Land Ownership Constraints within Inner City Redevelopment Process: The Nigerian Experience

Inner city redevelopment exercise is people oriented and their participation, at all stages, is most important. The land and quality of physical and social infrastructure within the central urban area stimulate and support the economic activity of a city as a whole. The paper seeks to define and classify land ownership constraints to redevelopment within the core area of cities and review their significance in two major cities within the Southwestern geo-political zone of Nigeria. The paper administered questionnaires to developers and interviewed Town Planning Authorities' officials in the two cities selected. The data, so collected, were analysed through the use of frequency counts. The paper's analysis revealed that land ownership constraints persist because past government failed to pursue sound policies, long term planning for the redevelopment of towns/cities and the rule of law. The paper concludes that to minimize the constraints to inner city redevelopment, government should embark on long term planning for inner city redevelopment through sound town and country planning policies and practices in addition to good governance.