Geospatial Assessment of the Impact of Urban Sprawl in Akure, Southwestern Nigeria

摘要

This study analyzed trend and examined the factors responsible for urban sprawl in Akure with a view to develop a user-friendly geospatial database for monitoring urban sprawl in the study area. Medium resolution satellite imageries derived from Landsat (TM) and (ETM+) comprising of four dates (1986, 1991, 2002 and 2011) were analyzed. The results revealed that built-up area increased rapidly by 43.31% from 5857.54 hectares in 1986 to 8394.21 hectares in 1991. It further increased by 72.02% from 8762.76 hectares to 15073.7 hectares in 2011. Field study conducted in 2013 involved in-depth interviews and questionnaires to stakeholders and residence respectively. The analysis showed that there was a weak negative relationship (r = -0.189, p < 0.01) between gender and “house ownership”, a weak positive relationship (r = 0.343, p < 0.01) between marital status and “house ownership” and a weak negative relationship (r = -0.159, p < 0.05) between “number of children” and “house ownership” in the sprawl location. Geo-spatial database modeled was tested by subjecting it to spatial analysis to show its capability to answer question pertaining to all the entities of the database. The study concluded that urban sprawl increased and if not reversed, might constitute greater social and environmental problems in the future.