Resilience in Transition: Coping Strategies of Landholding Families in Karus Peri-Urban Transformation

Abstract This study explores how land-holding families in Karu, Nigeria, navigate the tenure insecurity and livelihood shocks triggered by rapid, informally driven peri-urban expansion. Using a mixed-methods case-study design, the research surveyed 383 purposively and snowball-sampled households, conducted 15 semi-structured key-informant interviews, and undertook on-site observation. Quantitative indicators of income change, asset loss and livelihood diversification were examined in SPSS through descriptive statistics, ?² tests and binary-logistic regression, while interview transcripts were thematically coded in NVivo to triangulate the statistical patterns. Five dominant coping strategies emerged. Relocation—adopted by 52.3 % of households—is significantly associated with younger age cohorts and smaller landholdings (?² = 12.84, p = 0.012; B = –0.38, p = 0.025). Distress asset liquidation (77.6 %) offers short-term relief but erodes inter-generational wealth. Tenancy farming (84.1 %) and micro-enterprise formation (38.3 %) reflect adaptive livelihood reconfiguration, the latter strongly linked to higher education (?² = 9.83, p = 0.021). Kin-based remittances cushion 29.9 % of households, underscoring the importance of social capital where formal safety nets are weak. These findings reveal that landholders are neither passive victims nor fully insulated; they craft resilience through creative yet often costly trade-offs that secure immediate survival while compromising long-term security. Without supportive governance, such coping practices risk hardening into chronic vulnerability. The paper therefore advocates (i) participatory formalisation of customary land rights to curb speculative dispossession, (ii) targeted skills training and micro-finance to broaden non-farm livelihoods, (iii) transparent regulation of informal land markets, and (iv) social-protection programmes for displaced or asset-poor households. Embedding these measures within Nigeria’s national urban policy could convert short-term coping into sustainable resilience for peri-urban communities undergoing similar transformations. Keywords: Resilience, coping strategy, transition, Landholding Families and Prei-urban Transformation