Urban renewal in Ibadan, Nigeria: World class but essentially Yoruba

Abstract

Urban renewal is central to ‘world-class’ city aspirations on the African continent: demolitions and evictions exemplify the power of the state to restructure urban space, prioritizing elite forms of accumulation and enforcing aesthetic norms of cleanliness, order and modernity. The ubiquity of world-class city-making has been taken by urban studies scholars as evidence of African leaders’ converging on a unitary aspirational urban imaginary. This article contends that the concept of world class should instead be understood as a key terrain on which African governments’ distinctive and diverse ideational ambitions are expressed. In Oyo State, southwest Nigeria, vernacular political traditions—in this case Yoruba cultural nationalism centred on the ideas of Obafemi Awolowo—were deployed by the state governor to legitimize urban renewal. Drawing on the Yoruba notion that elitism can be ‘generalized’, the cultivation of globalized urban forms was not only a project of becoming ever more homogenously ‘international’ but a historically grounded aspiration to become ever more essentially Yoruba. Thus, beyond commonalities across the discourses used to legitimize neoliberal urban development—world class, international and global—these universal sounding imaginaries may at the same time express much more particularistic political projects.

Climate, Urbanization and Environmental Pollution in West Africa

“…Additionally, the coastal areas in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Togo lost 5.3% of their national GDP to environmental degradation, which also caused the deaths of people and destroyed livelihoods, as of 2017 [12,25]. Problems associated with poor pollution control in the region include poor or ineffective enforcement of pollution regulations, poor national databases, a lack of/inefficient/expensive pollution technology [142,143], ineffective community governance, and a lag in community mobilization and empowerment [144].…”

“…Urban renewal, redevelopment or regeneration is an important concept that seeks to address the poorly planned urbanization and urban growth through demolitions, evictions and other forms of activities involved in restructuring urban space and enforcing aesthetic norms of cleanliness, modernity and orderliness [143]. The significance of urban renewal is premised on the fact that the urban area has been degraded, typically characterized by ineffective or poor housing schemes that prompted the emergence of slums or 'blighted' communities, and the need for modernization of housing structures and improved urban facilities allocation, as documented in SDG 11 [145,146].…”

“…Across West African countries, urban renewal has evolved directly or indirectly through government initiatives, local (community) efforts and international initiatives, and agents such as private developers, designated Land Development Corporations and housing societies [154]. In some West African countries (e.g., Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso), studies noted that state creation and its associated territorial disaggregation, changes in government (specifically the election of a new party or set of elites into government), and the conspicuous need for major infrastructural or environmental development, probably based on public instigations or major disasters (such as flooding and accidents) are the main factors that have encouraged urban renewal (e.g., [143,158]). Agbaje [158] also argued that urban renewal may be initiated as an attempt to disguise national poverty in locations around a site of international events, such as major sports events or festivals in some West African countries, such as FESTAC 77 in Nigeria, or during the hosting of world sporting events in parts of Lagos (Nigeria) and Accra (Ghana).…”