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THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SAMPLING PROCEDURE FOR URBAN 
LAND USE MAPPING FROM AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS 
A STUDY IN CALABAR, NIGERIA 
  
  
  
Ener. E.U. Esin, B.Sc., M.Phil. 
University of Calabar, 
Calabar, Nigeria 
Dr. W.G. Coliins, Dr. C. Emmott, 
University of Aston, Preston Polytechnic 
Birmingham, England Preston, England 
ABSTRACT 
Most urban land use research has been carried out in the temperate climates, 
and the methodologies developed, classifications compiled and results achieved 
are not generally relevant to the situation in the tropics, particularly in the 
rapidly urbanising countries in Africa. 
This paper reports work aimed at making a contribution to the development 
of a suitable urban land use classification scheme and an appropriate methodo- 
logy for obtaining urban land use information, especially in statistical form, 
for cities such as Calabar in tropical Africa. 
INTRODUCTION 
Developing nations in the tropics are faced with problems associated with 
accelerated urbanization. This results largely from uncontrolled population 
growth and the increase in sophistication and level of aspiration of traditional 
rural peoples. These and other factors produce concentrations of people in 
large urban agglomerations especially on the outskirts of which land 
use is changing at rates unseen in temperate countries. 
Since the civil war, these factors have become extremely significant in 
Nigeria. With the advancement in technology, a rise in living conditions, 
irrational allocation of resources and the general abuse of urban land by 
squatters, there is an urgent need for proper monitoring and control of the 
dynamic process of development. 
Ideally all decisions regarding the development and redevelopment of land 
should be based on an adequate knowledge of the existing position regarding the 
size and distribution of land use types. Any changes proposed are changes in 
the existing situation and may only be planned rationally if the existing 
pattern of distribution is known. Such information can best be obtained by 
means of an appropriate methodology combined with a suitable land use classi- 
fication scheme. 
For objectivity, the information collected must be purely factual based on 
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