Urbanization Impacts on Land Use in Rural Urban Fringe: Case of Epe as Fringe of Lagos Metropolitan City, A Review

Abstract

The study attempts to fill the literature gap and extend prior studies by exploring existing studies on land use changes with a focus on different factors affecting the rural urban fringe area and urban expansion of Epe in Lagos Metropolitan city, highlighting the major impacts of rapid Urbanisation and population growth on land cover changes. This paper highlights emerging novel methodologies by employing a qualitative research approach to explore Urbanisation on Epe's rural urban fringe as a case study, which complements the relative strength of conventional approaches from other developing countries. Findings suggest that the city is expanding into its peripheral regions as rural areas are converted into urban spaces, highlighting the need for urban planning concepts that prioritise the preservation and management of natural land use classes to enhance the quality of life in an urban environment. While the complexity of emerging methodologies, though depends the overall understanding of changes in land use and land cover findings reveal that continuous shifts of land from non-developed natural categories to developed land use are typical of urban sprawl , but the city is also facing severe land transformations in response to the demands of the Lagos Metropolitan city. Therefore this study raises concern over the restructuring process that affects the economic, social and environmental spheres and requires sensitivity from institutional decision-making towards the complex and diverse realities of relevant actors on ground , through which all current and future land use policies are mediated.