Urban Development and Renewal in Nigeria: The Potency of Public Private Partnership

Abstract

Urban growth and renewal, which is an essential element of sustainable urban development, is inevitably influenced by general conditions including globalization and demographic change. Urban development initiatives also face changing demands on infrastructure generally and towns and cities expectedly undergo phases of growth, stagnation, decline and revitalization. As a consequence, the tasks of urban renewal, urban expansion is an uphill and a daunting one. This study therefore examines the potency of public/private partnership as a strategy/for accelerating the implementation of high quality urban development and renewal projects. This is expedient because the public/private partnership option is expected to play a complimentary role in meeting the challenges posed by urban development and renewal, especially given the peculiarity of the Nigerian climate that is typified by lack of commitment by government to infrastructural development and maintenance and the accompanying urban decay that has become common place. This study which utilized relevant secondary sources of data argues that the low level of public/private partnership in Nigeria is largely a product of the existing climate of poor collaboration. This study subsequently posits that the efficacy of public/private partnership initiatives in Nigeria is constrained by the existing climate of poor commitment by government to urban development and renewal issues that has engineered an unfavourable predisposition by the private sector in this regard. The study resultantly hinged the workability of the public/private partnership option vis-à-vis the urban development and renewal dilemma in Nigeria on the dismantling of the permeating climate. The paper concluded with some useful remarks.

Keywords: urban development, renewal, public/private partnership, Nigeria.