A Participatory Culturally Responsive Model for Redevelopment of Hausa Informal Settlements in Minna, Nigeria

Redevelopment of informal settlements in Nigeria has historically prioritised physical delivery over the socio-cultural patterns structuring residents’ daily lives, a pattern documented across Lagos and other Sub-Saharan African cities but not examined for its Hausa-specific dimension in Minna, Niger State. This study grounds a Participatory Culturally Responsive (PCR) redevelopment decision-making model. A community-engaged sequential exploratory mixed-methods design, incorporating participatory model validation, combined fifteen qualitative interviews with a questionnaire administered to 144 residents and stakeholders across four settlements; exploratory factor analysis supported an eight-factor, 38-item cultural-value structure and a single-factor, five-item participation structure. Respondents endorsed the influence of Hausa socio-cultural values on housing practice (grand mean and median 3.76, 4.00), with traditional authority, religious practice, and gender-based privacy most strongly endorsed, and moderately endorsed community participation in redevelopment (grand mean and median 3.51, 3.60). Qualitative findings identified gendered spatial separation, extended-family lineage, and the courtyard as dominant cultural determinants of housing form, and late-stage consultation and literacy barriers as principal obstacles to participation. Findings were synthesised—through expert content review and a community validation workshop—into the PCR model, a six-feature framework comprising an empirical foundation, a stakeholder governance structure, three strategic pillars of cultural integration, collaborative process, and sustainability, a staged early-and-continuous implementation process, and a continuous feedback mechanism, offering planners a structured, validated redevelopment tool aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 11.