Influence of Housing Design on Residential Mobility in Private Rental Housing in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Intra-urban residential shifts stemming from changing housing needs is an obvious aspect of urban dynamics. Against this background, the study investigated the drivers of residential mobility inherent in design of private rental housing in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria. Utilizing a survey research method, data were collected from 200 household heads in 9 residential localities across 3 residential density areas of Ibadan. Descriptive statistics were used to explain observed housing and socioeconomic characteristics while indices like Residents’ Satisfaction Index (RSI) and Mobility Propensity Index (MPI) were developed with the aid of Likert-type scaling to evaluate housing satisfaction and design attributes triggering relocation decisions, respectively. Findings reveal a preponderance of room tenements (31.1%) and single-storey (50.0%) rental houses predominantly inhabited by households of 3-4 people (40.5%). Households experienced considerable gains for a wide range of building spaces in current residences compared to previous ones which was particularly high (≥1.0) for building attributes like number of rooms, room size, store design, but reduced only for “green area” which had the lowest score (RSI=2.73). Residential mobility was shaped by a variety of housing design attributes and building type was a major external attribute (MPI=2.64) while room size/number were the major internal attributes (MPI=2.63). The study concludes that improvement in adequacy of housing design attributes could improve housing satisfaction and recommended enforcement of minimum building standards and more stringent greenery regulations, among others, for private rental housing developers towards curtailing unnecessary mobility and promoting healthier living environments.