ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Housing is a major need of humanity which is highly deficient in many developing countries. Research findings have shown that there is a monumental deficiency in housing, in qualitative and quantitative terms, in the urban centres in Nigeria. Housing development is severely hampered by a myriad of factors in Nigeria. Because housing is central to quality of life and consumes large amounts of resources it contributes significantly to sustainability. Ecological approach to housing, which is environmentally-friendly and low-cost is a proposal that could contribute to sustainable housing development in Nigeria. This paper examines the application of ecological approach in housing development in Nigeria. It discusses low-carbon initiatives and solutions that are prevalent in the country, and recommends various passive design strategies that could be adopted in ecological housing in Nigeria. It asserts that the adoption of local building resources mainly sourced on-site with little embodied energy for their production, and the operation of cooperative housing is a functional approach that could be adopted to achieve ecological housing development in Nigeria.