Telecommunication (GSM) and Urban Spatial Structure in Ibadan North Local Governmnet Area, Nigeria

The role and impact of novel telephone technology in shaping urban structure has produced two schools of thought. The first is evolutionary, which believe in the continuing primary of physical movements and the second, is revolutionary which elevates the importance of non-physical information flows. The revolutionaries believes that new telecommunication innovations will create a flexible electronic environment that will enable people to inhabit attractive amenity environments, remote from declining urban centers thereby influencing people’s choice as regards location in urban setting. In this study an analysis of the effect of mobile communication through the use of GSM phone on intra-urban movements and location decision was considered. Study revealed that mobile communication does not have much effect on important trips such as trips to work, to market place, shopping centers and recreational locations. It is concluded that most of the trips eliminated through the use of mobile phone are discretionary trips. The study also discovered that income rather than communication largely determines the location of households in Ibadan North. It is therefore concluded that communication has not inverted the existing spatial pattern since it has not withdrawn trip away from important centers or changed the location pattern of activities in the study area.