Residents’ satisfaction on the use of green infrastructure at Osogbo, Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Uncontrolled urbanization particularly in developing cities has exerted enormous pressure on green infrastructure which has led to their conscious and unconscious conversion to other land uses. This study investigates the residents’ satisfaction and awareness on the use of green infrastructure (GI) with a view to creating a functional environment. Primary data were obtained from field observations where 166 pretested questionnaires were administered in a stratified random sampling manner on the respondents while secondary data were obtained from conventional sources. Data analysis made use of computations of the Residents’ Satisfaction Index (RSI) and principal component analysis. Results revealed that RSI was highest at 2.60; lowest at 1.93 and average at 2.29 while the deviations from the mean of the highest and the lowest RSI were +0.31 and -0.04. The factor analysis generated four (4) underlying dimensions of the respondents’ view on GI, which made good conceptual sense and explained a total variable of 72.24% of the observed variance. The factors on GI were named as; awareness (27.8%), management (19.98%), provision (13.34%) and type (11.12%). The planning implication is that efforts should be made to increase residents’ satisfaction on variables with low RSI on GI to promote recreation, environmental awareness, beauty, flood reduction and the fight against climate change to uphold an environment that is in harmony with nature.