Summary of Findings
This study carried out an analysis of the non-central business activities within the central business district of Benin City. A comprehensive analysis of data drawn from field observation and response from interview revealed that there exist non-central business activities within the central business district of Benin City and these non-central business activities include: residential, institutional, administrative, service and religious activities. The study also reveals that there exists mixed land use in the CBD of Benin City in support of the work of Dharma, (2017). According to him, in India like most less developed countries of the world, there exist the absence of proper zoning of land use and mixed uses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The study also supported the work of Magbogunje, (1964) which he carried out in Lagos and revealed that the central business activities and the non-central business activities in the CBD of Lagos cannot be separated from each other, this also apply to the CBD of Benin City as most of the residential buildings have commercial activities carried out in them. It is not entirely separated from each other rather they tend to be mixed up within the various zones that make up the CBD of Benin City.
The study also supports the work of Sharma, (2017) who revealed that the CBD of most less developed countries of the world are experiencing rapid conversion. The study also shows that the nature of the nine American cities from which Murphy and Vance draw out their techniques for delimiting the CBD cannot be used in the CBD of Benin City as the building structures in the CBD differs. Benin City being a traditional City has a different morphology when compared to those of the nine American cities studied by Murphy and Vance. The study further revealed that there is the absence of sky Scrapers in the CBD of Benin city as compared to those found in developed countries of the world.
The interview response reveal that the central business activities impact the non-central business activities in the zone and there exist functional leakages such as the generation of income for the landlords as well as business operators using the buildings and in some cases, the tenants resident in these buildings also engage in business operations. The negative impact consists of increased crime rate, noise pollution, lack of privacy, congestion amongst others. The ANOVA analysis shows the variation of the occurrence of non-central business activities within the various zones. The study also reveals the potential for landuse conversion if there is going to be a massive redevelopment, the buildings within the CBD of Benin City will give way to commercial activities. Also, the potential for landuse conversion will give rise to the development of high rise buildings in the nearest future. The study further revealed that though there exists high rate of building conversion, it is not yet reflected in the physical structure of the buildings.
