Ninth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Public spaces are places where variety of activities of communal importance occur in Yorubaland. The permanency of cultural meanings fundamental to the processes of interaction between users and environments, understanding how to improve physical health through a cultural approach involving the spatial planning concept of indigenous places for inhabitants’ well-being represents the critical starting point of this study. However, the articulation of the indigenous planning concept for the integration of public spaces for health remains largely uncultivated. The literature exploratory approach was engaged to investigate how public spaces are linked to activities for heath in two emerging cities in Southwest Nigeria. Findings show that culturally designated spaces are integrated with place-features for activities like market (Oja-Oba), public meetings, cultural festivals, coronations,(Ojude-Oba) drama, dances (village squares), and homesteads clustered around courtyards are for well-being of communities. Though modernization and technological advancement are now part and parcel of life, urban indigenes’ maintain a strong sense of place for the traditional functions that these spaces represent. City centers are creations of the cultural belief systems and philosophies which keeps the primary functions of spaces sacred, despite contrary urbanization expansions in outlying areas designed with contemporary amenities that enhances physical activities such as jogging, walking and biking. This study advocates that new urban initiatives should inclusively integrate these inner cities with characteristic features and functions beneficial for the health and cultural well-being of vulnerable communities.