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Using data from a random sample of schools, this paper studies the extent of learning losses and recovery from COVID-19 pandemic in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria, and provides some evidence that a full recovery is possible through a program designed to slow down the curriculum and cover what was missed during school closures.

Since the Enlightenment, cities have been considered as exemplary spaces of human achievement. Technological developments and the constant reorganisation of materials and infrastructures have contributed to a widely shared conception of nature as something outside of urban areas. Our age, framed by the Anthropocene and the sixth wave of extinction, has shattered such vision. Novel reflections across the natural sciences, the arts and the humanities have chosen to focus on relational entanglements instead of separating the city from the environment. In this short collection, we offer a series of reflections about multiple urban natures that often remain unknown or concealed. Each of us does so from a unique disciplinary perspective, ranging from anthropology to history and geography over urban ecology, urban studies and landscape architecture. We hope to point towards a multidisciplinary articulation of urban nature as in itself diverse, complex and de-centred.

Purpose Participatory design strategy through post-occupancy evaluation of built assets is a feedback mechanism into the design process. This paper draws upon a wider empirical study that aims at evaluating the University Campus Open Spaces (UCOS) of six federal universities in South-west Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to generate evidence-based design toolkits for UCOS towards spanning of disconnects between designers and users thereby revisiting and revitalizing their design criteria. Design/methodology/approach A sample (n=3,016) of users was drawn in a cross-sectional survey through stratified random method. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire in multiple choice and Likert-type scales. The data obtained were subjected to statistical techniques. Findings Results show that males use the UCOS for active and passive recreation than females. The UCOS are male dominated because the females have higher concerns for lack of safety and inclement weather. Both genders have equal preference for sitting. “Group academic” activities are at peak in the “afternoon”, while “being alone” takes place in the “evening” and “personal academic” in the “morning”. Safety is primary to zoological and botanical gardens. Social interaction spaces enhance successful recreation parks. Coherence and legibility are the highest cognitive satisfaction factors for pedestrian sidewalks. Practical implications The research generated design requirements for UCOS, and it is important for informing better design solutions in the future. Originality/value The results are synthesized into three-in-two new frameworks to guide future design actions for innovative strategies between design and use/operational phases.

Evidence-based design (EBD) has become an accepted paradigm in environment-behaviour endeavours in recent years with documented benefits, especially in healthcare facilities. However, little is known of its application to University Campus Open Spaces (UCOS) like University Zoological Gardens (UZGs) which accounts for the repetition of design mistakes. This study aims to assess the UZGs as a major component of UCOS in South-west Nigeria with a view to formulating EBD frameworks. It adopts a comparative post-occupancy evaluation (POE) approach through a Stratified Random Sampling protocol of users (n=3,016) of the gardens in Federal Universities in South-west Nigeria. Results of the quantitative data analyses suggest that while walk-ability is a primary satisfaction factor among thirty design considerations in the formulated model, legibility is the most primary cognitive factor for designing perceptible high-quality UZGs. The study argues in favour of the developed framework as design tool-kit and recommends its application as a feed-back input into the design process of UZGs.

The metamorphic process of rapidly changing value-systems and landscapes of the traditional Yoruba city of Osogbo, Nigeria is mainly due to the trio of urbanisation, modernisation and globalisation...

Socio-spatial territoriality manifests as residential fencing and gating and are common features of urban living environments, although the mechanism for determining the best social-mix in housing development is grossly missing. This study aims to determine the social-mix in housing that best mitigates urban insecurity as outcomes of social inequality because of the continually widening gaps between the social classes. The study was carried out in the urban areas of Ilorin in Nigeria, through systematic sampling. Close-ended questionnaire (N = 247) on the phenomena was administered in each building. Results suggest that two types of social-mix in housing can have significant impact of reducing urban insecurity. These are the low status and the middle status, and the upper status and the upper–upper status. Therefore, the study concludes with recommendations in these directions.

One of the negative effects of the high rate and pace of urbanisation in developing countries is the decay of urban centres. While this decay has eaten deep into the fabric of these settlements turning them into urban slums and ghettoes with poor infrastructure, the effects of the decay are multifarious. Despite the fact that the economy is the “life-wire” of urban centres, its untold downturn consequent upon urban decay is unimaginable because of the relationship that exists between environmental quality and economic growth. This calls for a proactive approach called urban renewal towards the creation of successful urban places. This paper, therefore, reviews urban renewal strategies and their implications on economic growth with a particular focus on Ondo State, Nigeria towards identifying the means of enhancing the sustainability of its economic proceeds. The study relied on secondary information sources and discovered that appropriate urban renewal strategies yields corresponding economic growth. The paper asserts that the urban renewal fit achieved in the state during the period 2009 to 2012 can be replicated in other states in Nigeria if similar political willpower is available. The paper recommends the participation of the public combined with appropriate strategies in urban renewal schemes for the best result and argues in conclusion that urban renewal is the only feasible solution to the current dwindling economic sector in Nigeria and other developing economies.

Cultural landscapes are historical documents in the natural and built environment. They are memorable spaces imbued with the “spirit of place” despite the negative effects of modernization on them. The cultural landscapes of the Yoruba occupying the South-Western Nigeria can be perceived to be no less significant in this regard. In a time-series and at varying spatial scales, they represent the civilization periods of the Yoruba nation as a continuum. The study aims to understand and analyze the significance of these cultural landscapes as solidified time in space. Analysis of qualitative data reveals a time–space significance of the landscapes. The study concludes with recommendations on the strict enforcement of traditional conservation strategies like mythological approaches and legal frameworks that have been effectively used in the past toward the sustainability of the landscapes.

A clear and sustainable financing strategy is essential to achieving the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. This paper assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the financing strategy adopted under its predecessor, the MDGs, drawing out important lessons for the post-2015 development agenda. It argues that the post-2015 financing framework will need to deviate from the MDGs’ financing model in some remarkable ways in order to achieve the proposed set of goals. A broad-based and multi-stakeholder approach, which deemphasizes the top-down approach adopted under the MDGs, must be implemented. Drawing on our recent study on the domestic revenue potential of some sub-Saharan African nations, we argue that by exploring existing and emerging domestic financing options including taxes, domestic saving, domestic philanthropy, remittances and diaspora support, African countries can significantly improve their domestic revenue potential for the post-2015 development agenda.

The interwoven relationship between the use of indoors and outdoors in the tropics as means of thermal adaptation has long been recognized. In the case of outdoors, this is achieved by green intervention of shading trees as adaptive mechanisms through behavioural thermoregulation. Unfortunately, the indoor academic spaces of LAUTECH campus was not provided with necessary outdoor academic learning environment in the general site planning of the campus for use at peak indoor thermal dissatisfaction period considering the tropical climatic setting of the university. The students’ departmental and faculty associations tried to provide parks for themselves as alternatives which on casual observation are of substandard quality and poorly maintained because of lack of institutional coordination and low funding. This study examined the quality and use of these parks for thermal comfort through behavioral adjustment from subjective field evidence with the goal of improvement. To achieve this, twelve parks were selected within the campus. Questionnaires containing use and quality variables were administered randomly upon 160 users of these parks. The data obtained was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Results show that the quality of the parks, weather condition, period of the day, and personal psychological reasons of users has great influence on the use of the parks. The study concludes with policy recommendations on improvement of the quality of the parks and the campus outdoors and greenery in general.