The City in the Lagoon: How Makoko Builds an Alternative Form of Flood Resilience

Abstract

In this thesis, I explore the issue of urban flooding for slum communities in Lagos, Nigeria. While the urban poor of Lagos are the segment of the population most endangered by the regular flood events that hit the region, the century-old slum community of Makoko-Iwaya Waterfront has developed a unique urban form that allows its residents to live harmoniously with the turbulent waters of Lagos Lagoon. When people willing to learn and support this community have come, exciting new architectural forms have emerged, as when architect Kunlé Adeyemi and his firm, NLÉ, created the Makoko Floating School in 2012. Unfortunately, the Lagos State Government has a history of violent slum clearance efforts that threaten Makoko-Iwaya Waterfront’s existence. I argue that the state government’s development process is stuck in a traditional mindset of how a city ought to be that is unsuited to the flood-prone environment it is situated in. The state also ignores the innovative urban forms developing in its own slum communities, as exemplified within the Makoko-Iwaya Waterfront. Finally, I dissect what I call the Makoko model of architectural and urban development, explain how the Makoko Floating School built upon that model, and then offer my analysis and suggestions for how this line of development can be further continued.