Sustainable development practices in mass housing delivery in Lagos, Nigeria

The swift urbanization of Lagos, Nigeria, has aggravated the housing demand in most cases at the cost of sustainability in mass housing provision. Although the world is increasingly advocating the use of sustainable construction methods, the proper use of sustainable methods in housing development in Lagos is negligible. The article evaluates how well mass housing developments have incorporated sustainability, the knowledge and practices that developers have regarding sustainability and what are the impediments preventing adoption. A mixed-methods design was adopted in the study, in which a structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 159 real estate development companies to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data. The descriptive statistics and thematic analysis indicate that developers are not highly aware of the sustainability principles, but the practices relating to critical issues are not high. The barriers that turned out to be the most common included high initial expenses, poor enforcement of regulations and lack of technical expertise. Despite developers’ realization of sustainable housing, the large-scale use is constrained by financial and institutional constraints, yet the environmental, economic and social advantages are clear. The article highlights the importance of more robust policy frameworks, focused financial incentives and more capacity-building initiatives in order to enhance sustainable mass housing provision. The results provide empirically supported information to policy-makers, city planners and real estate professionals in the quest to coordinate housing development with the goals of global sustainability.