© Kamla-Raj 2009 J Hum Ecol, 25(3): 201-208 (2009) Evolving a Planning Strategy for Managing Urban Sprawl in Nigeria Julius Olujimi Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria E-mail: olujimi54 @ yahoo.com KEYWORDS Urbanisation. Development Control. People-Oriented Strategy. Local Planning Authority. State Urban and Regional Planning Board ABSTRACT The increasing urban sprawl in most cities in developing countries continues to attract attention of national and international agencies but the efforts had not achieved much result at checking the sprawl. There is the need therefore to re-evaluate these efforts and make necessary suggestions that would reverse the trend. This study investigates the problems of urban sprawl in Nigeria. It utilizes published and unpublished materials as well as sundry informal investigations (i.e. observations) of the stakeholders in the development and management of urban sprawl in Nigerian cities. The paper presents the urbanization trends in Nigeria and discusses the characteristic features of urban sprawl in its cities as well as identifies the various factors responsible for the urban sprawl. It evaluates strategies adopted so far at curtailing the sprawl. A major limitation of the various strategies adopted is the inadequate involvement of the people (developers) at checking the sprawl. The paper therefore suggests a people-oriented strategy in checking urban sprawl in Nigerian cities; which is expected to be facilitated by the government planning officials. INTRODUCTION The world is increasingly becoming urbanized and the rate at which city populations grow and countries urbanise is indicative of the pace of social and economic change (Donk 2006). In 1976, one-third of the world population lived in cities and 30 years later (2006), this rose to one-half of the entire humankind (Tibajuka 2006); and by the target year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); cities in the world are estimated to grow to two-third or 6 billion people by 2050 (UN- Habitat 2006). With nearly all global demographic growth that is mostly concentrated in developing coun- tries, urban sprawl is becoming a major feature of the developing countries. Useful as they may be as demographic absorbers, metropolitan regions by their sheer size, create complex and multi- faceted problems on scales never experienced before. The effects of this population dynamics in African cities in particular produced miseries that are often difficult to comprehend (Olurin 2003). Most of the big African cities including those in Nigeria are faced with the problem of rapidly deteriorating physical and living environment. The deterioration manifests itself in the form of slums, urban sprawl and squatters’ settlements, increasing traffic congestion, flooding and erosion, deteriorating infrastructure and short falls in service delivery among others. For most developing countries, the gover- nance and management of their towns and cities are most daunting as the cities appear to be growing beyond the control of planners, beyond management capacities and beyond available resources (Agbola and Olurin 1998). Since man’s quest for change will continue within his dynamic environment, this points to the fact that urbaniza- tion becomes an inevitable phenomenon particularly in developing countries. Contempo- rary comparative international experiences do show that the problems have to be approached with innovative ingenuity and solved through novel strategies which are consensual and adaptive to the socio-economic and cultural setting of the target population. In the realization of this objective therefore, the paper proposes a planning strategy that addresses the problems of urban sprawl in Nigeria. The paper examines urbanization trends in Nigeria. It further discusses the characteristic features of urban sprawl in Nigerian cities and examines efforts puts in place in the past to address its attendant problems. Considering the limitations of these efforts, the paper finally suggests a feasible strategy which is adaptive to African socio-cultural milieu for the management of urban sprawl in Nigerian cities.