Abstract

Institutional frameworks, coordinated or non-coordinated, for effective urban and regional planning in most developing countries are highly constrained, making it almost impossible to control urban development and management of urban areas, hence the haphazard growth and development bringing about disproportionate distribution of resources in terms of basic infrastructure. It is against this backdrop that this paper purports to critically analyse current institutional frameworks for urban and regional planning in Jos metropolis, Nigeria by identifying the constraints and their effects on the components of institutional framework. The research approach adopted is qualitative and quantitative with deductive-inductive reasoning. The strategy used is ‘mixed method’ and the instruments employed were questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, case studies documents reviewed with planning authorities in Jos, Nigeria. The quantitative data sets obtained were analysed using N-way ANOVA and the qualitative data were analysed using thematic and content analysis. Statistically, the results showed that the components of institutional framework, specifically, tiers of government (institutions), planning legislations and the administrations were not significantly affected by the culture, physical, political, institutions, financial, knowledge, analytical and legal constraints whilst the planning authorities were significantly constrained. Based on the results recommendations are proffered to practitioners, academia and policy makers.

Key words: Constraints, institutional framework, Jos metropolis, urban and regional planning system.