Urban Informality in Nigeria: Town planning Priorities for Engagement and Inclusion

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Date
2020
Authors
Lawanson, T.
Odekunle, D.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nigerian Institute of Town Planners
Abstract
Across cities of the world, informality is increasingly being recognized for its significance and contribution to urban development. Informality pervades everyday life in most African cities, especially for the poor. These range from housing in informal settlements to employment in the informal economy, as well as urban adaptive practices embedded in informal social networks. Informality is essentially a reflection of self-help strategies by urban citizens to fill the gap, given the challenges of urbanization and the severely limited capacity of governments to respond. That urban informality has fully grown into a permanent feature of the urban space and its substantial contribution to economies of cities is now undeniable. In fact, AbdouMaliq Simone, one of the foremost thinkers on African urbanism states that roughly 75% of basic needs are provided informally in African cities, with processes of informalization expanding across discrete sectors and domains of urban life. The informal sector has contributed immensely to the Nigerian economy through employing over 57.9% and housing over 50% of the population. In fact, the informal sector is estimated to have accounted for approximately 65 percent of Nigeria's 2017 GDP. However, the informal sector in Nigeria has been misunderstood, overlooked and excluded from the development agenda of the country, causing a sideline of the sector and marginalization of people operating in it. The general institutional response to it is hostility, particularly in the land governance and urban planning sectors. However, urban informality is no longer just a survival mechanism of the urban poor, it is the new form of urbanism, hence, there is a need for planners to understand the patterns and modes of practice, in order to deploy planning theories, practices and models that will accommodate the dynamics of emerging urbanisms sustainably.
Description
Scholarly articles
Keywords
Urban Informality , Urban Planning , Urban Renewal , Urban Regeneration , Urban management , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES
Citation
Lawanson, T., & Odekunle, D. (2019), Urban Informality in Nigeria: Town planning Priorities for Engagement and Inclusion. Issues Paper. Nigerian Institute of Town Planners. April, 2020 Edition.