Housing Development Characteristics as Knowledge Systems Shaping Neighbourhood Growth in Peri-Urban Nigeria

Peri-urban neighbourhoods in rapidly urbanising African cities are shaped not only by demographic pressure but by the characteristics of housing development that structure how space is produced, organised, and experienced. This paper examines how housing influences neighbourhood growth patterns in the peripheral settlements of Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria, conceptualising housing as a knowledge system through which residents respond to urban expansion, displacement, and infrastructural change. The study integrates spatial and qualitative methods. Spatial data were derived from Google Earth historical imagery (2004 to 2024) to visualise neighbourhood expansion, densification, and spatial reorganisation. These data complemented focus group discussions with 40 long-term residents across selected peripheral settlements. Qualitative data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, while spatial patterns were examined through visual interpretation and trend analysis across four growth epochs. The findings show that neighbourhood growth in Makurdi’s periphery is strongly shaped by incremental housing expansion, rising density, architectural modernisation, material transition, and infrastructure-led development. Residents’ narratives reveal how housing improvements signal permanence, attract in-migration, and redefine neighbourhood identity. The paper argues that housing development characteristics function as practical knowledge systems that actively shape peri-urban neighbourhood growth, and that recognising these dynamics is essential for developing context-sensitive planning frameworks and future GenAI-supported analytical tools for sustainable neighbourhood transformation in secondary African cities. The Effect of Pulverised Natural Pozzolana as a Partial Replacement for Portland Cement (CEM I) on