ELEMENTS OF CITY

ELEMENTS OF CITY

The understanding of the theories of internal structure of city namely, the concentric cycle theory of Burgess, 1925; Sector theory by Homer Hoyt in 1939; Multiple Neclei theory by C. D. Harris and E. L Ullman in (1945) as quoted by Carter (1981) and the understanding of these two concepts below, will give an insight to element of city.

Urban structures and (2) urban form; will give a full focus to constitute the city’s element.

(A)     Urban Structures: This can be defined in its simplest term as the spatial relationship of difference elements and parts of the city. There are different arrangements in our cities; so also, there are different theories that study these arrangements and the pattern of cities. All these theories tend to study the internal structure of cities and give explanation to it.

(B)     Urban Form: This is relatively a similar term to the one above but they are not totally the same thing. Urban form in its proper meaning is broader than the urban structure, which merely looks at the arrangement of the components parts of cities, while, urban form goes deeper to cover the phenomenon that include:

1.     The general study of urban pattern

2.     The size of the urban area in terms of their population and area coverage.

3.     The shape and textures.

4.     The density of the city.

5.     The uses of the urban land (which keep on changing) e

6.     The ability of the city to carry out its functions efficient

Components of City

The situation of city today has passed what it used to be in the classical, medieval, the renaissance and even the early industrial revolution days. Today, the problems of our cities are not only seen as merely health and sanitation problems, rather the problems cut across all spheres of life. The main elements in contemporary thought in Urban and Regional Planning focus on:

      1.     The Nature; which consists of other elements;

       2.     The Man; who settles and dwells in the cities.

       3.     The society; which is formed by the group of men;

       4.     The housing shells and buildings created by man. Th€ form the residential, and other land uses in the urban

       5.     The network or circulation; which links the different uses; and

       6.     The infrastructural facilities and amenities; which make life meaningful and functional.

All these work together. It is believed that once there is a malfunction in an of these factors or when there is a pressure on any of these elements, then, the city is out of balance and there is a problem in the city.

It also in contemporary thought that the sectorial nature in which urban problems were looked at in the past as health problem is misleading. In modern planning however, the city is seen as a living organism which needs proper servicing and maintenance.

The Concept of Habitability

The concept of habitability explains the level of satisfaction derived by the tenants or residents. In order to evaluate housing habitability, there are several research approaches that can be adopted based on “user reactions”. For the purpose of this discussion, we shall examine the system approach. This concept looks at or interwaves the reaction of four mean subsystems namely, tenant (man), shelter (dwelling), environment and institutional management (managerial arrangement).

 The concept of habitability reveals that housing is more than a shelter. The components of housing as indicated above work together. These four components or subsystem variables interact actively to produce the level of satisfaction and the level of satisfaction in turn determines the level of housing needs in a given place.

However, habitability as used in the system approach assumes the fact that what constitutes habitability varies according to the ambient circumstance and as such, the habitability of housing at a particular in time can only be defined meaningfully in the relative terms rather than the absolute sense.

Considering ‘man’ who is the occupant of the house for instance, some of his socio-economic characteristics such as marital family size, income level etc need to be examined. In addition, the culture of the group to which the occupants belong should be n adequate attention. You will also considers whether there is crowding of people living together – this affects privacy and of course satisfaction and productivity.

Considering the ‘shelter’ aspect, of the concept we need to study the adequacy or otherwise of the physical design of the house in terms of ventilation number of rooms, size of rooms, toilet and storage facilities and the enhancement of the privacy of individuals and the family.

Thus, for example, a “House” is inadequate if the p. of sewage disposal is not available or faulty. Similarly, a House with water closet, water toilet system but which constantly runs short of water supply reveals a bad situation.

Considering the institutional arrangement, this is composed of the management and maintenance of housing. For exam can talk about how reliable the essential services will enhance healthy– living. So also, we should consider the availability of protective services such as police post, post office, other security outfits, mortgage servicing, cleanliness of the neighhourhood by the authority concerned. For instance, is the housing estate subjected to constant raid by armed robber? If so, such housing estate does not worth living in.

Considering the environmental system of the concept, this tends to emphasize the role of physical planning in housing. For example, we need to consider whether the houses are loc slum or squalor environment. Also the density is important, v high, medium or low density. For instance, if you house a rich man who is not used to such living in high density area. The satisfaction to him may be low, in that he will find himself living with people of different classes, he may be faced with privacy problem and other typesof problems.

We also need to know whether there is open spaces, parking spaces, recreational facilities, good roads, shopping centres, health centres, and other environmental amenities like school, post office, cinema, night club etc. Also the beauty of the environment needed to be considered. Along this line, it has been argue good number of the Federal Government Housing Estate environmental facilities. This can be discussed and in fact researchable.

TYPES OF HOUSING & CLASSIFICATION

There is a great deal of confusion in the housing market on the classification of housing accommodation. This is due to different disciplines in housing studies. However, there are three (3) basic methods of identification. These are:

(1)   By Class: This is used to denote the income level of the family occupying the units and whether the units are detached or have a party wall.

(2)   By Structure: This refers to the nature of the structure whether, one storey, split level, or Mansion etc.

(3)   By Style: This refers to the decorative design of a unit based on historical or contemporary fashion e.g. Brazillian, French, English, Colonial, traditional compound type, post war, Latin pattern, Arabian, Roman type etc.

Dickson (1951) as quoted by Carter (1981) observed the lowing types of housing in London and that the same type is applicable to the whole of England. They are as follows:

1.     Old cottage which formed part of the pre-nineteenth century villages and pre by-law housing of the two storeys terrace type.

 

2.     Relatively large houses of three storeys plus basement built 50 to 80 years ago.

3.     Buildings originally used as stable and coach accommodation attached to large houses, now used as dwellings (new houses).

4.     Isolated or detached villas in the suburbs with large gardens and spacious layout.

5.     Two storeys and three storeys houses built over 50 years ago and covering area (By-Law housing).

6.     Tall tenements blocks, erected between 1975 and 1920.

7.     Spacious and dignified terraces and squares of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

From the above categorization, as quoted by Carter (1981) made the following re-classification for Britain.

1.     Residential hotels and boarding houses.

2.     Blocks of flats or apartments.

3.     Terrace houses with front gardens.

4.     Terrace houses without front garden.

5.     Detached or semi-detached villas and bungalow residen with garages or adequate garage space on the side.

6.     As in 5, but without garages or garage space.

7.     Large detached houses in extensive grounds.

In Nigeria, the following housing types are common

(1)  Single storey buildings,

(2)  Multi-storey buildings,

(3)  Duplex

(4)  Bungalow

(5)  Block of flats,

(6)  Rooming houses (multi-family units),

(7)  The old court yard pattern (for extended family) among others.

In the Central Business District or city centres, most of residential areas are in the process ofgiving way to commercial land. While most of them are undergoing renovation and rehabilitation suit commercial use, others are completely being rebuilt for commercial use purposes. This is expected because economics is a or determinant of Urban Land Use.