Cities and Nature Ecological Urbanism of Yoruba Cities in Nigeria: An Ecosystem Services Approach (Hardcover)

This book offers in-depth ethnographic analyses of key informants interviews on the ecological urbanism and ecosystem services (ES) of selected green infrastructure (GI) in Yoruba cities of Ile-Ife Ibadan Osogbo Lagos Abeokuta Akure Ondo among others in Southwest Nigeria. It examines the Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) demonstrated for wellbeing through home gardens by this largest ethno-linguistic group in Nigeria. This is in addition to the ES of Osun Grove UNESCO World Heritage Site Osogbo; Biological Garden and Park Akure; Lekki Conservation Centre Lagos; Adekunle Fajuyi Park Ado-Ekiti; Muri Okunola Park Lagos; and some institutional GI including University of Ibadan Botanical Gardens Ibadan; Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta Botanical Garden Abeokuta; and University of Lagos Lagoon Front Resort Lagos Nigeria. The study draws on theoretical praxis of Western biophilic ideologies spirit ontologies of the Global South and largely Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) to examine eco-cultural green spaces home gardens and English-types of parks and gardens as archetypes of GI in Yoruba traditional urbanism colonial and post-colonial city planning. The book provides methods of achieving a form of modernized traditionalism as means of translating the IKS into design strategies for eco-cultural cities. The strategies are framework model and ethnographic design algorithms that are syntheses of the lived experiences of the key informants.