The Resilient Mercantile Hub: An Evidence-Derived Architectural and Governance Framework for Sustainable Waterfront Regeneration in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

This article develops and presents the Resilient Mercantile Hub, a conceptual architectural design framework for sustainable waterfront regeneration in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, synthesising historical building condition data, community survey findings (n = 364), and semi-structured interview testimony from informal traders and built-environment professionals into a coherent, three-zone spatial and governance model. The framework is organised around five empirically derived principles proximate access, flood resilience, incremental formalisation, heritage as asset, and livelihood integration and divides the waterfront into three interlocking spatial zones: Waterfront and Landing (a flood-resilient platform and mangrove buffer), Adaptive Reuse Core (retrofitted colonial warehouses housing trade-specific market halls and upper-floor community infrastructure), and Public Realm and Movement Corridor (an elevated promenade and rain gardens). A Waterfront Community Land Trust governance model, modelled on comparable trusts in Mumbai and Cape Town, addresses the tenure insecurity identified as the binding constraint on private investment. We argue that the framework’s distinguishing methodological contribution is its derivation procedure: every spatial and architectural decision is traced explicitly to a specific, quoted item of empirical evidence a survey percentage, a verbatim trader testimony, or a Building Condition Assessment Matrix score rather than to generic adaptive-reuse or waterfront- regeneration design convention, producing a framework whose design logic is auditable against the data that generated it.

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