Incorporating informality into urban and regional planning education curriculum in Nigeria

Abstract

To achieve sustainable development in any society the educational system must be responsive to the dynamics of that society. This article discusses issues on the level of training on informality in African planning schools with emphasis on the Lagos, Nigeria situation. The article reviews the concept of informality, the challenges, the quantum of training in planning schools curricula on issues relating to the informal sector, legislative tools available to tackle the phenomena, among others. The article concludes that there is currently inadequate training and paucity of legislation to guide the integration of the informal sector into the urban system in the study area. In the light of these findings, the need for responsive planning education curriculum in Africa is imperative. There is the need to teach on issues concerning the sporadic emergence of the informal sector in the African urban landscape. This is one of the major consequences of 21st-century African urban growth. Unfortunately, African planning schools curricula are based on standards of developed countries; thus formal training on planning solutions for the informal sector are not well entrenched, nor adequate planning regulations provided to integrate the informal sector into land use. To achieve a sustainable city landscape this article recommends the need to introduce courses such as informality, community engagement, social mobilisation, participatory planning, among others, in planning curricular. This will go a long way in improving the skills of planners towards resolving the challenges posed by the sporadic phenomena of the informal sector in Nigerian cities.