Transportation challenges within the traditional walled city of Kano

This paper examines the nature of Kano walled city and challenges of intra-city transportation. The ancient city of Kano is presently an area facing serious transportation problems particularly in those areas that still retained the morphology of the pre-colonial setting, where buildings are built close to one another and structures are usually separated by narrow winding paths capable of accommodating only pedestrians, donkeys and horses. This narrow winding path renders the area inaccessible by cars and even at times by motorcycles causing serious social and economic stress on the residents of the area. The nature of the city being a commercial center also led to incidences of street hawking along the major roads within the city posing more problems to transportation. Commercial and domestic wastes are often dispose off by the side of the road and the fact that Government have not evolve a viable refuse evacuation policy led to almost the entire blockage of the causeway. A total of 360 residents of the city particularly those living along the major roads and those that live within the areas inaccessible by cars and other means of transportation were selected via Purposive sampling technique. The study reveals that the residents of the area are experiencing serious challenges due to the morphology of the area and also due to the narrow nature of most of the roads within the city. The study concludes by recommending ways to enhance adequate accessibility by embarking on intensive urban renewal programmes by the Government.