IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

IIARD INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (IJGEM )

E-ISSN 2504-8821
P-ISSN 2695-1878
VOL. 11 NO. 1 2025
DOI: 10.56201/ijgem.vol.11.no1.2025.pg28.49

---

Examination of the Typology of Public Open Spaces in Lafia Town, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Mr. Bashayi Obadiah and Dr. Bwala Baba Haruna

---

Abstract

Public open space is one of the key components in urban land use that contribute to improving the quality of life of citizens but this seems to be inadequate in most developing countries. This paper seeks to establish the types and sizes of these public open spaces in Lafia town. The study adopted field observations and direct measurements to ascertain the sizes of the public open spaces and GPS was used to take coordinates of each public open spaces. LandSat satellite images of the study area were acquired from NASRDA. This satellite image was imported into the GIS environment to locate the types of the spaces. All the images were made to pass through processes of image enhancement, Geo-referencing, re sampling, image classification and digitizing. The study revealed that there are three categories of public open spaces (civic, green and quasi-access spaces) in Lafia town with total coverage of 474,851m constituting about 2% of the urban land use which is inadequate and also public open space per inhabitant is 1.7m which is below WHO standard. From this study, the present public open spaces revealed significant reduction in most areas of the different typology of public open space in Lafia town. Therefore, the study recommends that community members including other urban stakeholders who are not experts in planning projects should be educated on public open space management. The study concludes that there should be enforcement compliance of land use management legislation to reduce public open space conversion and encroachment.

keywords:

Public open space, green spaces, typology, open space classification, recreational

---

References:

[1] Alabi, M. O. (2009). Urban Public Open Space through Vegetative Enclaves in Lokoja,
Nigeria.Geography and Regional Planning, 2(3): 051-054.
[2] Akwa, L.V., Binbol, N.L., Samaila, I.K. and Marcus, D.M. (2007) Geographical Perspective
on Nasarawa State. Onaivi Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Keffi.
[3] Aram, F.; Solgi, E. & Holden, G. (2019). The role of green spaces in increasing social
interactions in neighbourhoods with periodic markets. Habitat Int., 84, 24–32.
[4] Budruk, M.; Thomas, H. & Tyrrell, T. (2009). Urban green spaces: A study of place attachment
and environmental attitudes in India. Soc. Nat. Resour. 2009, 22, 824–839.
[5] Byrne, J. & Sipe, N. (2010). Green and open space planning for urban consolidation – A review
of the literature and best practice, Urban Research Program, ISBN 978-1-921291-96-8.
[6] Carr, S., Francis, M., Rivlin, L.G. & Stone, A. M. (1992). Public Space; Cambridge University
Press: Cambridge, UK,.
[7] Clos, J. (2016). We have lost the science of building cities. Interview in the Guardian, 18 April
[online]. [Accessed: 2 November 2018].
[8] Daramola, A. & Ibem, E. O. (2010). Urban Environmental Problems in Nigeria: Implications
for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development in Africa, 12(1):15-27.
[9] Femino, R, C. Rodrigo, S. R., Pedro, C. H. & José, C. de F. J., (2013). Perceived environment
and public open space use: a study with adults from Curitiba, Brazil. International Journal of
Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 10:35 http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/10/1/35
[10] Garba, S. B. (2007). Change in the public space of traditional Hausa cities: A study of Zaria
1804-2004 A.D. A seminar paper, Newcastle Upon Tyne, University of Newcastle.
[11] Greater Lafia Masterplan, (1998). Prepared for Nasarawa Sate Government by Savanah
Landev Konsult, Samaru-Zaria, Kaduna State
[12] Jalaladdini, S. & Oktay, D. (2012). Urban Public Spaces and Vitality: A Socio-Spatial
Analysis in the Streets of Cypriot Towns. Asia Pacific International Conference on Environment-
Behaviour Studies, Salamis Bay Conti Resort Hotel, Famagusta, North Cyprus, 7-9 December
2011 Available online at Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
[13] Jian, I. Y., Chan, E. H. W., Xu, Y. & Owusu, E. K. (2021). Inclusive public open space
for all: spatial justice with health considerations. Habitat Int. (2021) 118:102457. doi:
10.1016/j.habitatint.2021.102457
[14] Lafia Development plan, (2012). Prepared for Nasarawa Sate Government by UN-Habitat,
Abuja, FCT, Nigeria.
[15] Madanipour, A. (2010). The Changing Nature of Public Space in City Centres. In A.
Madanipour, (ed). Whose Public Space?: International Case Studies in Urban Design and
Development. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 17–20.
[16] Mitchell, D. (1995). "The end of public space? people's park, definitions of the public, and
democracy." Annuals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 85(1): 108-133.
[17] Nasution, A. D. & Zahrah, W., (2018). Quality of Life: Public open space effects. Asian
Journal Environmental Behaviour Studies, 3.
[18] National Heart Foundation of Australia, (2014). Healthy Active by Design.
[19] National Population Commission (2006) Nigeria’s Population Census 2006.
[20] NIMET (2015). Rainfall and Temperature Data Report of Lafia.
[21] Obateru, I. O. (2003). Space standards for urban development. Penthouse publication,
Ibadan.
[22] Sandalack, B. A. & Uribe, F. G. A. (2010). “Open space typology as a framework design of
a public realm”. The faces of urbanized space. (5): 35-60.
[23] Scottish Government, (2008). Scottish Executive Annual Listing for 2008, Edinburgh: Scottish
Government.
[24] Shahfahad, K. B., Tayyab, M., Hang, H. T., Khan, M. F., & Rahman, A. (2019). Assessment
of public open spaces (POS) and landscape quality based on per capita POS index in Delhi, India.
Applied Sciences, 1(4), 368.
[25] Simon, F. R. (2015). Prevalence and usage of open recreational spaces in Ibadan, Southwest
Nigeria. Unpublished thesis submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, Covenant
University, Ogun State, Nigeria.
[26] Sundaram, A. M. (2011). Urban green-cover and the environmental performance of Chennai
city. Environ. Dev. Sustain., 13, 107–119.
[27] Swanwick, C., Dunnett, N. & Woolley, H. (2003). Nature, role and value of green space in
towns and cities: an overview. Built Environment. 29, 94–106.
[28] Torkildsen, G. (2005). Leisure and Recreation Management, 5th Ed. London: Routledge.
[29] UN-Habitat, (2015). Adequate Open Public Space in Cities a Human Settlements Indicator
for Monitoring the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. A Presentation of the UN Human
Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) at the Expert Group Meeting on the Indicator framework
for the post-2015 development agenda, New York City, 25-26.
[30] Veal, A. J. (2011). Planning for leisure, sport, tourism and the arts: goals and rationales. World
Leisure Journal, 53(2), 119-48.
[31] Veal, A. J. (2013). Open space planning standards in Australia: in search of origins. Australian
Planner, 50(3), 224-32.
[32] Woolley, H. (2003). Urban Open Spaces; Taylor and Francis: Abingdon, UK.
[33] Zamanifard, H., Alizadeh, T., & Bosman, C. (2018). Towards a framework of public space
governance. Cities, 78, 155–165.
[34] Zhu, W., Wang, J. & Qin, B. (2021). Quantity or quality? Exploring the association between
public open space and mental health in urban China. Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning.
(2021) 213:104128. doi: 10.1016/j. landurbplan.2021.10 4128

DOWNLOAD PDF

---

Back