PROBLEMS OF
URBANIZATION IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA
Viewed Through Reflections on the Standards of the
livable City.
1. INTRODUCTION.
Urbanization is, essentially, the shift of
populations from rural areas to cities and the concomitant phenomenon of the
growth of cities. In this paper the subject of urbanization is discussed, in
general, and also with specific reflections on the prevailing situations in Nigeria .
The conceptual framework adopted is the livable
city, the theme of the Third World Urban Forum, WUF3, just concluded in Vancouver City , Canada Nigeria ’s
national development process in the 21st century. According to citiesPLUS
(2003), cited in Timmer and Seymoar, (2005), the principle of equity in
city development demands a fair allocation of scarce resources among all
competing users and also the responsibility for the cost of pollution must be
borne by the beneficiaries.
Thus, the premise of this paper is to address
urbanization as an inevitable and also desirable process (and also a possible
asset) in Nigeria’s national development process in the 21st century;
Another very important aspect of the urbanization is that it must be controlled
in order to preserve a sustainable environment for the present and future
generations, and also to address (in policies that are proactive) the interests
of the currently marginalized city dwellers. However, if uncontrolled, rapid urbanization
could develop into one of the major threats of the millennium; according to the
records of UN-Habitat from the 2nd World Urban Forum – WUF2, Barcelona , (2004):
Ø “The Second World Urban Forum opened in Barcelona
2. Urbanization.
2.1
The Rise of Urban Culture. Two
groups of fundamental changes, which have resulted in very dramatic alterations
in the general ways of life and the means of existence of mankind, have
occurred in the course of the history of mankind, they have both universally
been described as revolutions. The
first occurred in the latter part of the Stone Age; anthropologists call it the
Neolithic Revolution. The Stone Age is dated in human history as beginning
about 2.5 million years ago, and beginning to come to an end in some parts of
the world about 5000 years ago. The Neolithic period of the Stone Age is dated
as having begun about 9000 years ago in some parts of the world and spanning to
the beginning of the Bronze Age about 5000 years ago. In the course of the
Neolithic Revolution, man evolved out of the primitive existence of hunting
animals and gathering food in the wilds of the forest and established more
complex communities in permanent settlements, based on the domestication of
animals and formal agriculture. In the end, the Neolithic Revolution eventually
led to the establishment of small urban communities and the beginning of urban
civilization; one of the earliest known of the human settlements of the
Neolithic period is Jericho Schick and Toth, (2005). The Industrial Revolution,
which began in Britain
in the 18th century, led to a widespread shift from manual labour to
machines as the means of production, Porter, (2005). In consequence it also led
to a shift from agricultural economies to (urban based) industrial economies;
resulting in massive shifts of human populations from rural areas to urban
areas and the rapid growth of cities in sizes and numbers to accommodate the
ever increasing numbers of city dwellers – a phenomenon that is known as urbanization. It is significant to
observe here that these revolutions had intricate relationships and/or impacts
on human settlements and urban culture; underscoring the inevitable and
inalienable relationships between all affairs of human development and shelter.
2.2
The Intensification of Urbanization Culture. The Industrial Revolution dramatically changed the orders of human
societies in Europe and America ,
resulting in massive influxes of people into existing cities and, at the same
time, leading to the emergence of new cities, out of previously rural areas. Another
factor that created similar effect of urbanization is the liberation of nations
(developing nations) from the yoke of colonization.
All these have resulted in the intensification
of urbanization in various parts of the world, raising significant global
concerns towards the end of the 20th century. Within the 20th
century, humanity experienced the intensification of urbanization in a
dimension that surpassed the combination of all the previous experiences (in
urban development) of all the several centuries before it. At the advent of the
20th century, 15 percent of the world’s population (of 1.5 billion
people) lived in cities; by the close of the century 50 percent of the world’s
population (of 6 billion people) had taken up residence in cities. Furthermore,
while in 1800, London was the only city with a population of over 1 million
people, by 1990, the 100 largest cities of the world accommodated 540 million
people and 20 megacities (of population over 10 million people each)
accommodated 220 million people, Deelstra and Girardet, (2005). According to
Deelstra and Girardet, by the close of the 20th century, mankind was
already transforming into “an urban
species”. Also, according to UN-Habitat, urbanization intensified more
dramatically within the second half of the 20th century: beginning
from 30 percent of humanity being resident in cities, the century came to a
close with the figure 50 percent, World Urban Forum – WUF II, (2004). In the
course of these 50 years also, there was a significant shift in the theatres
where the scenarios of the intensification of urbanization were playing out.
According to Einsele (1995), while in 1950, two out of ten largest cities of
the world were located in the Third World, by the close of the century, eight
out ten of the largest cities of the world were being located in the Third World . Within this period also, Lagos
in Nigeria , had emerged as
one of the largest cities (one of front-line megacities) of the world; placing
urbanization as one of the most urgent national issues for Nigeria in the 21st
century. In the course of these challenges, cities are constantly faced with
the risk of losing their classical definition as “safe havens and cases of comfort for the inhabitants” ,Cunningham
and Saigo (1992). This danger has informed the United Nations Organization, to
address urbanization as one of the most significant challenges facing humanity
in the 21st century. At the 2001 General Assembly of the United
Nations Organization (Istanbul+5)
that deliberated on the Habitat Agenda of the world for the 21st
century, urbanization was identified as one of the greatest challenges facing
humanity, in general, today:
Ø “…Wish to stress that this is a special moment in the development of
human settlements, when half of the world's six billion people will be living
in cities and the world is facing unprecedented growth of urban population,
mainly in the developing world ………”
2.3 The
Challenge of Urbanization in the Third World . With more megacities emerging in the Third
World than the rest of the world by the close of the 20th century,
the global urban challenge appears to be focused on the Third World; Eimsele
(1995)
Today, Lagos , in
Nigeria , with an estimated
population of 13,427,000 (2000 estimate),
is the largest city in Africa, and has already surpassed the population of India ’s largest city, Calcutta , estimated at 13,216,546 (2001 estimate), (Microsoft Encarta
Reference Library (2005)b). Already, by
the beginning of the 21st century, more than fifty percent of the
world’s population is located in cities. Consequently, the city has become the
arena where human destiny (and by implication, the destinies of nations) and
where the future of the biosphere will be determined in the 21st
century, Deelstra and Girardet (2005).
The major challenges of these third world
cities are in the areas of providing livelihood for the ordinary people and
making the cities ecologically sustainable. Reliance by cities, on the hinterlands,
for daily supply of foods will not be a viable perspective as the hinterlands are
also rapidly turning into cities. Furthermore, the issues of waste disposal,
which are being taken for granted in the most Nigerian cities of today, will pose
serious ecological problems if not promptly checked. In virtually every
international forum where questions or issues of human settlements are
discussed, the principal focus is placed on Third World
cites, and always the major concerns are environmental
degradation and urban poverty.
Presently it is estimated that about thirty percent of the developing world’s
urban population lives below official poverty line, The Cities Alliance (2005)
2.4
Tragic Consequences of Default.
Since the 20th century, urbanization has been proceeding with a very
high impetus in the Third World , demanding
timely responses and appropriate control; in the absence of appropriate and
timely responses and controls rapid urbanization could result in environmental degradation and/or urban poverty, as a result of default.
Although these scenarios have become familiar with the rapid urbanization
processes of the second half of the 20th century (particularly in
the Third World ), studies have confirmed that
they are indeed, symptoms of gross deficiencies in the mechanisms of control of
urbanization. According to Evans (2002), cited in Timmer and Seymoar, (2005), livelihood and ecological sustainability constitute two faces to the same coin;
and livelihood comprises the “jobs close enough to decent housing with wages
commensurate with rents, and access to services that make for a healthful
habitat”; thus livelihood must be
sustainable and should therefore not be permitted to result in environmental degradation: “To be
livable, a city must put both sides of the coin together, providing livelihoods
for its citizens, ordinary as well as affluent, in ways that preserve the
quality of the environment” Evans (2002). Unfortunately, where urbanization is now
proceeding at the fastest rate ever in human history (the Third World), the
mechanisms for proper control of urbanization have been weak and inefficient; uncontrolled
urbanization has resulted in gross distortions, like slums, where the dreams and
talents of useful and decent citizens (who have enormous potentials for
building up the city and the nation) are buried, because they lack access to
the basic necessities of life or to the requisite “quality of life”. In the Background Paper to the Third World Urban
Forum – WUF3, Vancouver
(2006), the looming tragedy associated with uncontrolled urbanization is
summarized with the following words:
Ø “….The world’s urban
population is likely to reach 4.2 billion by 2020, and if no serious action is
taken, the urban slum population is expected to increase to 1.4 billion in 2020…….
Can we accept this projected state of the world
whereby, in just 14 years, one out of every three people living in cities will
live in impoverished, overcrowded and insecure living conditions?”
The issues of environmental degradation and urban
poverty constitute the real challenges that are threatening to turn urbanization
into a crisis in the 21st century: the key issue is the enablement
of appropriate mechanisms for the control of urbanization and city development,
in order to enhance and also sustain the “quality
of life” of the citizens, in general. Thus, the central theme of the twin
concepts of the livable city and the sustainable city is the “quality of life” of the “citizens,
ordinary as well as affluent, in ways that preserve the quality of the
environment” for the enhancement of the general economic advancements of
nations. The measures of success, so far attained in some cities and urban
regions of the developed nations, confirm that these goals do not exist in utopia;
they are feasible and attainable; according to UN-Habitat (2005):
Ø “Cities play a vital role
in the social and economic development of countries. Efficient and productive
cities are essential for national economic growth and equally, strong urban economies
are essential for generating the resources needed for public and private
investments in infrastructure, education and health, improved living
conditions, and poverty alleviation……… Environmental degradation brings with it
enormous costs, resulting in significant inefficiencies in the use of local
resources. It also compounds inequities, and threatens the sustainability of
development. Yet environmental degradation is not inevitable and is often
caused by inappropriate urban development policies and ineffective planning and
management.”
3. Livability as a Goal in Urbanization.
Under the current philosophical context of human
civilization, every human process ought to have a goal; the current global
interpretation of the goal of urbanization is the livable city. In this paper we shall attempt to investigate how the
lessons derivable from the concept of the
livable city can apply to the current state of city development in Nigeria .
Livability is generally defined as the “quality of life” experienced by the
residents of the city, which in turn is defined by the ability of the residents
to gain appropriate access to “infrastructure (transportation, communication,
water and sanitation); food; clean air; affordable housing; meaningful
employment; and green space and parks”, Timmer and Seymoar (2005). The concept
of the livable city as a family that
shares its resources among contending stakeholders is further expounded by
Halhweg (1997): a place that is common space, with easy access to green spaces,
open spaces and other common facilities for all and also a place that “should
be attractive, worthwhile, safe for children, for older people, not only for
people who earn money there and then go and live outside in the suburbs and in
the surrounding communities”. The
concept of the livable city, as a
continuity within the continuum of time, is expressed by Salzano (1997); place where, not only the demands of the
present generations are addressed, but also the demands of future generations
as well as the heritage of past generations: “The livable city as a link
between the past and the future: the livable city respects the imprint of
history (our roots) and those who are not yet born (our posterity)”, Salzano, (1997).
The perspective of future generations brings up the issue of sustainability of
cities; sustainability is defined as
the capability of the city to continue to provide for and maintain the “quality of life” of its residents, by
implication, the pursuit of livelihood by the current generation must not
foreclose the access of present and future generations of residents of the city
to good and appropriate “quality of life”.
Thus, urbanization is not the simple relocation
of masses of people from the rural areas to the city; it should result in cities
that are livable and sustainable and
such undesirable attributes of urbanization as urban poverty and environmental
degradation must be constantly addressed and eliminated by policy. In
attaining these goals for the Nigerian cities, there is the need to depart from
the present policy position of meliorism
(the belief that human societies have a
natural tendency to improve, on their own, and that the members of the society
can consciously assist the process) and recognize that human processes
must, of necessity, be guided by appropriate policies towards the desired goals. In the place of meliorism, what will be demanded will be proactive policies in
urban governance and urban development, backed up with timely and appropriate
professional inputs and consultations.
4. The Metaphor of the Livable City.
The metaphor of the city as a living organism, presented in Timmer and
Seymoar (2005), provides a good conceptual framework for appraising
urbanization. By this metaphor, the city comprises systems that are likened to
the parts of a living organism
(similar to the human body). Thus, there are components of the urban system
that are likened to the brain and nervous system, the heart, the circulatory
systems and the organs. Our fair understanding of the human body, guides us
into a better understanding of the critical roles played by each of the
significant components of the urban system; this leads us to a better appreciation
of the important fact that one cannot expect a livable and sustainable city through the development of certain
components of the urban system at the expense of other components; a holistic
approach is demanded.
4.1
The Mechanisms for Control. In
the metaphor livable city the
mechanisms for development control, active involvement of diverse groups of
stakeholder in urban governance, professional consultations and also monitoring
and feedback processes are group together as representing the brain and the central
nervous system of the body. The fundamental importance of good professional
consultations in monitoring, control and feedbacks, and also interactions with
a wide spectrum of stakeholders is thus underscored. In Nigeria, outside Abuja,
there is hardly a city where urban development is guided by a functional
master-plan, a properly constituted full compliment of professional teams,
effective and modern digital monitoring processes (like Land Information Systems - LIS and
Geographic Information Systems –
GIS etc), and also appropriate incorporation of a wide spectrum of
stakeholders in urban governance. This constitutes one of the most fundamental
errors in the current urbanization processes in Nigeria . With reference to the
metaphor of the livable city as a
living organism, the interpretation of this omission is extremely bizarre; we
are probably developing cities that may be likened to living organisms, with malfunctioning brains and central nervous
systems; that presents a picture of general clumsiness and total lack of
co-ordination. In his introduction to Abuja
Geographic Information Systems, the Minister of the Federal Territory,
Mallam Nasir Ahmad Ee-Rufa’i observed the critical importance of proper
monitoring and control in the face of the rapid urbanization that is ensuing in
Abuja (and, by extension, also in Nigeria generally) today:
Ø With this rapid expansion,
manual record-keeping became inefficient, time-consuming and prone to abuses.
Several unsuccessful attempts were made in the past to solve the problems. The
attempt failed because of the gross under estimation of the gravity of the
problems and the ill-defined scope of the project.”
Abuja
Geographic Information Systems, webmaster@abujagis.com
Thus, there is already the proven case that the
dimensions of urbanization ensuing in our cities, has completely defied “manual record-keeping”, and thus everywhere (not only in Abuja ) there is the need for modern digital monitoring
techniques; it is, therefore, a very serious danger to continue to underestimate
the currently ensuing urbanization scenarios all over Nigeria today. The
ultimate goals must be handing over livable
and sustainable cities to the future generations; that demands that, in
this generation, we must accord proper importance to urban development
processes and the control of urbanization. This will also demand new
perspectives in the training of professionals in architecture and for the built
environment generally.
4.2
Infrastructural Networks and Grids. The “quality of life” in the
livable city is also defined by the ease of flow of resources that are
necessary to sustain livelihood activities: energy, water, materials, waste and
sewage disposal, transportation networks, communication networks etc. In the
metaphor of the livable city as a
living organism, infrastructural networks and grids are grouped together to
represent the circulatory system of the living organism. In our present state
of urbanization these systems do not usually keep pace with housing; owing
principally to ineffective development control processes and poor public
housing policies. Current strategies in city development demand a holistic
approach; the designs and implementation of infrastructural networks and
services grids must develop alongside with well planned housing and other urban
facilities. Phase delays between the development of housing and urban
facilities, on the one hand, and the infrastructural networks and services
grids, on the other hand, usually result in cities in which the flows of
resources and materials are chocked up in critical positions and at critical
periods of times; agencies responsible for infrastructural networks and
services grids must be involved at the outset, not long after housing
development has advanced significantly. This perspective is the concept of the
city as one integrated system, contrary to the old paradigm of the city as a
combination of discrete elements, functions and elements; Timmer and Seymoar
(2005):
In addition, it must also always be remembered
walking is also a means of transportation; the majority of the users of the
urban space (in Nigeria
and also in the city centres of most major cities in the world) are pedestrians.
The quality of life in the urban
space thus also depends very much on the provisions made, within the
transportation infrastructure of the urban space, for safe and pleasurable
pedestrian traffic; “Transportation for a
Livable City
4.3
New Paradigms in Urban Development: The Complete Community. For much of the 20th century, the
principal paradigm for urban planning and development was based on the concept
of zoning; that is the regulation of land development and land use by
designating specific uses or functions (like housing, commerce and business, industry
etc) to specific areas (or sectors) of the city. The new worldview is that (in
the face of rapid urbanization) zoning has resulted in urban sprawl; with
housing progressively located farther away (in suburbs and satellite
settlements) from jobs located strictly within the commercial and business
districts and also the industrial sectors of cities. Thus, people are compelled to travel very
long distances daily, to and fro, across cities and megacities, in order to
arrive at their places of work (or business), and also to return home. Apart
from long daily travel distances, sprawl has also been observed to result in
rapid depletion of periurban forests and agricultural lands; and thus
increasing ecological footprints of cities, Wackernagel and Rees (1996).
In the last two decades of the 20th
century, new paradigms (promoted principally by the Congress for the New
Urbanism) have emerged to challenge the concept of zoning; the new paradigms
are based on the concept of the complete community, which offers residents easier
access to jobs, recreation, commerce etc alongside with housing. According to
Timmer V. and Seymoar, N. K. (2005):
In essence, the new paradigms discourage
sprawl, proposing complete communities where people can live well-rounded lives;
and creating out of the city, a “community
of communities”, Timmer. and Seymoar, 2005); contrary to old concept of the
city, which being partitioned into zones that are strictly defined by functions,
compels people to travel several kilometers, by automobile, daily: the auto-dependent city, Nebel &
Wright, (1993).
5. Conclusion.
In
conclusion we recommend that city development and human settlement development,
in general, deserve to be considered as the top priority issues in national
policy, and also in training of professionals in architecture and the built
environment in 21st century Nigeria Lagos are not to be repeated, then it must be realized
that livability of Abuja
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