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Articles

CJRBE: VOL. 13 NO. 1, JUNE 2025

Biophilic Retrofit of Historic Industrial Buildings for Community Health Hubs in Nigeria: A Scoping Review

Submitted
November 15, 2025
Published
2025-10-01

Abstract

Nigeria's urban landscape is marked by a paradox: a wealth of abandoned industrial buildings alongside a critical shortage of community health infrastructure. This scoping review investigates the viability of bridging this gap by converting these historic structures into biophilic health hubs, offering a solution to urban neglect, health inequity, and the loss of natural connection in cities. Guided by the established scoping review methodology of Arksey and O’Malley, the study synthesizes evidence from 40 key publications, including academic journals and industry reports from the last decade, with a focus on Nigeria and comparable regions. The analysis demonstrates that strategically introducing natural elements like sunlight, fresh air, and greenery into old factories and warehouses can create restorative environments that enhance psychological wellness and strengthen community health. Despite this promise, the path forward in Nigeria is hindered by insufficient policy support, financial constraints, and a need for locally tailored design models. Ultimately, this study positions biophilic adaptive reuse as a pragmatic and sustainable approach to urban regeneration. To move from concept to reality, it calls for specific actions: governments should create financial incentives for reuse projects, design professionals must engage communities directly in the planning process, and the academic community should focus on generating hard data to measure the real-world benefits of these transformative spaces.