Young Experts Unmask Colonial Urban Planning Practices in Lagos

Historically, urban planning was characterized by Western values, ideals and goals, which extended also to the academic teaching of architecture and urban planning. Orthodox urban planning can be boiled down to rational functionality and efficiency, a grid of streets and (infra)structures, centrally managed with equal access and equal prices for all. Such “networked cities” have not only been the planning ideal but the planning goal 1, 2. Hence, an informally governed and informally operated city was seen as a failure. The body of research on postcolonial studies of infrastructure and urban planning is still small but growing. 

There is little recognition of lived everyday city-making and provision of urban services by the people and, specifically, by women. In this light, a set of junior scientists from various academic departments in Lagos came together to scrutinize the Lagos city government’s urban planning and development philosophy. Using the literature of Achille Mbembe3, Tsitsi Dangarembge4, Felwine Sarr5 and Lilian Thuram6 as reference points, they examined the local planning document, the Lagos State Development Plan 2052 (LSDP 2052)7, for evidence of “white”, “colonial” and/or “male” thinking.

"Alignment to Global Trends" Could Increase Inquality

Referring to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the LSDP 2052 promotes seemingly universal urban planning values, aiming at the large-scale funding and implementation of large-scale infrastructure to achieve economic growth8. It benchmarks cities like Dubai, Riyadh, New York City, Singapore and Jakarta, without accounting for their significant difference in population sizes, which range between 3,8 and 11 million, and are still much smaller than Lagos, whose population numbers vary greatly. The relatively free “invention” of statistical data by the government represents another major obstacle in defining adequate approaches to the city’s enormous urban planning challenges. 

The Nigerian govern­ment estimates Lagos State’s population at 21 million inhabitants9, signifi­cantly different from the UN/World Urbanization Prospects’ most recent data, according to which the population is 17.2 million10. The LSDP 2025 indicates with 22 million again another number11. The LSDP 2052 aims to achieve “alignment to global trends” through inclusive and equitable growth, ensuring equal opportunities for vulnerable members of society by promoting a sustainable environment, reducing climate risks and engaging in private-public-partnership (PPP) arrangements. Without localizing these goals, thus disregarding historical precedents and neglecting the cultural and socioeconomic diversity of the city, the government incurs a high risk of increasing already severe inequality.

It is safe to assume that the proposed education and health systems are set to benefit the elite and will disregard much of Lagos’ population who will be unable to access or afford them.

While racing towards international competition, the government aims at enhancing employment figures and providing professional satisfaction within the workforce through capacity building and training, neglecting the fact that 65% of the workforce (5.8 million residents) are living in and from informal income opportunities12. The plan equally emphasizes the goals of making Lagos a prominent hub for technology and digital investments, a wholesale hub for West Africa and the hub for the international film industry. However, there is concern that this concentration of wealth and success may lead to unequal opportunities for individuals not included in these advancements. In this regard, the strategy for developing a “premium education system” and a “premium health care system”, with heavy reliance on the private sector and turning them into revenue streams or profit-making systems, reflects elitist thinking – with the word 'premium' here being synonymous with higher prices and luxury. 

Hence, it is safe to assume that the proposed education and health systems are set to benefit the elite and will disregard much of Lagos’ population who will be unable to access or afford them.

Basic Needs Are Still Undersupplied

This is equally reflected in the strive for income generation through tax revenue, which will disadvantage women entrepreneurs and informal workers who already struggle to comply with tax regulations, leading to potential legal issues and fines further marginalizing them economically13. Such policies can inhibit women's entrepreneurship, reinforcing traditional gender norms where women are discouraged from engaging in economic activities beyond their homes. Additionally, if tax revenues are not effectively channeled into essential services like healthcare and education, women, who are often primary caregivers, will bear the brunt of these deficiencies, perpetuating cycles of gender inequality and poverty as they struggle to compensate for the lack of public services. 

In Lagos, five per cent of households have a connection to the water grid and another five per cent or less have access to some sort of standpipe.

The plan is silent about promoting financial literacy or providing tailored support for women in the informal sector to empower them to navigate these policies effectively. The planned digitalization of tax identification systems and audits, tolling systems and digital property information systems risks disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities, exacerbating existing disparities, and excluding those with limited access, further perpetuating the digital divide14. Meanwhile, the most urgent needs of the Lagos population for basic water and sanitation infrastructure appears last in the plan, as goal 17a, notwithstanding that the majority of the population neither has access to water nor sanitation15. This is devastating, not least because access to water and sanitation prevents diseases and pollution, besides being a basic human right16.

In Lagos, five per cent of households have a connection to the water grid and another five per cent or less have access to some sort of standpipe17. Even with these connections, there is often no water for months. Thus, close to 100 per cent of Lagosians are forced to provide their own water much of the time. For the five to 10 per cent of the population belonging to the middle or upper class, this is solved through purchasing from private water providers, which is not an available option for poor people living on one to two dollars per day (using the World Bank's purchase power parity estimation)18.

Euro-American Planning Ideals Are Reproduced

Zooming into the practices, routines and daily encounters of this poor majority of the population, it is understood from empirical research that communities succeed in providing water for themselves, in complex, dynamic networks, completely without the support of the government19. It is further known from empirical research that these community-based networks produce new inequalities20. For instance, women are largely responsible for physically and financially providing the family with water while the water supply business in the communities is conducted by men21. 

Two conclusions follow from this. First, communities are successful in providing for themselves, but women suffer disproportionately in these everyday arrangements. Second, government policies as outlined in the LSDP 2052 are not favorable to the urban poor majority, implicitly forcing them into informality, despite the plan’s stated goal to combat it. In the LSDP 2052, no policies could be identified that benefit the urban poor majority. On the contrary, its policy for large-scale water infrastructure is expected to lead to massive resettlement or worse, evictions, in densely populated Lagos.

In short, the LSDP 2052 is profit-oriented and elitist, reproducing Euro-American planning ideals and goals and, hence, reproducing white male thinking. The financial incentives and investment strategies, while designed to attract investment, will inadvertently only favor large corporations over local businesses and hinder local economic growth. Experience across Africa has shown that the focus on attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) will lead to resource exploitation without adequate local benefit.

Decolonial and Feminist Urban Planning Approaches in the Context of Water Supply

Firstly, such approaches recognize that much more empirical, qualitative research is needed to understand how people provide their water and what kind of waterscapes this produces (of course, this is valid for all other basic infrastructure needs). Understanding the perspectives and everyday practices of women and of the urban poor majority, and including their experiences into policies and projects, constitutes decolonial and feminist approaches. Researching and addressing the needs of poor women responds to the concept of postcolonial intersectionality, recognizing that certain groups are affected in multiple, simultaneous ways. In a city like Lagos, urban planning should be informed by the everyday practices of ordinary citizens, especially women, as they provide the city’s daily urban services22.

Secondly, empirical research shows that the urban poor majority has enormous expertise in responding to ongoing social and structural crises. It is decolonial and feminist to build on these capabilities and support them. In this approach, the prevailing form of settlement of the majority, the so-called slum, is not so much a problem but an answer to an existing problem, namely that the government fails to provide adequate housing for its citizens.

Finally, the LSDP 2052 fails to recognize that Lagos is not produced in the planning offices of the Lagos State government, but at the micro-scale of the household, of the people and here again by the women. Decolonial and feminist planning approaches involve engaging in co-productive processes and hence, actively seeking to include the people and their everyday practices in the development and delivery of policies and projects23.