International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-5, Issue-3, Mar- 2018] https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.5.3.13 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O) www.ijaers.com Page | 93 Gentrification and Environmental Justice in Nigerian Cities Ogbonna Chukwuemeka Godswill*, Aguguo Godlives Ukachukwu Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Abia State Polytechnic Aba, Nigeria *Email: emeka14feb@yahoo.com Abstract— Gentrification is a process of urban revitalization by which the original inhabitants of an area are displaced, owing to the purchase and upgrading of their deteriorated properties by the middle or high income households. An aspect of gentrification that is of particular interest to Nigerians is the issue of displacement, with its attendant socio-economic alienation of the poor from the city, which has evoked some environmental justice concerns. Focusing on the city of Aba, this study examined gentrification and the environmental justice question in Nigerian cities. The study adopted survey research design, making use of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse gentrification. Cluster and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 158 displaced household heads of gentrified buildings across the various neighbourhoods in Aba, who were surveyed. Data collected were analyzed with appropriate parametric tests using SPSS. Findings show that about 698 households are displaced in the city every year due to gentrification, with an annual displacement rate of 7.5%. This gentrification induced displacements have been found to constitute significant environmental injustice to the low income city residents as it leads to their dislocation from kin, and communal heritages; forces them to move into substandard housing at the urban fringes; and constrains some to relocate to the rural areas, limiting their abilities to cope with life’s challenges. The study therefore recommends among other things, that the Town Planning Authorities should create a platform to educate owners of rundown properties to adopt the model of market-led gentrification as presently practiced in Lagos city. Keywords— Aba, Displacement, Environmental justice, Gentrification, Nigeria. I. INTRODUCTION Gentrification is a concept developed by sociologist Ruth Glass in 1964 by which she sought to explain the socio- demographic changes in residential neighbourhoods in London, where working class low income dwellers were being displaced by middle income earners. Certain circumstances surrounding the urbanization process of the London inner city had necessitated the middle/high income earners to buy individual residential housing units from low income working class owner-occupiers or from landlords with small property holdings within the older parts of the city. Over time, the process of gentrification transforms both the physical character of the neighbourhood as well as the socio-economic and demographic characteristics resulting in an upscale, culturally elegant, professional community (Glass, 1964). Hence, gentrification connotes transformation of the rundown, inner-city, low-income neighbourhoods into wealthy areas, usually associated with population change and improvements to the built environment (Criekingen & Decroly, 2003). Hamnett (1984) defines gentrification as the invasion by middle-class or higher-income groups, of previously working-class neighbourhoods or old and deteriorated communities, and the replacement or displacement of many of the original occupants. It involves the physical renovation or rehabilitation of deteriorated housing stock and upgrading it to meet the requirements of the new owners – a process which leads to a significant appreciation in the value of the environment as well as the price of the housing stock. Three main theoretical concepts have been discussed in literature to explain gentrification: socio-cultural approach or consumption-orientated theory (Ley, 1994; London and Palen, 1984); the economic approach – the rent gap theory and the value gap theory (Smith, 1987; Hamnett, 1984); and the political interventions theories (Lees, 2008; Haase et al., 2010). Due to accession of wealth, ‘tertiarisation’ of jobs which followed after the Second World War, modern society began to be shaped by diverse lifestyles and various types of households. These socio-cultural shifts and their consequences on market demands as Ley (1994) identified, are the basis of the socio-cultural approach that describes the process of gentrification as the displacement of inhabitants of an area by groups of ‘new lifestyles‘ that emerged due to the structural transformation towards the