WAYFINDING VARIABLES AND USER SAFETY IN PUBLIC STADIA SITUATED IN SOUTH-EAST AND SOUTH-SOUTH ZONES OF NIGERIA

Architecture

Coordinating human movement in large public spaces such as the stadia and wayfinding are critical issues in user safety. This article is part of a wider research on the impact of wayfinding on user safety in public stadia situated in South-East and South-South zones of Nigeria. The research design was survey design. The survey instruments were obtained through direct operationalization of the Table of variables definition. Thirteen wayfinding variables were deployed to investigate three research questions; "to what extent do physical conditions of the stadia impact on user safety, in the study area", to what extent do socio-economic characteristice of users impact on user safety in the study area"; and to what extent are there relative contributions of physical conditions socio-economic characteristics of users and safety infrastructure to stadia user safety in the study area?" After statistical tools of analyses were applied at 95% confidence level, the null hypotheses were rejected, and the alternates chosen. It was found statistically that physical, socio-economic and safety infrastructural variables significantly contribute to user safety in public stadia in the study area. Realizing that adverse architectural design impedes wayfinding in complex public facilities such as the stadium, the paper recommends that design professionals must expunge irrationality of wayfinding settings in their floor plan configurations. It also recommends that maintenance staff in the public stadia be retrained and sensitized to the fact that signage materials are vulnerable and fragile, and must be handled with diligence and caution. Professionals and public stadia operators therefore, should consider the incorporation of effective wayfinding systems and materials in the design and management of the facilities to mitigate potential dangers and overwhelming navigational challenges to users.

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