An Examination of the Factors Responsible for Elimination of existing Vegetation in Urban Housing Environment in Nigeria.

Abstract

The growth of urban population has placed huge demand on housing and many Governments in Nigeria are working tirelessly to address the shortfall. The development of mass housing schemes have become the norm in many Nigerian cities and this affects the vegetative cover of the city. The architects have been faced with the challenge of designing houses that meets the need of the people, in so doing the majority of the housing designs in the urban areas have often assumed the plot to be bare lands. The problem with this type of design assumption is that it allows for clearing of existing vegetation including trees thereby creating the need to plant new vegetation. The aim of this paper is to examine the integration of existing vegetative cover into the housing provision. The research method involves the use of observation schedule and questionnaire which was administered to the housing residents of selected urban areas in northern Nigeria and selected architects. The results showed that many architects assume the land is free when designing and that majority of the vegetative cover are planted after construction. The findings from the respondents showed that the need for introduction of new plants and clear space for building ranked highest as reasons for clearing of the site. This action affects the sustainability of environment where these houses are located which is a challenge for house owners and the community at large. The paper concluded that there is need for the architects and the house owners to seek ways of ensuring that their house designs are integrated with the existing vegetative cover.