International scholars have called on Nigeria and other African countries to stop treating informal markets and settlements as urban failures. Instead, they should be harnessed as foundations for building resilient and sustainable cities.

The call was made on Monday at the University of Lagos during the opening of the second edition of the Southern Urbanism Co-Net Conference. The three-day event, themed “Negotiating Rural-Urban Futures,” brought together architects, urban planners and researchers from Nigeria, Japan, Mali, France, China, Tanzania and Latin America.

Conference organiser and UNILAG architecture lecturer Dr Mokolade Johnson said the gathering aimed to promote indigenous knowledge in urban development.

He stressed the importance of culture, heritage and people-based knowledge in shaping cities rather than always relying on external ideas.

Prof Oussouby Sacko, Executive Director of Tokyo Metropolitan Public University Corporation, urged African governments to stop viewing informal settlements only as areas to be destroyed.

He said policies should focus on making them safer and more livable while learning from efficient space use in places like Japan without losing local identity.

Architect Dr Steven Ajadi described informality as the defining identity of African urban spaces, not a weakness. He praised traditional markets for their resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and criticised the demolition of such markets for expensive commercial complexes that often exclude the traders who sustain local economies.

Photo credit: Punch Newspapers