Understanding urban sprawl in the Federal Capital City, Abuja: Towards sustainable urbanization in Nigeria
Keywords:
Slum settlements, sprawl, ecological and environmental consequences, rem ote sensing and GIS, sustainabilityAbstract
In response to the rapid urban sprawling due to the fast rate of urbanization, there is an increasing need for focused
research with a view to develop remediation strategies and methodologies for the effective and sustainable
environmental planning in Federal Capital City (FCC), Abuja. This paper specifically focuses on an integrated
approach of Remote Sensing (RS) data, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques, and ground data
collected by the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receiver in facilitating urban planning. Data set from
Landsat TM, Landsat ETM and Nigeriasat-1 satellite data for 1987, 2001 and 2006, respectively, revealed that the
annual rate of urban sprawl was 10.6 km2 over a 19-year period (1987 and 2006). In view of the ecological and
environmental challenges that accompany such rapid sprawl development, the study recommends measures that
would reduce the otherwise rapid rate of urban sprawl in the FCC and to ensure sustainable urbanization.
