Analysis of the Factors Influencing Public Participation in the Urban Planning Processes in Enugu Urban, South-East, Nigeria

In the recent past, much empirical studies on the factors affecting public participation in urban planning process have received enormous attention, mostly in Western and Asian countries. However, not much is known of the factors influencing public participation in urban planning process in the cities of developing and rapidly urbainsing countries like Nigeria. This study therefore determined the factors affecting public participation in the urban planning process in Enugu urban, south-east Nigeria. The data were derived from a questionnaire survey of 400 developers and analyzed using descriptive and principal component analyses. The results revealed that the factors affecting public participation in the urban planning process in Enugu were patterned in eight key dimensions: citizen’s knowledge, citizens’ willingness/intentions, social media factor, political influence factor, intrinsic factors, external social environment, spatial environmental condition and institutional/legal framework factors. This understanding of the factors that influence public participation in urban planning projects, urban planners can come up with remedial approaches which would ensure that their future planning activities are more inclusive, pro-poor and hence sustainable.