PhD title
Integrating informal settlements into the Urban framework of Lagos, Nigeria.
Abstract
Lagos urban population is growing at a rate of 3.2 per cent and over 20 Million people, projected to 24 million in 2030, which in comparison to other countries is a fast urbanising pace. The prolonged application of Eurocentric concepts of planning that focus on aesthetics, form and structures is the model used in Lagos. It risks the city’ permanence in a recipe for the mass production of slums due to these economic models that on one side attracts foreign investors and a small number of foreign residents to the idea of ‘a greater Lagos’ but on another side an increasing local population that seek opportunities but cannot afford to live in anything but a slum or informal settlement.
Furthermore, from observation and other studies, the disregard of planning that reflects the social, economic, political, and cultural spheres of the ultimately yield the same cycle of slum production and the use of unethical approaches; such as forced eviction from slum housing and demolition of these informal settlements by the Lagos state government as a method to stop a natural product of this economic model.
Therefore, the core of this study is to focus on creating a theoretical framework of the city based on the idea that urban planning and design in Lagos needs to shift to one focused on the social, geographical, economic, political, and cultural aspects of the informal settlements in the city. The proposed framework would present an alternative model from the current, whereby this model maintains a sustainable urban city and economy by focusing on harnessing the strong social structures in informal coastal settlements.