Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 6-2013 The ffecE tiveness of the New Town Policy in Managing Growth and Congestion in Mega Cities: A Case Study of Lagos, Nigeria New Town Policy Abolaji Samson Olanipekun Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Human Geography Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Olanipekun, Abolaji Samson, "The Effectiveness of the New Town Policy in Managing Growth and Congestion in Mega Cities: A Case Study of Lagos, Nigeria New Town Policy" (2013). Master's Theses. 156. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/156 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE NEW TOWN POLICY IN MANAGING GROWTH AND CONGESTION IN MEGA CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA NEW TOWN POLICY by Abolaji Samson Olanipekun A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts Department of Geography Advisor: Benjamin Ofori-Amoah, Ph.D. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan June 2013 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE NEW TOWN POLICY IN MANAGING GROWTH AND CONGESTION IN MEGA CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA NEW TOWN POLICY Abolaji Samson Olanipekun, M.A. Western Michigan University, 2013 One of the major challenges facing municipal governments of megacities in developing countries is shortage of urban infrastructures relative to population growth. Because cities play important role in the economic development of every nation, problems confronting them require proactive policy measures by the government. One such mega city is Lagos, Nigeria. From 1962 to 2006, the population of Lagos grew from 1,135,805 to 17.5 million. Crammed on a 2200 square kilometer land area of which 18.9%, Lagos population is projected to reach 20.5 million by 2015, an explosion largely driven by the non-regulatory internal migration system. The result of this has been a persistent problem of housing crisis, vehicular congestion, environmental pollution and the spread of slums with the associated high crime rate. In 1981 the Lagos State New Town Development Authority (NTDA) was established to create new towns in order to manage the growth of Lagos and decongest the metropolitan area. This idea was borrowed from the UK, among other countries. The history of new town development globally has been that of a mixed outcome and the three decades of new town development in Lagos has also not produced any real impact on infrastructural development and spatial socio-economic equity in Lagos. The central question of this project therefore is to what extent has the Lagos new town project solve the infrastructural and congestion problems confronting Lagos mega city? Survey was designed to get the opinion of the Lagos new towns residents about the effectiveness of the new town policy. Outcome of the analysis shows that three decades of new town development efforts has not helped to achieve spatial socio-economic equity, decongestion and infrastructural adequacy in Lagos. Copyright by Abolaji Samson Olanipekun 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to begin by acknowledging my thesis committee members; Dr. Benjamin Ofori-Amoah (Chair), Dr. Kathleen Baker and Miss Rebecca Harvey. The successful completion of this would have been literally impossible without their professional guidance and support. I am especially thankful to Dr. Benjamin Ofori- Amoah for being a father and a mentor to me throughout my graduate program at Western Michigan University. Secondly, I would like to show my sincere gratitude to the staff and management of the Lagos New Town Development Authority (NTDA) for using their good office to help me in locating and compiling the data I used in this research. I also would like to thank the management and staff of Ikorodu GRA, Magodo Phase I, and Lekki Phase I Residents Association for helping in the distribution and completion of my surveys. Most importantly, I would like to thank my entire family, my parents for their prayers, support and encouragement. My loving wife deserves my special thanks, her understanding and unwavering love saw me though the completion of this project. Abolaji Samson Olanipekun ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 The Problem ........................................................................................ 1 Purpose ................................................................................................ 4 Significance of the Study and Expected Outcome .............................. 5 Research Methodology ........................................................................ 5 Study Area ........................................................................................... 6 Thesis Organization ............................................................................. 9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................... 10 Introduction ......................................................................................... 10 The Role of Cities ................................................................................ 10 Theories of Urban Growth .................................................................. 13 Economic Explanation ................................................................ 14 Sociological Explanation ............................................................ 16 iii CHAPTER Historical Pattern of Urban Growth .................................................... 17 Rural – Urban Migration ..................................................................... 19 Problems of Urban Growth ................................................................. 22 Attempts to Alleviate the Challenges of the Cities ............................. 26 The Emergence of the New Town Policy ........................................... 28 Definition of New Town/Satellite Town ............................................. 29 History of New Town Development ................................................... 30 The British New Towns .............................................................. 31 New Towns in the United States .................................................. 34 New Town Development in Developing Countries .................... 36 The Chinese New Towns .................................................... 37 The Egyptian New Towns ................................................. 38 Nigeria’s New Town .......................................................... 42 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 56 III. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 59 Research Design .................................................................................. 59 Selection of the Study Area ................................................................. 60 Data Type and Collection Method ...................................................... 63 Survey .................................................................................................. 64 iv CHAPTER Methods of Analysis ............................................................................ 64 Problems of the Study ......................................................................... 64 IV. ANALYSIS ................................................................................................. 66 Introduction ......................................................................................... 66 The Megacity of Lagos ........................................................................ 66 Problems of the Lagos Mega City ....................................................... 68 Overview of Efforts to Solve the Problems of Lagos Mega City ....... 69 Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Lagos New Town Policy ........... 70 Congestion Problems and New Town Policy Effectiveness ....... 70 Cost and Composition of Living in the New Towns ................... 79 Infrastructure Situation ................................................................ 84 Location of Jobs and Journey-to-work Trip ................................ 87 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 90 V. CONLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................. 91 Introduction ......................................................................................... 91 Summary ............................................................................................. 91 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 92 Policy Recommendation .....................................................................