Addressing the Nigerian Housing Affordability Challenge through Smart City Solutions

Abstract

The twin challenges of deficit housing and the unaffordability of the available ones have been an issue contended with by Nigeria’s growing population. While there have been deliberate efforts to mitigate this issue via government interventions and public-private partnerships, it has not effectively catered to those it was specifically created for, as most high-income and mid-income earners benefit more from such interventions. This problem has been alluded to the state of land governance and accessibility in Nigeria, which is still in need of development. This study was aimed at examining smart city solutions that can be applied to Nigeria’s developing state of housing affordability. The study adopted a survey research design, with primary and secondary data sources consulted. The respondents were sampled purposively, and a Likert-scaled questionnaire and weighted averages were used to analyze the collected data. The study identified that the integration of technology in modular construction and its adoption in public-private partnerships towards the regulation of efficient land use can tackle housing affordability issues if implemented at Nigeria’s current level of development. High cost and lack of government support were identified as potential barriers to its successful implementation, while the challenge of unequal access to technology and the likelihood of technological malfunctions were identified as concerns upon successful implementation. The paper suggests that the development of affordable housing through technology-enabled modular construction can be explored, especially the integration of local materials in the development of houses.