Prospects, Barriers and Development Control Implications in the use of Green Roofs in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Green roofs are gaining importance as “soft†engineering approach to urban environmental management and have been found to be beneficial in stormwater management, noise and thermal insulation, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, carbon sequestration and ultimately climate change mitigation. Lagos, a fast growing megacity is characterized by a rapidly growing population within a very limited land area. The resultant development pressure on land has given rise to dense urban fabric with associated loss of green cover especially within the inner city thereby eliciting suggestions for the adoption of green roofs. The present paper examined the prospects and the barriers to the adoption of green roofs as well as the attendant development control implications in Lagos, Nigeria. A combined quantitative and qualitative research strategy was adopted for the study. For quantitative data, pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 60 purposively selected built environment professionals in academics, consultancy and in government while qualitative data were obtained from interview of four key stakeholders. Secondary data were obtained from literature. Analysis of primary data was by the use of descriptive statistics and relative importance index while content analysis was used for the analysis of qualitative data. The study found that while opportunities for adoption of green roofs exist, they were not popular in the study area because of cost, technical challenges, poor knowledge as well as limitations imposed by the interpretation of planning laws. The paper proposed context-relevant application of green roofs as a complement to ongoing green infrastructure programme in the study area.