Ede et al., Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan 2008, 47th ISOCARP Congress 2011 Does the Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan 2008 meet Aspirations for Liveable City? By Precious N. Ede, Opuenebo B. Owei and Chimbiko Iche Akarolo In 2007 the government of Rivers State, Nigeria contracted a South African firm to produce a master plan for a new city called Greater Port Harcourt to be situated in the outskirts of the old city. The Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan 2008 is here examined in the context of current thinking as to whether it has credentials that meet aspirations for modern liveable cities. The new city plan assumes that Port Harcourt will continue to grow at its current rate so there is need to respond pro-actively to the reality of meeting cogent challenges. The infrastructure to be provided must be sustainable, that is, there should be continuity of effective service delivery by operators, by way of renewal, upgrading and expansion to cope with the city growth. Provision of services will be private sector driven, while government is politically ready to amend laws, regulations and policies to create an enabling environment for private sector to thrive in driving the development initiatives. The plan provides a long-term vision for the city based on sustainability: social, economic and political equity. Sustainability is hinged on continual improvement based on accountability, transparency and good governance. The master plan aims at a development that positively encourages the creation of a mixed community of 350,000 housing units, initially. The energy infrastructure utilizes the natural resources in the region such as natural gas for powering turbines and providing domestic fuel, with a little solar power. Open spaces, sports and recreational grounds are integral part of the plan. Governance is exercised by an independent agency whose administrative and emolument structure are different from that of government. We can only wait for the new city to take off and the lofty ideas expressed in the master plan to be implemented before we draw the right conclusions. Key words: Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan, liveable cities. 1.0 Introduction Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State, Nigeria is situated on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean‟s Gulf of Guinea. The City is located approximately 20km inland on the Bonny River, as the coastline is a delta of rivers producing endless marshlands and mangroves that are unsuitable for development. The marshes form part of the Niger Delta, which is the largest river delta in the world. Port Harcourt is one of Nigeria‟s main port cities and has two commercial harbours and several private harbours. Port Harcourt, situated in the south- south political region of Nigeria is the fourth largest city in the country after Lagos, Kano and Ibadan. Unlike most cities in Nigeria, Port Harcourt is an international hub for petro-business, thus a perceived potential not only for growth and expansion, but possessing a resource base unequalled in the West African region. The extreme congestion, high building and population densities, un-serviced areas, insufficient and decaying utilities contrast sharply with the expectation of residents and government‟s vision, hence, in late 2007 the new government that took over the reign of power in Rivers State Nigeria made the retrofitting of the old city and the development of a new city a priority. The new city is called the Greater Port Harcourt and the design project was awarded to a South African firm in November, 2007. This paper examines the new city plan from the perspective of its sustainable. Sustainability implies an action that can be maintained over a period of defined time. It is about meeting basic needs in order to sustain human life, and about making responsible choices and decisions in an attempt to adhere to and acknowledge the intricate connections between actions and effects with relation to the environment, economic growth and the growing society. Sustainable development is generally understood as an integrative and holistic 1 Ede et al., Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan 2008, 47th ISOCARP Congress 2011 process of maintaining and managing the dynamic balance between the needs and demands of people for societal aspects such as equity, prosperity and quality of life, and what is ecologically possible. Over time the definitive nature of the idea of sustainable development has changed. From the relatively simplistic idea of meeting basic needs, to the current, of meeting the entire hierarchy of human needs, to provide an acceptable quality of life for all. Sustainable cities can accommodate growth and change well, whilst simultaneously being improved by these processes. This implies that development is managed in an integrated manner with relation to social, economic and environmental requirements. A sustainable city is much more than green practices and environmental conservation - it is a holistic concept pertaining to the creation of a place that provides adequate shelter, innovative economic opportunities and safety in terms of cultural freedom, resource conservation and development management. Sustainable cities are liveable; they are attractive to their users and residents. If cities are attractive to live in and work in, they will inevitably also become attractive for business life, investment and tourism. Sustainable cities emphasise a quality communal lifestyle, a sense of place and create a liveable urban environment. 1.1 Study Objectives This study was anchored under two major lines of inquiry that revolve around the new plan‟s suitability and sustainability. The primary objective of the study is to review the Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan with a view to evaluate the sustainable attributes that were included in the plan. The study will use the information provided in the plan to determine the potential ecological footprint of the New City on the plan area and discuss the adequacy of what the planners have proposed to mitigate them. 2.0 Methodology A research is controlled by the nature of the inquiry. The research problem, the type of data required, the resources available, and the accessibility to the sources of data are also similarly affected. Data types are essential to research because they influence the validity of the conclusions drawn. The data types in this study are predominantly secondary of both qualitative and quantitative forms. When a project is brought under focus for academic discourse, the effort takes the form of a case study. Case studies as an approach is common to both the physical and the social sciences so long as the researcher confines his scrutiny of it to dissecting the case, the analysis describes and grades the system that is studied. Description is qualitative, while grading that uses objective criteria are quantitative. Creswell (1998) states that a case study is an exploration of a “bounded system” or a case (or multiple cases) over time through detailed, in-depth data involving multiple sources of information rich in context. This bounded system is bounded by time and place, and it is the case being studied-a program, an event an activity or individuals. The context of the case involves situating the case within the setting, which may be a physical setting or the social, historical, and or economic setting for the case. This implies a detailed examination or study of a particular setting, place or a subject matter. This case study evaluates the Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan 2008 as to its provisions for sustainability and liveability. Additional evaluation was made to ascertain the environmental sustainability using CO2 per capita and carbon foot printing of the plan area. 3.0 Greater Port Harcourt Urban Planning Framework Nigeria is a federation of 36 states and Port Harcourt is the capital of Rivers State. The hierarchy of government is distributed between tiers with a very powerful federal government, the constituting states and local government areas (LGAs). Planning derives from this structure because the federal government plans at the supra and regional level, that gives rise to agencies that cut across many states or the country as a whole. The River Basins are outcome of this position and national cities like Lagos and Abuja are considered 2 Ede et al., Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan 2008, 47th ISOCARP Congress 2011 spheres were the national government contribute significantly. States concentrate on sub- regional plans and local plans, by this arrangement, all other cities in Nigeria besides Lagos and Abuja predominantly fall under state planning regulations. There is also good planning authority exercised at the LGAs, but it is limited by lack resources to plan with and general dereliction at that level of government in Nigeria. Urban Planning in Port Harcourt is essentially through the instruments of the state government because it straddles several LGAs. There are also federal planning influences in places where it has acquired large interests. Onne Town and its environs which constitute one of the strands of the Greater Port Harcourt Master had a separate master plan drawn up by the federal government since 1980 (see Federal Ministry of Housing and Environment,1981). How that plan will comingle with Greater Port Harcourt Master plan is not clear because the authors of the New Master Plan did not indicate its existence. The relationships of the various planning authorities in Nigeria are illustrated in Figure 1. Port Harcourt was formally established in 1912 under British rule. The city was planned and land use controls were established, as per the British system of town and country planning, to manage the urban composition and its growth. City planning entailed the establishment of a central business district that for the most part housed commercial and institutional uses, surrounded by homogenous residential areas and suburbs. Provision was made for open spaces and parks, little of which still remain today, but, which together with the tree-lined arterial routes, earned Port Harcourt the status of Garden City.