Good planning begins by reading a place before rewriting it. Planning should be translation, not imitation—translating local character and capacity into rules that guide growth without destroying identity
ACROSS Lagos, a quiet but powerful shift is underway. Neighbourhoods are being reclassified. Low-density areas are turning into mixed-use corridors, building heights are rising, and residential enclaves are absorbing commercial activities. On paper, this is called progress. On the ground, it often feels like erasure.
The problem is not densification itself, but how it is being applied. Different neighbourhoods… each with distinct histories, geographies, infrastructure, and social fabrics—are being subjected to the same planning template. The result is growth without balance, expansion without stability.
Over time, we have been acculturated to dysfunction. Flooding is blamed on “the rains.” Traffic is explained away as “city life.” The loss of green spaces is sold as modernization. In this atmosphere, uniform planning rules become blunt instruments instead of calibrated tools.
Yet cities are not spreadsheets. They are lived systems.
Makoko, Ikeja GRA, Surulere, Ebute Metta, and Lekki do not share the same ecological limits or infrastructural capacities. Treating them alike is like prescribing the same medication to patients with entirely different conditions.
Makoko’s challenge is not height, but sanitation, safety, climate resilience, and secure tenure.
Ikeja GRA’s challenge is managing commercial pressure without erasing its calm, low-density character.
Surulere’s strength lies in walkability and social life, now threatened by uncoordinated vertical growth.
Lekki’s core problem is sequencing—development racing ahead of roads, drainage, power, and public transport.
These are not variations of one problem. They are different problems altogether.
Good planning begins by reading a place before rewriting it. Planning should be translation, not imitation—translating local character and capacity into rules that guide growth without destroying identity.
Tools like form-based codes, heritage overlays, social impact assessments, and community design charters can help shift planning from decree to dialogue.
Most importantly, reclassification must be treated as an infrastructure decision before a real estate opportunity. Density should follow drains, roads, schools, clinics, and emergency access—not the other way around.
Our task is not only to regulate development, but to enlighten the public on what should be. Better streets, safer sidewalks, functioning drains, and protected neighbourhoods are not luxuries. They are civic rights.
Lagos does not need one master key. It needs many finely cut keys.
Planning is not one-size-fits-all.
Quality must matter more than quantity.
- Gbenga Onabanjo is an Architect, Environmentalist and an Urban Policy Advocate.He writes from Lagos.