ACTIVITY PATTERNS AND URBAN RESIDENTIAL LOCATION DECISION IN IBADAN, OYO STATE

One of the problems confronting the urban residents relates to how to operate in the face of the complexities of the urban environment. The search for an optimum residential location has been a source of chronic problem to the urban dwellers. Transportation problems of workers and other residents in Ibadan including traffic congestion, reduction in the number of public transport vehicles and increasing commuting cost, further tend to increase the difficulty of getting easy access to activity
nodes patronized by households. Sub-optimal residential locations of households in relation to the distribution of urban activity nodes tend to increase the cost and time budgets of households in addition to other socio-psychological problems. Some households, however, have constrained choice in which households simply occupy existing vacancies. The research approaches the issue from the standpoint of activity distribution of households and how such distributions affect their residential location decisions. Ibadan has been used as the study area for this work.
Seven hundred and thirty six (736) household heads provided the basic data for this study. A network of grids was superimposed on an updated map of Ibadan and a systematic sampling of a residential building in every other grid intersection was carried out across the city. Several simple and multivariate techniques were used to analyse the data.
The study revealed some departures from existing propositions of earlier research efforts. It was discovered that households did not necessarily choose their residential locations in relation to the city centre used in this study. Households appeared to show a tendency towards proximity to their activity centres. This is reflected across the urban space irrespective of such locations in relation to the city centre. Sorne households also showed a tendency to change residential locations when the activity centres patronized by such households appeared to be inconvenient. Others, however, failed· to change their residential locations even when some factors should ordinarily make them change residences.
Based on these findings, it is recommended that household units and their activity patterns be adopted in a neighbourhood approach to facility planning and location. A modification is also proposed in the use of this concept for urban landuse planning.