GLA Partner Dr. Taibat Lawanson on Africa's Urbanization for WaPo

The Washington Post published an article on Nov 19, 2021 highlighting Africa’s rapid urbanization rates projected between now and 2100. GLA and Prindex’s partner Dr. Taibat Lawanson of the University of Lagos was cited in the article:

“There’s no exact science” for determining the city’s population, said Taibat Lawanson, a professor of urban planning at the University of Lagos. She explained that most Nigerians go to ancestral villages for census counts, even though they live in Lagos most of the time. A huge proportion of the city’s residents are itinerant laborers who sleep in different locations from week to week, making census questions about household size irrelevant.

“If anything, Lagos’s population is probably higher than anyone gives it credit for,” she said.

Source: WaPo. Pedestrians navigate spaces between buses and motorcycles along Idumota Market on Lagos Island, a commercial district of Lagos. Many of the danfos are decades old and need repairs while out on the road.

Dr. Taibat Lawanson is leading research with Prindex to do a deep dive study on how likely people in Lagos feel that they will be displaced or evicted. Follow Global Land Alliance and Prindex for future publication of this study.