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Slum Clearance and Family Life in Lagos
Abstract
Slums are amongst the most obtrusive of social evils. Physical squalor catches the eye; the degradation of human dignity shocks the social reformer, civic pride is outraged, the privileged are uncomfortably reminded of the circumstances in which their fellow countrymen must live. To people who do not live in slums, their demolition seems self-evidently desirable. Yet the slum dwellers themselves often bitterly resent being displaced. Where, as in South Africa, slum clearance is openly undertaken for the protection of the privileged, such a conflict of interests is not surprising. But the conflict also arises where the welfare of the people to be rehoused is the principal aim of policy.
... Displaced people suffered when losing their homes in both Lagos (Marris, 1960) and the U.S. (Fullilove, 2004). People face risks when resisting displacement in Cambodia (Brickel, 2014), Romania (Lancione, 2017), and Brazil (Keisha-Khan, 2004). ...
Forced displacement caused by development has become a pressing global issue. The decade of 2010–2019 presented the highest internal displacement figures yet, as approximately 79 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide (UNHCR, 2020). The literature review reveals three main gaps in the displacement scholarship. First, there is a gap between existing theory based on the Global North and available theory based on the Global South in urban studies literature. Second, the literature on the implications of displacement on people lacks a conceptualization of the role of the transformed physical environment in the experience of displacement. Third, the literature does not elucidate why planned displacements cause such pervasive impoverishment.
To address these gaps, the research asks to answer the following goals: 1) To build a conceptual framework of urban displacement that positions the experience of being displaced at its center, rather than reusing preconceptions based on terminology or geographic location. 2) To explain how planners engage themselves in discriminating plans entailing displacement. 3) To characterize the psycho-spatial implications of the displacement experience.
This is a qualitative research of the Ejipura demolition in Bangalore, India. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and a focus group with the displaced. The texts were analyzed according to the Conceptual Framework Analysis. In addition, I draw on an extensive and critical literature review, the 2005-2015 Comprehensive Development Plan of Bangalore, and accounts in the popular media about the Ejipura demolition.
This research contributes a unique theoretical departure point on displacement processes as it brings to the fore the embodied existence of those most affected by these processes. This perspective is the guideline of the new conceptual framework outlined in this dissertation. The concepts it encapsulates are power, positionality, eligibility, temporality, and resistance. These concepts position the act of de-homing as the phenomenon we wish to understand and are shared in the Global North and the Global South. Within the scope of this dissertation, the data and analysis of the Ejipura demolition informed the conceptual development of two of the concepts, eligibility and temporality. First, the intricate definition of the eligibility of the displaced informed the deployment of defense mechanism theory to understand the planning system's decisions and conduct. Second, the different spatial-temporalities the displaced experienced before and after the displacement enabled an insightful analysis of the relations between a sense of ontological security and the physical environment's stability. These relations were framed by deploying place attachment and urban ontological security theories.
In sum, this research points to the growing violence inflicted by urban development nowadays. Stemming from this departure point, we build another step on top of the 'deep differences' which respond and challenge universalism. Bringing to the fore 'deep similarities' of humanity and basic needs as shelter and security can create a global counter-hegemonic guideline of inclusive and egalitarian development processes. Adding this perspective to the existing critical writings on displacement is imperative for analyzing and understanding urban development processes within planning theory literature.
This research had been conducted under the supervision of Associate Prof. Yosef Jabareen and Associate Prof. Efrat Eizenberg.
... Slum clearances enable cleaner and orderly environments, modern facilities and infrastructure and improved sanitation. On the contrary, clearances being disruptive and costly in terms of the loss of livelihoods, social cohesion, identity and a sense of place, "the slum dwellers themselves often bitterly resent being displaced" (Marris, 1960). Such resentment cannot be because they love squalor; but rather relates more to a fear of the unknown. ...
In seeking to mitigate the adverse consequences of human displacement across the world, the
UN, in addition to promoting international covenants which protect human and shelter rights,
adopted the 2014 Convention on Forced Evictions which requires the abjuration of force and
violence; employment of consultation and dialogue and provision of options to eviction and for
resettlement where eviction becomes inevitable. Although Nigeria is yet to domicile the
convention, Lagos’ slum clearances and forced evictions have been synonymous with violence
and trauma, the absence of resettlement plans, the loss of possessions and livelihoods and, in
many instances, life and limb. Given the dissonance between local practice and international
expectations, this paper evaluates Lagos’ policy on slum clearances and forced evictions; policy
shortcomings and compliance with already domiciled human and shelter rights laws ; undertakes
a comparison with some African countries, and examines the pertinence and possible direction of
a policy rethink to address the challenge posed by the city's numerous slums. Data sources
comprise published literature, the archives, the print media and public commentary. The findings
are that there is no real engagement of slum dwellers; policy execution disregards human rights,
safety and dignity; having been static for over 25 years, policy is not as progressive as in some
African countries. Recommendations include discontinuation of now entrenched and improper
practices and exploration of enabling strategies which fully address the rights of people who are
illegally settled on public land.
... Thus, the theory that a filthy and decaying environment is indeed a health hazard of slum dwellers is widespread (Abrams, 1966;Clinard, 1966). Clinard, in a study of slums in India, and Marris (1961) in Lagos, for example, have independently observed that the often supposed poor health of slum dwellers is not exclusively a consequence of poor housing conditions as such, as poor health could also be attributed to unbalanced diet, inadequate medical facilities and wilful disregard of personal hygiene. ...
... In practice, most observers have always concluded that slum removal has had negative effects (Marris, 1960;Dwyer, 1975;Perlman, 1976;Valladares, 1978;Rodríguez and Icaza, 1993: 68). Relocation disrupts existing commercial and social networks, lengthens the journey to work, raises housing costs and generally disrupts people's lives. ...
The ‘cities without slums’ initiative has resuscitated an old and dangerous term from the habitat vocabulary. Use of the word ‘slum’ will recreate many of the myths about poor people that years of careful research have discredited. The UN has employed the word in order to publicize the seriousness of urban problems and to improve its ability to attract funding with which to tackle the issue. But in using such an emotive word the UN risks opening a Pandora's box. The campaign implies that cities can actually rid themselves of slums, an idea that is wholly unachievable. The word is also dangerous because it confuses the physical problem of poor quality housing with the characteristics of the people living there. The UN knows that earlier research has rehabilitated most ‘slum dwellers’ but ignores the danger of conjuring up all of the old images. In the process, the campaign also offers an oblique invitation to governments to look for instant solutions to insoluble problems. Demagogic governments have always shown a willingness to demolish slums despite the fact that experience has shown that policy to be ineffective. I fear that the new campaign will encourage more to employ this foolish policy. Words need to be employed carefully.
Résumé
L'initiative ‘Villes sans taudis’ a ressuscité un terme ancien et dangereux du vocabulaire de l'habitat. Utiliser le mot ‘taudis’ va recréer toute une mythologie sur les pauvres que des années de recherches consciencieuses avaient réfutée. L'ONU a fait ce choix pour souligner la gravité des problèmes urbains et renforcer sa capacitéà attirer des fonds avec lesquels résoudre la question. Cependant, ce mot étant connotéémotionnellement, l'ONU risque d'ouvrir une boîte de Pandore. La campagne implique que les villes peuvent réellement se débarrasser des taudis, ce qui est totalement irréalisable. Le mot est dangereux aussi parce qu'il mélange le problème matériel de la piètre qualité des logements et les caractéristiques des populations qui y vivent. L'ONU sait que des études antérieures ont réhabilité la plupart des ‘habitants de taudis’, mais elle ignore le risque liéà l'évocation des vieilles images. Parallèlement, la compagne invite indirectement les gouvernements à trouver des solutions immédiates à des problèmes insolubles. Les gouvernements démagogues se sont toujours montrés disposés à démolir les taudis même si l'expérience a prouvé l'inefficacité de cette politique. Je crains que cette nouvelle campagne n'en encourage d'autres à appliquer cette stratégie insensée. Il faut employer les mots avec circonspection.
To determine whether moving into decidedly better housing improves the functioning of large, low-income families, a comparison was made between such families who (as part of a demonstration program) had been relocated to subsidized private housing and two control groups: 1) similar families who were likewise forced to move but were not included in this housing program, and 2) matched families who continued living in deteriorating neighborhoods. Interviews were first conducted while all were still in their old apartments and again a year later. Family functioning showed no general improvement.
This study employs multiple classification and regression techniques to show how matrimonial, socio-demographic variables and duration of post-partum sexual abstinence influence fertility. A distinction is made between type of marriage and the position a woman occupies in a hierarchically-ordered polygynous union in explaining fertility among a sample of 300 Yoruba women of Western Nigeria. Among all the variables considered, age, place of residence, and age at first marriage appeared to be significantly related to individual fertility. No significant variation in the post-partum variables and fertility between monogamous and polygynous women emerged, neither was domestic hierarchy found to play any major role in childbearing and abstinence practices of our sample of Yoruba women. The effect of contraception on the post-partum variables appeared to be a function of socioeconomic status. The findings imply that: 1) social change may have altered the older connection between polygyny, abstinence and fertility, and 2) reductions in the duration of the post-partum variables, due to relative affluence, can result in significant increases in individual fertility unless effective substitutes are available and used.
Recent decades have witnessed changes in strategy to housing delivery in the developing world, particularly, for low-income earners. The public housing paradigm has failed to meet the housing need of most low-income households. Subsequently, many national housing policies in line with the Global Strategy for Shelter (GSS) document are adopting the enabling strategy to housing development. The trend towards enablement was boosted by the City Summit (Habitat II) held at Istanbul in June 1996. It is against this background that this paper undertakes a discussion of housing policy changes, and problems and prospects of housing enablement in Nigeria using Benin City, a major urban centre, as a case study. This paper documents the ineffectiveness of government provision of housing in Benin City and in Nigeria as a whole. It identifies some factors affecting housing development such as unsustainable planning and building regulations, poverty amongst urban residents, poor national economic conditions and the resultant inadequate finances. Others include constraints on access to housing finance, plots of land for residential development and infrastructure services. The paper stresses that the extent to which these and related factors are addressed could determine the success or failure of housing enablement strategy in Benin and in other cities in Nigeria and the developing world with similar or related social, economic and cultural characteristics.
Proper management of solid wastes is a key to environmental sanitation. In recent times the quality of life in most of the cities of the developing world is being deminished by uncontrolled and poorly managed solid wastes in the urban environment. Lagos urban is a typical example. It must be acknowledged that although wastes from homes, businesses and institutions make up a small part of the total load of solid wastes generated in any urban environment they are certainly the most offensive and most dangerous to health when they accumulate near residential points. The quality of life in urban Lagos, Nigeria, with respect to indiscriminate dumping of uncollected solid wastes approximates an aesthetic disaster. This study is therefore designed to examine the problems of solid wastes disposal in Lagos, Nigeria and to provide data base against which effective solid wastes disposal system in the Nigerian capital city might be monitored and tested.
The sporadic application of ‘slum clearance’ programmes served only to exacerbate the already intransigent problem of urban housing shortage, as the example of Lagos has demonstrated. The continued application of Western assumptions in urban development (whereas they have since been modified in those countries) has inhibited a reassessment of issues in the Nigerian context. Some of the issues at stake have been considered in this paper. Conventional Western concepts have not only proved inappropriate to the realities of rapid urban growth and limited resources in Nigeria and most of tropical Africa, but have intensified the problems still further. In the context of Maroko slum clearance exercise as contained in this paper, they must be seen as an unsuccessful attempt to control rather than resolve the housing problems of the urban poor.
I terms of planning five procedural steps are necessary to be followed to accomplish a desirable urban renewal exercise for the community. They are (1) to acquire land in accordance with the plan, consisting of purchase of land and the structures on it. (2) Relocation of residents from the acquired buildings into satisfactory quarters. The relocation exercise must be made not only mandatory on the government (local or state) undertaking renewal but made a legal requirement. (3) Site clearance — the razing of the structures on the land may be carried out only after the quality of such structures have been determined. This exercise also assumes that a process of data collection and analysis have been accomplished (social and physical). (4) Site improvements and supporting facilities and services are undertaken by the agency. Site improvements include streets, sewers, lightiing etc. Others may include parks, play ground, schools etc. (5) Land may be built upon by agency or sold to original owners if compensations have been paid. They may also be given back to owners with loans to rebuild either through self-help or cooperative venture. Amortization and interest on such loans should be made generous for the poor.
Since demolition of housing must precede new construction in the project area, the existing stock of housing is decreased, forcing the displacees to seek shelter in the remaining housing in the city or erect squatter housing. This is especially likely at the low-quality end of the housing market, since the greatest reduction in the housing stock occurs there. The condition may remain depending on government’s degree of responsiveness. Perhaps the only way to avoid the problem of a reduced housing stock in any urban renewal project, thus curbing the incidence of the spiral process of slums among the poor, as the Maroko example has demonstrated in Lagos, is by building new dwelling units for relocatees before demolishing their present homes. Such policy would merge with general attempts to relocate the poor in suburbs, seeking a reduction in the concentrations of poverty in central cities of Nigeria.
In the period between 1965 and 1976, when German geographers carried out their fieldwork for the Afrika-Kartenwerk under the sponsorship of the German Research Society, remarkable progress in urban development especially in Lagos could be observed. The cooperation with the Federal Survey Department of Nigeria gave the opportunity for collecting several series of aerial photographs which bring into focus some stages of the overwhelming urban expansion.
The materials presented here have been selected to demonstrate some regional structures of the Nigerian capital. — In the geography of today the scientific evaluation of aerial photographs together with findings from local observation and historical as well as statistical data is still undervalued. Through this technique, the more classical and conservative method of geographical analysis, relying on subjective judgement, may regain some of its importance, which it once had in the age of exploration of new territories.
Where data is scarce and written records of urban expansion are not available or difficult to extract, aerial photographs can give an impression of certain stages of urban growth. A functional analysis under geographical aspects has to be regarded by changes within spatial units in order to the factors of influence. Those factors are numerous, their influence will cause changes in a series of “pushes” arising from economic developments of the vast hinterland as well as from social conditions of certain groups of the population. In a metropolitan center, as Lagos, the highest ranking central place of Africa's most populous nation, heterogenous events and a confusing number of planning decisions must be taken into consideration. One consequence of nationwide regional interactions with the metropolis is migratory population dynamics. In pursuing lines of interaction, which originate from economic power, population density, and natural resources, one can hardly isolate a single element of influence because all factors are closely interrelated. For Lagos, there is only limited data available on the social and economic standard of the population, valid basic demographic figures of some value are not available.
One still has to accept very rough estimates on population figures, number of industrial workers, the standards of housing and the social and economic hierarchy of the population. The present retrospective analysis of aerial photographs gives an interpretation of the regional structure of the town and indicate possible future development.
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