SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT, URBAN GOVERNANCE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN LAGOS NIGERIA

Abstract

Smart city is a major discussion in metropolitan planning and governance as it involves using technology to create livable spaces for the present and the future; it also considers issues of mobility, governance, economy and energy production. The innovation of smart city initiative can be beneficial to urban planning and policies for house provision. The housing challenge is a prominent issue in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria with more than 20 million inhabitants. Despite the attempts by the Lagos state government to create low-cost housing for citizens living and working in the city, there are still enormously high housing deficits because of the city’s overpopulation and limited resources. The city still lacks adequate infrastructures for mobility, networking and affordable housing as some people come from other states to work in the state; this has increased the urban carbon emissions. Yet, emerging discourses on housing infrastructure have rarely engaged the smart city question in urban governance of Lagos. Although there is a plethora of literature interrogating urbanization processes and housing, there are feeble attempts at explaining the notion of the smart city as the panacea for infrastructural inadequacies and urban development. This research examines the concept of smart city and its implication for urban governance structures and affordable housing in Lagos, drawing information and data from interviews and relevant secondary sources. The relevance of this study is to the government, private sector and architectural community is formulating policies through the application of the smart city concept in a megacity in a developing country like Lagos.