This thesis examines the process of street trader displacements through the views of street traders and other urban actors, and through the lens of the Right to the City concept, reviewing the ways in which public space is viewed and regulated and the interplay of rights in urban public space within the context of Lagos, Nigeria. The Right to the City concept is also critiqued in this particular African context through the case study of trader displacements in Oshodi Market, Lagos, in 2009. This investigation was conducted through a case-study and mixed-method approach using interviews, documentary analysis and observation. The displacement of street traders from public spaces is a common government policy in developing world cities despite widespread arguments that displacements lead to marginalisation of street traders. The spread of global capitalism has escalated tensions as street trade and neoliberal urban development fundamentally depend on public space, but street traders are often relegated, with urban public space perhaps the clearest physical domain in which exclusion is manifest. The Right to the City has been used to question competing claims to the city and has gained wide acclaim globally, it has however been criticised as lacking adequate contextual grounding. The research reveals wide-ranging negative impacts of displacements on street traders and other urban groups, and significant lapses in urban management in Lagos. It was found that the Right to the City did not feature in the experience of street traders in Oshodi as traders do not possess any rights in public space. In addition key context specific challenges of implementing the Right to the City are identified. The thesis establishes a rights-based framework for urban governance based on the Right to the City which can be implemented in Lagos and similar contexts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:646337 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Omoegun, Ademola |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/72513/ |
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