Urban Growth and the Conflicting Roles of Automobile Workshops in Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

Like most Nigerian urban centres, Akure has witnessed a rapid increase in population in recent years, culminating in the soaring number of vehicles on its roads. This phenomenon has led to problems with indiscriminately locating automobile workshops (AWs) in the city. This study, therefore, examines the most affected area of Akure, which sprawled over four political wards with 3,060 residential buildings within a 350 metres radius of Automobile Workshops owned by 511 registered mechanics. Twenty percent (20%) of the Automobile mechanics were randomly selected for data collection. The results revealed that the majority of AWs were located on the setback to roads and under high voltage power transmission lines within residential neigbourhoods where their operations generate wastes with diverse effects on the environment. This paper recommends the relocation of all the illegal automobile workshops that encroached on the identified spaces to a well-planned mechanic village to attain a sustainable living environment.