Unlocking better housing for Lagos

08/23/23 • 30 min

“The city keeps on growing every day. New infrastructure is being brought in every day. This means we can envisage more and more people coming into Lagos needing housing.”

With more than an estimated 3,000 people arriving every day, Lagos is seen as a city of opportunity. But a rapidly increasing population means huge demand for housing in a city where around 70% of the population lives in substandard conditions.

Speaking to Miriam Maina, ACRC’s Lagos housing domain lead Basirat Oyalowo discusses her research into the Lagos housing value chain, which is looking at the complex connections between various subsystems to better understand what can be done to boost provision and upgrade existing housing in the city.
She talks about how groups including cooperative societies, social organisations and residents’ associations are already working to fill gaps in government service provision and basic infrastructure. With greater recognition and support, she argues, there is ample opportunity for these groups to scale up interventions to deliver housing alongside other neighbourhood improvements. Highlighting the vulnerability of informal communities to climate hazards as well as evictions, she stresses the need for communities to understand the risks they face so they can proactively advocate for better housing conditions.
Basirat Oyalowo is a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos in the Department of Estate Management, and leads the housing domain research for ACRC in Lagos.
Miriam Maina is a town planner and urban researcher. She recently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the African Cities Research Consortium, where she was part of the housing domain team.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer
Sounds: Zapsplat
This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

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“The city keeps on growing every day. New infrastructure is being brought in every day. This means we can envisage more and more people coming into Lagos needing housing.”

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:
> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)

Previous Episode

Strengthening service delivery processes in Kampala

"How can the interest and the commitment of those in charge of this city be galvanised, so that they see service delivery as important as an end in itself? For me, we need first to mobilise citizens."
People living and working informally are often the most affected by shortfalls in service provision, impacting their access to education, healthcare, markets, sanitation, roads and more. In this episode, ACRC researchers Badru Bukenya and Buyana Kareem join Junior Alves Sebbanja for a conversation about service provision in Kampala, discussing the systemic and governance challenges underpinning it.
Drawing on findings from their ACRC research, they talk about emerging crosscutting issues, including how limited capacities and inconsistent political support are impacting governments' abilities to deliver on policies. They discuss citizen engagement as a key starting point for building sustainable programmes, highlighting the importance of including communities within planning processes in order to understand their needs and priorities, and to deliver contextually appropriate solutions.
Badru Bukenya is a senior lecturer in the department of social work and social administration at Makerere University, and political settlements lead for ACRC in Kampala.
Buyana Kareem is an interdisciplinary researcher at the Urban Action Lab, Makerere University, and supports ACRC's city of systems research in Kampala.
Junior Alves Sebbanja is a project manager at ACTogether Uganda and part of ACRC Kampala's uptake team.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer
Sounds: Zapsplat
This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:
> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)

Next Episode

Urban reform coalitions: The role of researchers

Urban reform coalitions can play a critical role in building inclusive, sustainable and productive cities. Made up of diverse stakeholders who collaborate to achieve common goals, these coalitions can work to strengthen relationships between disadvantaged groups and influential state/non-state actors. This collective action can be powerful in challenging socioeconomic inequality and enabling marginalised groups to capitalise on political opportunities for inclusive reform.
So where do researchers come in?
This podcast episode is a recording from a webinar we held in September 2023 to discuss the role that academics, action researchers and professionals can play in fostering the formation and functioning of urban reform coalitions. In doing so, we wanted to give special focus to how knowledge and evidence can catalyse urban reform coalitions.
Chaired by ACRC research associate, Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, the webinar comprised presentations from three panellists, who talked about their experiences of working with urban reform coalitions and shared valuable lessons learned, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Shalini Sinha is the urban Asia lead and home-based work sector specialist at Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). She discusses the “I, Too, am Delhi” campaign, including the importance of having multi-sectoral partnerships and an intersectional perspective, along with the need to “demystify the technical”.
Catherine Sutherland is an associate professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She shares her experiences and lessons from co-producing knowledge with disadvantaged groups in the Palmiet Catchment Rehabilitation Project, aimed at building flood resilience in Durban, South Africa.
Paul Mukwaya is coordinator at the Urban Action Lab and ACRC's city lead for Kampala. He talks about his experiences as part of the Just City and Informality Working Group, led by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Uganda.
Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael is a research associate at the African Cities Research Consortium, supporting research across the crosscutting themes of finance, gender and climate change.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer
Sounds: Zapsplat
This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:
> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)

African Cities - Unlocking better housing for Lagos

Transcript

Miriam Maina Welcome to the African Cities podcast. My name is Miriam Maina and I am here with Dr Basirat Oyalowo from Lagos. Welcome, Basirat.

Basirat Oyalowo Thank you, Miriam.

Miriam Maina Sweet. So we're going to start actually by talking about your research in housing and how you came about to be the researcher in the housing domain in Lagos. So feel free to introduce yourself and the work that you do.

Basirat