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Introduction
The article discusses gentrification in Lagos between 1929 and 1990 within the context of the colonial government's policies on town planning and segregation. The year 1929 is chosen as the starting date against the backdrop of the current scholarly argument that gentrification is largely a post-World War II phenomenon.1 The evidence provided by Lagos does not endorse this approach. I also extend the discussion of gentrification until 1990 to show that post-colonial Lagos, as the capital of Nigeria until 1990, inherited the legacy of underdeveloped physical planning by the colonial government in its urban renewal programme.2 The article covers Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Lekki, Ebute-Meta, Yaba and Ikeja Division under which were areas like Ikeja, Mushin, Isolo and Oshodi among others. These areas formed metropolitan Lagos in the period under study (Figure 1).
Figure 1:
Map showing the area of study
Source: Author, 2014.
[Figure omitted. See PDF]
Since the appearance of Ruth Glass’ work on gentrification in 1964, there have been many debates on theories of the economic and social pre-conditions of gentrification and the empirical evidence of what should be regarded as constituting a gentrifying neighbourhood.3 Gentrification is defined as the rehabilitation of working-class and derelict housing and the consequent transformation of an area into a middle-class neighbourhood.4 Some scholars have argued that capitalism is based precisely on its ability to displace the working class in various situations, and history has shown us many examples of the ways in which legislators, the wealthy and the politically influential have managed to move the poor when it was profitable or expedient to do so.5 Whether at the level of individuals, family, household or community, opportunities and preferences with respect to housing consumption are ‘socially structured by finance capital and state intervention’. Well-educated professional single women or women who are part of a dual income marriage are also seen as conspicuous participants in the gentrification process.6 It is also argued that a number of key factors contribute to gentrifying processes, most notably the growth of new industrial and service sectors and the emergence of a new and homogeneous middle class.7 Chris Hamnett has argued that each of the two major explanations for gentrification (the rent gap...