Abuja, Nigeria as a befitting Federal Capital Territory, centrally located, without the defects of Lagos was spawned in 1975. The site was chosen for its location at the center of the nation, its small population and for political reasons. In the process, a Master Plan was developed. However, subsequent governments in Abuja abused the integrity of the Master Plan and that resulted in Abuja urbanization and housing inadequacy. The most vulnerable is that, the urban poor had to arrange, on their own, where to live and that resulted in shanty settlements, hence "spatial dialectics," informal volumetric and unvolumetric combination now called the "spatial house", "open house" or "house without limit". This work aimed to document the problems associated with inappropriate implementation of the Abuja Master Plan that resulted in Abuja urbanization and housing inadequacy and proffers solutions to the Abuja housing problems. The authors adopted content based analysis, qualitative research method that involved data from primary and secondary sources. The Abuja Master Plan was elaborated to put in place, sustainable urban spatial environment for all groups and activities to be carried out in the Capital Territory. It provided low-income settlement areas, to be built by the government and occupied by the public servants; the private sector servants did not appear to be properly provided for. The current Abuja housing settlements are not integrated. There is need for the formal, informal settlements and the Abuja urban actors to be talking and link with the Central City infrastructure to create a diverse economy and economic empowerment of all.

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Sedentary lifestyle is a major cause of several non-communicable killer diseases globally. However, there is limited understanding of how the design and planning of residential buildings can help in curbing sedentary lifestyle among urban population in the developing countries. This research investigated the spatial layout of residential buildings and its influence on sedentary lifestyle of the occupants in Enugu metropolis in southeast Nigeria. A questionnaire survey of 400 residents and evaluation of the active design features of the floor plans of their residential buildings were conducted in the study area. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Duncan multiple comparison test, and thematic content analysis. The residential buildings were found to have the traditional house and western style house layouts. Although the results indicated that residents spent about 90% of the time at home on sedentary activity, those living in buildings with traditional house layout were found to spend the least time on sedentary activity compared to those in dwelling units with western style house layout pattern. The results of Duncan multiple comparison test revealed that residents in house layouts where the conveniences are separated from the sleeping place or lounge, spent significantly lower time on sedentary activity such as sitting, while the reverse was the case for light activity like standing. The findings of this research are instructive in revealing that when it comes to active design, the traditional house layout pattern appears to have advantage over the modern or western style. It is therefore recommended that to achieve residential design that promotes physical activity among occupants, architects and other professionals involved in housing development should consider the adoption of the traditional layout concept in the design of future homes in the study area and beyond.

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