Assessment of Urban Redevelopment Programme in Ondo Town, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Abstract:

Diverse problems abound in Ondo town, such as slums, flood, dilapidated buildings, and poor road network; consequently, urban redevelopment programme was introduced by the government to address these problems. This study therefore, aimed at assessing urban redevelopment programme in Ondo town, Ondo State, Nigeria. The sample for the study was chosen through a multi-stage sampling. In the first stage, 7 political wards were purposively selected from a total of 12 wards. The second stage involved selection of 3 wards out of the prior 7, being the wards where urban redevelopment programme took place. Thereafter, Taro Yamane Sample Size Calculation was adopted to arrive at 399 out of the total population of 115,000. Secondary data were sourced not only through textbooks, journals, and internet but also from National Population Commission, where the three selected wards population projection figure for year 2021 was obtained. The research has revealed that urban redevelopment took place in Ondo town; especially redevelopment of drainage canals, road expansions, and construction of roundabouts were extensively carried out amongst others. The findings revealed public/private partnership efforts in urban redevelopment of Ondo town. Also, bulldozing and rehabilitation approaches were adopted in the urban redevelopment of Ondo town. The study further showed that urban redevelopment has contributed significantly in boosting the socio-economic development of the town. The research has also revealed the negative consequences of urban redevelopment in form of demolition of structures which posed hardships to the occupants. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The Chi-square test indicated that the nature of urban redevelopment programme in Ondo town is not significantly responsible for socio-economic development in Ondo town (X2 = 11.32, P > 0.05. The study concluded that redevelopment programme should be further encouraged and strengthened for positive transformation of Ondo town. Keywords: Bulldozing approach, neighbourhood, Ondo town, programme, rehabilitation approach, urban redevelopment