task.
·
Another
worrisome gap is the inaccessibility of researchers to resources. Simply
stated, one cannot conduct meaningful research withy out findings salute all
researchers who have been conducting their researches with mostly resources
from heir meager salaries. I hereby lend my voice to that of other researcher
in appealing and soliciting for assistance from various bodies including; the
federal government, state governments, corporate bodies, and individuals from
the society. If researchers are ready to work, the least the society can do to
encourage them is to provide he funds.
·
·
]]
Some policy implications of factors
highlighted
Generally,
policies on housing are always based on the income of heads of house holds but
it has been shown that the total household income affected the variance of the
rent paid by only 3%(Oruwari, 1992c).this has a lot
of implications not only for policies but for global thinking about housing for
the low income urban households and directives and suggestions by donor
agencies’ experts. First, it must be realized that, even if households have he money,
they may not find the units to rent in most urban areas in the country. Second,
their demands have no relation to what they get in terms of supply. Thus,
policies have to learn more to production of a lot of units that would satisfy
majority of the low income urban households on short term basis, and only on
long-term basis that individual requirements can be looked into. The logical
tenure of course is the rental one and the logical provision is rooming houses.
The composite implication is that efforts should be geared in making rooming
houses accessible at the cheapest price possible.
Of importance
also is that a lot of factors affect recent and all must be considered at the
same time. Intervention has to be in many sectors simultaneously to be
affective. That is one of the major reasons why present interventions have not
been effective. The major advice is that policies should learn more to
increment provision of housing units including facilities, services, job
creation etc. This is what I call Realistic Housing.
To achieve this,
policies should borrow a leaf from the traditional setting where housing units
are provided: within the means of individuals; with appropriate technology and
use of materials that are easily available and accessible. Most importantly the
houses grow as the resources and needs of the families increase. a realistic process is that every housing program must
identify the target group, develop a role for the user bearing in mind that
housing is not a finished product by a growing entity. This leads to
exploration of flexible designs that accommodate varied needs and resources.
The expected outcome is evolutionary housing with appropriate technology and
incremental production.
The provision
mot only keeps line of communication open between every one involved, it solves
the problem of monotony caused by uniform building in mss housing s the
buildings will not be of the same design and at the same stage of construction.
Provision of services will be incremental at both individual and neighborhood
levels. Thus, settlement will be a slowly evolving process with gradual investment
over a longer period of time every thing will emerge slowly a
the same time like the Polaroid photograph.
Summary
Mr. vice Chancellor,
ladies and gentlemen, it would be difficult and pretentious to end this inaugural
lecture with a conclusion since solving housing problem is a continuous process.
This lecture is of the opinion that it is not possible to provide housing for
the low income urban households at the present mode of production. At the same time,
a lot of areas are explored on what should be done to make housing accessible to
low income urban households. It is however realized that the areas of
intervention explored, although expected to alleviate the problem, cannot solve
it. In fact, there can be no panacea for solving housing problems for the low
income urbanites completely because:
1.
The solutions are dependent on the bureaucrats who, in
solving the problem of the poor low income residents may jeopardize their own
interests. they have to have the moral will-power to do so