Assessment of the Urban Climate of Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

This study which utilizes field data and recent climate literature, examines the nature and characteristics of the urban climate of Benin City, Nigeria. Specifically, it assesses the place of rainfall in city planning to resist extreme climatic forces. The study argues that essential urban climate principles are often excluded from the urban planning and development process by the physical authorities in Benin City. It observes the existence of deforested landscapes, unsuitable exotic urban surfaces, inadequate flood drains, modified hydro-terrestrial basins, abundant rainfall and mixed urban canopy formations in the urban area. As a result of these features, the city is currently facing severe environmental challenges of surface inundation, mudflows in the streets, submergence of built houses by floods, traffic congestion, infrastructural damages, displacement of residents, heat-induced ailments, depressed workforce, and reduced socio-economic activities. To overcome these challenges, the study suggests, inter-alia, that the utilization of vital climatic elements in the physical planning and development process would restore Benin City into an environmentally healthy, productive, and sustainable cultural habitat immune from the frequent attacks of cataclysmic extreme climatic forces.

Key words: Urban climate, Benin City, rainfall, utilization, sustainable habitat.