THE SEARCH FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN-DEVELOPMENT IN METROPOLITAN LAGOS, NIGERIA - PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS

This paper examines the environmental problems of urban lower-income communities in metropolitan Lagos, and argues that sustainable urban development should be considered more in terms of the need to improve urban services and infrastructure, rather than raising the lifestyles and consumption patterns of the poor to the unsustainable levels of the rich. Using metropolitan Lagos as an example, the paper examines the environmental problems of African cities, and the political and institutional factors responsible for them. It sees the pattern of investment in urban infrastructure and services and the nature of urban environmental policies and management as being in urgent need of reform.