Accessibility and patronage of urban open spaces in a south-western Nigeria city

This paper examines the patronage and utilization of urban open spaces in Osogbo, Nigeria. Data were obtained through a multi-stage sampling technique. The study area was divided into high, medium and low density areas and 553 (5%) of buildings were systematic selected from 11,022 buildings identified through preliminary survey and satellite images. One teenager and two adults (a male and female) were selected in each building resulting in the total sample size of 1,659. Information on respondent's socio-economic characteristics, frequency of utilization open spaces, travel time, means of transportation and time spent in open spaces were obtained from the questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results show that most of the respondents (60.8%) were occasional users of open spaces, 2.2% of respondents never used the open spaces while 37% were frequent users. In addition, the most frequently used open space was the neighborhood park (42.1%), followed by school playgrounds (39.2%) and pocket parks (32.7%). Incidental open spaces had the lowest proportion of patronage(20.9%). The longest duration of use occurred in school playgrounds while the neighbourhood park was the most accessible to the respondents. The frequency of use varies across typologies and residential densities. The mean travel time of respondents across all open spaces was 13.62 seconds, the variations in travel time across typologies were not statically significant (F=3.802, p =.010). Recommendations to make open spaces more accessible were suggested.