Evaluation Of Residents’ Satisfaction Level With Physical Qualities Of Slum Dwellings In Urban Centres In Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

The increasing proliferation of slums and their attendant mismatch with urban landscapes call for users’ satisfaction evaluation for possible future upgrading of urban slums. This study evaluates the residents' levels of satisfaction with the physical qualities of dwellings in the urban slum centres in Aba and Umuahia, Nigeria, to provide design criteria for urban slum upgrading. The physical qualities of the slum dwellings and the level of satisfaction of the residents were investigated through a mixture of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The quantitative approach involved the administration of 313 copies of structured questionnaires on the randomly selected adult residents of slum dwellings in Abia State. The qualitative method adopted the physical observation of the slum dwellings. The resident satisfaction index (RSI) and physical quality index (PQI) simulated from the relative importance index (RII) were used to analyse the 3-point Likert scale ordinal data obtained. The findings indicate that all the rankings from both PQI and RSI were below the predetermined value of 0.3 which is considered as minimum. This implies that the residents were both dissatisfied and in disagreement with the statements provided on the physical qualities of the slum dwellings. Thus, the study recommends that inasmuch as the consideration of inputs from end-users of every kind of building facility is necessary, however, those of the inhabitants of the slum dwellings in Abia State, Nigeria, cannot be integrated into the discursive field of urban slum upgrading programmes by the relevant urban design professionals and all other stakeholders. However, the urban slum dwellers are also qualified to have adequate, safe and affordable housing provisions.