828 
Table 3. Benin City land use statistics 
Area as percent- 
Classification 
Area (ha) 
age of urban and 
non-urban use 
Residential (low density) 
168.2 
1.5 
Residential (medium " ) 
267.0 
2.4 
Residential (high " ) 
1975.9 
17.7 
Residential (developing) 
1648.1 
14.8 
Commercial 
145.6 
1.3 
Industrial 
208.6 
1.9 
Institutional 
1470.9 
13.2 
Communications/ 
utilities 
158.8 
1.4 
Recreation/open spaces 
48.1 
0.4 
Vacant land 
1322.5 
11.9 
Non-urban 
3738.8 
33.5 
TOTAL 
11152.5 
100.0 
Total residential area 
4059.2 
36.4 
Urban : built up area 
excluding vacant and 
non-urban lands 
6091.2 
54.6 
Urban: built up area 
including vacant lands 
7413.7 
66.5 
Table 4. Warri land use statistics 
Classification 
Area (ha) 
Area as percent- 
ge of urban and 
on-urban use 
Residential (low density) 
20.1 
0.5 
Residential (medium " ) 
65.1 
1.6 
Residential (high " ) 
281.1 
6.9 
Residential (developing) 
266.0 
6.5 
Commercial 
76.6 
1.9 
Industrial 
259.5 
6.4 
Institutional 
118.1 
2.9 
Communicational/Utilities 
10.4 
0.2 
Recreational/Open Spaces 
13.9 
0.3 
Vacant Land 
317.7 
7.8 
Non-Urban 
2292.0 
56.2 
Water 
356.0 
8.7 
TOTAL 
4076.5 
100.0 
Total residential area 
632.3 
15.5 
Urban: built up area 
excluding vacant, water 
and non-urban lands 
1110.8 
27.2 
Urban: built up area 
including vacant lands 
1428.5 
35.0 
4.3 Land use in Warri 
Warri is situated 6.1 metres above sea level. It is 
a sea port in the Niger delta on 5°, 31' N and 5°, 
44' e (Fig.l). The city has experienced remarkable 
growth since it became a provincial and later Local 
Government Headquarters and the activity site of many 
major petroleum exploration, steel processing, ship 
ping, and other industrial and commercial companies. 
The consolidation and subsequent expansion of the 
industrial, commercial and administrative functions 
between 1952 and 1980 fostered the influx of labour 
and other migrants to the city. Thus the population 
grew from 19,526 in 1952 to 72,000 in 1963 and 
228,000 in 1982 (Sada, 1984). 
The spatial pattern of land use activities in Warri 
is shown in Fig. 4. Three distinct zones of land use 
activities are recognizable: the residential zone 
which extends from the central parts to the north 
east, the central Business district in the south-east 
and the industrial conglomerates in the west and water 
fronts of Warri River in the south-west and south-east. 
The residential parts exhibit four spatial struc 
tures. First, is the (class 14) high residential den 
sity (30 or more houses per ha), poor grade clusters 
of shanty houses in the central west, central south 
and north-east. The second is the class 15, high res 
idential density, (20 - 30 houses per ha) which sur 
rounds the class 14 in the central parts. While the 
third consist of medium residential density (classes 
12 and 13) estates. These estates with 10 - 20 houses 
per hectare are well planned and very prominent on 
the eastern Warri landscape. The fourth is the low 
residential density zones in the south-west. 
Warri central Business District (CBD) comprises of 
three main parts. These are the warehouse, whole 
saling/retailing and financial business districts 
in the south-west and, shopping centres and street 
front commercial activities in the central/eastern 
parts. The Warri-Sapele Road constitutes the main 
business thoroughfare. 
Table 4 shows the proportional uses of land. The 
estimated total urban area is 1110.8 ha, excluding 
vacant, water and non-urban lands. Of the urban areas 
56.9 percent is developed for residential use. This 
consist of 1.8, 5.9, 25.3 and 23.9 percent of low 
density, medium density, high density and developing 
residential areas, respectively. Commercial, commu- 
nicational and recreational land use occupy 6.9, 0.9 
and 1.3 percents, respectively. Of significance is the 
high proportion of industrial and institutional land 
use activities in Warri which occupy 23.4 and 10.6 
percents of the urban area. 
5. CONCLUSIONS 
The inventory and mapping of land use characteristics 
in Nigeria brought to light a number of interesting 
observations : 
1. The internal structure of Lagos Island reflects 
an amalgam of two different urban processes ; the tra 
ditional and the modern. Pre-colonial traditional 
land use specialization was predominantly cultural 
and residential. In the core of the traditional cen 
tre is the King's palace which is flanked by royal 
chiefs' palaces and surrounding indigenous and migr 
ant residential neighbourhoods. Commercial land use 
specialization centred around traditional markets. 
Residential development is very dense with a squalid 
environment and communicational arterials are too 
poor. In contrast the southern parts of Lagos Island 
reflect modern urban planning and land use speciali 
zation. This is manifested in the layout of streets 
and the spatial organization of commerce, instituti 
onal and residential activities. 
2. Benin City's internal structure reflects a juxt 
aposition of traditional, colonial and modern urbani 
zation processes. It consists of a central open space 
core from which radial and concentric thoroughfares 
connect the other parts. The core is surrounded by 
concentric nucléations of traditional and modern 
businesses (CBD), indigenous and migrant residential 
neighbourhoods, and developing modern residential 
areas. Furthermore it consists of sectorial high soci 
al class residential neighbourhoods; outlying nucléa 
tion of commercial centres at the intersection of