AN APPRAISAL OF THE CONCEPT OF GENTRIFICATION WITH PERSPECTIONAL FOCUS ON THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY, AFRICA AND NIGERIA

Introduction

Gentrification find it self into the everyday conversation of urbanization, sociology and other anthropological field after the uproot of the class of the society with low economic power from their neighborhood becomes a common sight in the 1960s, and it does not seem to seize from being a perpetuation in the everyday activities of the urban society globally. This is piece is a perceptional view of the concept with the aim of giving concise exploration of the nature or forms and effect of gentrification across the globe, in Africa and Nigeria.

The Concept of Gentrification

Etymologically, the word Gentrification is a derivative of the word gentry and was first used by British Sociologist Ruth Glass, especially in the current sense of the term. While commenting on the displacement of residents of London in 1964, glass described gentrification as a displacement process where original poor working class residents are dislodged from neighbourhood due to influx of wealthier residents and due concomitant rising cost of goods and services in such neighbourhood.

Kilmatin, stated that gentrification involves the process where higher income households displace lower income residents of neighbourhood which results in changes of essential character and flavour of that neighbourhood.

Characteristically, gentrification comes with displacement of the original residents, physical neighbourhood upgrade; especially housing stocks with it financial implications, and changes in neighbourhood characters in terms of race, cultural, social and historical heritage. And in some occasions, it is believed that gentrification is used as a tool for class and racial delineation as seen in the Redlining Scenario of the United States and migrants’ expulsion of Beijing in China.

One must state the fact that gentrification is different from urban renewal (as posited by Ibama and co, 2019, Urban renewal is a deliberate effort by government and other development partners to rehabilitate, redevelop and upgrade neighbourhood within the that are socially, physically and economically run-down). Contrary to gentrification which is usually profit driven upgrade of housing facilities in an area by private agencies, real estate stakeholders and in some cases government agencies, urban renewal is implemented through informed planning and involves memorandum of understanding among stakeholders.

Although gentrification comes with both positive and negative impacts, effects like social exclusion, discrimination, uneven development and promotion of capitalist society are it landmarks that has taken an overriding position above all the goods that come with it. As earlier stated a gentrified area will experience flux of high income, higher educated individuals and businesses; the displacement of low-income and working class groups, restructuring of physical, social and economic structures of the neighbourhood, spike in rentals, property values, food and essentials, high taxation. The ripple effect of gentrification the rising of a slum somewhere; which are known for poor layout and low living standard as well as a harbour for anti-social acts.

UN-Habitat 2003, global report on human settlement; “the process of physical deterioration of central city housing stock can be reversed through processes of gentrification, as has been frequently seen in ex-slum neighbourhoods in northern cities, where (usually young) professionals, themselves marginalized by the rising cost of ‘acceptable’ housing are willing to move into a traditional slum, attracted by the architecture and cheap housing prices, and perhaps encouraged by official renovation programmes. Gentrification can lead to a rapid shift in population, with poor tenants being pushed out to make way for wealthier occupants and new commercial and service developments -for example, in Morocco’s development of medina area in response to tourism and a conservation agenda. However, gentrification in the cities of developing countries has been limited and traditional slum housing remains very much the domain of the poor”.

Another negative impact of gentrification is the destination of social networks and family support which usually culminate into mental and physical health issues, depression, suicide etc. in displaced populace. An example of this glaring in the quote below from The Tenant Interview 2011, a response of a displaced resident of Aylesbury, East London;

“…from the very first day that the demolition was announced, the social bond was affected, because people knew they wouldn’t be seeing each other on a daily basis again. They wouldn’t be part of the same community. I’ve got a friend of mine -he could only afford to move out of the area with what the council was offering him for evaluation and ended up moving into a home somewhere just outside Sidcup, in Kent. -probably in his late 50s and he lives with his wife. He’s lived here all his life. He’s got people that would see him on a daily basis and his family lives here in the area. He’s now living there isolated just outside Sidcup having broken all of his social ties, he’s now suffering from severe depression. I think that is symptomatic of a lot of people… it is not easy to build new social ties, especially the older you are… I think it’s had a profound effect on people… I mean the number of people I’ve heard who’ve died during this decanting process. But for me, it’s genocide”.

However, the root of gentrification can be principally traced to be political, social and economical factors. The quest for profit and growing globalization of the capital-oriented economy is the driving force of gentrification.

In the political wise, government urban planning and development strategies influences gentrification. Government often marks out region for housing project and profit driven capitalist swarm on such area developing housing facilities which inevitably having residents move out. Most recently, the PPP; Public Private Partnership is another adopted modus of government that encourages the forceful relocation of low-income earners. Another aspect is the inadequate legislations on real estate operations in most developing world. Real estate practitioners almost enjoy free will in project siting, this is however not far from the proliferated corrupt practices in these worlds.

The political and economic factors fostering gentrification are interdependent, in most cases areas taken over by developers are regions of neglect by the government. In the case of Africa, most real estate players and capitalists are members of government circles either directly or indirectly, hence the reluctance of government to regulate investors activities.

Social factors like cultural fusion, lifestyle, social alliances and networking occasionally foster gentrification.

GENTRIFICATION HAS GONE GLOBAL

The wake of the new millennium came with fast acculturation and diffusion of things; ideas and phenomenon on a global scale due to the fast-growing technological innovation in telecommunication. This has no limit in term of impact on every phase of the human practices from farming to housing down to entertainment.

I choose to tag the capture of global perspective of gentrification with the words of Niel Smith (2002) because the statement cannot be truer. Everything has gone global, the world has walked through imperialism and colonialism, now into what Brenner and Schmid (2012) call totalization of capital. This is the implication of the partnership of companies, investors, developers and government across borders to build and open up regions and leading what is describe as market-led gentrification. For example, Twitter opens a center in Ghana, this means an influx of businesses into the region and the need to build residential regions that suits the demand of players. Another example is the Yaba tech hub, lately international tech cooperation like Andela and Microsoft started having footprint in the Yaba hub of Lagos Nigeria, the led to direct rise in the cost of rent in the region.

“Urban governance has entered a ‘territorial moment’ = planetary gentrification” -Ponencia Loretta Less.

Schindler (2015) is of the following position or this; residents of say, Lagos, Jakarta or Istanbul, may reasonably assume that in cities of such size they will be able to find a buyer for a luxury apartment in the future, while producing commodities -for domestic consumption or for expert- is perceived as risky in comparison. Finally, middle classes in developing countries are not only local beneficiaries of the global regime of open markets and internationalized production, but …they enjoy “almost entirely positive and unproblematic connotations among many development agencies and governments. Thus, the construction of infrastructure and the development of a regulatory framework that encourages urban renewal and investments in real estate can be interpreted as attempts to reinforce the conditions for their further accumulation”.

Example of players in the global market-led gentrification include multinationals and international real estate companies like IQI Global, Collins International, Keller Williams etc.

Another phase of the global gentrification is the state-led gentrification which spring out of state development authorities’ activities of remaking cities. This phenomenon is similar in the global south, north, east and west. In China, a urban redevelopment policy was adopted known as Sanjiu Gaizao (meaning to redevelop three old things, i.e. old urban areas, old factories, and old villages), this has effectively stimulated a trend of nationwide gentrification under the CPC led administration. “In Guangzhou alone, it was estimated that more than 10million square meters of buildings would be demolished under this scheme, which will relocate about 0.6 million people… (He, 2012).

In the united state the department of housing and urban development HOPE VI program has widely received criticism to be a legal means of evicting poor residents. THE HOPE VI is a program intended to revitalize the worst public housing projects in the United States into mixed-income developments. The program includes revitalization, demolition, main street and planning grant programs. Findings reveal that less than 12% of those displace from old housing eventually move into the replacement housing.

As stated by Lovetta, “council estates are the final bricks in the wall re. the total gentrification of inner London”. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. However, statistics shows that this state led scheme is a frontier for the gentrification of the inner-city of London. Since 1997, 54,263 units have either been demolished or are slated for demolition on council estates of more than 100units in London. If we take the London Housing plan’s average number of households per unit 2.5 a conservative estimate is that 135,658 council tenants and leaseholders have been/are being displaced. The estimates in media reports have been 50,000, the reality is substantially higher.

GENTRIFICATION AND THE AFRICAN REGIONS

The continent of African is characterized by large mass of nations popularly class as underdeveloped; a classification not far from the reality. A continent marred by decades of slavery, colonialism and political pressure and religious crisis; this already makes the African region the home of one of the largely displaced people of the world. The cleaves of Nigeria in the northeast, Tigray region of Ethiopia down to Somalia are dotted with displaced people. Gentrification is leading another wave of displacement of natives and residents in cities across Africa.

As the developed nations always see the Africa as a market and field of exploitation, the capitalist economy globally is also fostering gentrification in Africa. In 2014, the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs projected that much of the expected urban growth will take place in Africa. New cities or area are springing up in Africa, driven by private and foreign real estate players. Africanews reported that about 800millions dollars will be invested in the real estate market of Africa. New private investments in housing and urban development are increasingly reaching Africa; foreign and domestic companies are investing in Africa urban property (Bhan, 2014)

Maputo the capital city of Mozambique is known for having dual socio-spacial structure; the Surbubios and city cement. The Sububios is the settlement of the poor and low-income natural citizens, while the city cement areas were designated for privileged non-Africans and Europeans descends. As urbanization come by the socio-spacial structure is taking a different turn, long-time residents of the Surburbios being displaced as this area is the housing alternative for urban flux; pressure is on the housing infrastructure of this area and properties are becoming too expensive for native dwellers.

In 2007, the Rwanda government proposed a new business district in the capital city of Kigali, this led to forceful displacement of around 260 households. Many of this households settled in a low-income housing village known as Batsinda. But decades after, as Kigali expanded, areas around Batsinda is experiencing gentrification as more flux from Kigali is coming into the area and value of property is increasing.

Gentrification in Africa also take the path of the market-led and state-led forms.

GENTRIFICATION IN NIGERIA; A FOCUS ON LAGOS MEGACITY

Since the oil boom in Nigeria, rural urban migration has been the characteristic of the Nigerian urbanization route. The major cities especially business centers like Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt etc. daily experience influx of young people in a teeming capacity. There is obvious pressure in housing facilities in Lagos, the center of the Nigeria economy. With about 200million people of which 60% are of the youthful age class, the demand for city rebuilds and restructure is inevitable.

Lagos as a focus, the inner-city and central business area is the Lagos Island, it is the native settlement of the Yoruba people of Isale Eko of the Lagos city. As posited by Isodore et al; the combination CBD and inner-city settlement has made Lagos megacity with respect to physical development which present a good case for urban renewal.

The result of this is inevitably the relocation of aborigines'. The gentrification of the inner-city of Lagos is mostly capital induced as developers approach dwellers who are already finding it hard to cope with the cost and social implication of the transformation in their area, developer either propose a sell out of property or leasing. This has however led to over commercialization of housing both in the CBD and other region of the Lagos city. The expansion of the Island has on adjourning areas like Marina and Ikoyi where property value has drastically changed.

Lagos Island presents a good case for the study of gentrification, it is the center of the city and the commercial nexus of the bustling city. in terms of physical density, it is the densest area in Lagos megacity. Commercial gentrification is the predominant type of gentrification in Lagos Island because of the pressure for commercial spaces. As a result, emphasis on undue commercialization had meant that investors would want to recover their investments as soon as possible, which led to compromise in the procurement process and ultimately building collapse. The incidence of building collapse in Lagos has been high and rather concentrated in Lagos Island (Iyagba 2005; Agwu, 2013). As a result, the government developed a regeneration plan for the area of which the state-led gentrification is an aspect (Ayinde, 2013).

In 2009, the Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency (LASURA) under the auspice of the Lagos State Government started what it tagged Urban Regeneration programmes of which one if it phase is the upgrading of the residential areas especially in the central business district of the Lagos Inner-city. The Isale Gangan Redevelopment Project took off in 2009, it is an exclusive residential development project of 2500 meter square land originally owned by 12 families. These families as reported by tribuneonlineng.com were given an offer of two-bedroom condo/each sequel unit to the acquisition, revocation and redevelopment of the scheme. However findings have it that in most cases, these families lease out the apartment because of the demand of living in the area has changed. It can therefore be say that the offer never prevented the core effect of gentrification from playing out.

Isodore et al, commenting on the Lagos Redevelopment Project opined; This example of state-led gentrification is an improvement of the market-led gentrification that has been prevalent in the area for longtime. While the market-led gentrification tends to favour development of spaces for commercial activities, the state-led example is focusing on residential accommodation.

However, inner-city gentrification as seen in Lagos is not an exception in the Nigeria urban centers like Ibadan, Port Harcourt and others. This development as implication on cultural and social make-up of affected areas.

Conclusion

Gentrification is global trend whose peculiarity adjust to socio-economic, political and cultural backgrounds of locations across the globe. While it is seen as another racial segregation tool in the United State, it poses as a thing of class delineation in the Britain and in Mozambique; an advance of the colonial descends whites. Meanwhile, urbanization will always be a case of every society as human advances in technology and capitalism.

Gentrification which usually come with urbanization can be state-led which aim at repositioning and transforming housing conditions in cities. Or Market-led which is largely profit oriented. Government authorities should greatly fashion ways of entrenching the low-income earners in the plan of both categories of players beyond financial or house offer compensation considering the mental and social impact. A proper finetune of the implementation process and monitoring of the mixed communities proposed by the US HUD HOPE VI Project can be a great one.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentrification

https://www.urbandisplacement.org/gentrification-explained

Gentrification and Displacement: a global phenomenon

Professor Loretta Lees Department of Geography University of Leicester, U.K.

https://news.trust.org/item/20191126133236-inxbh/

https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/publications/2014-revision-world-urbanization-prospects.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-rwanda-landrights-housing-feature-idUSKBN16F1U3

https://tribuneonlineng.com/lagos-govt-completes-isale-gangan-towers-gardens/

Urban Regeneration through State-led, New-Build Gentrification in Lagos Inner City, Nigeria

Isidore C. Ezema Department of Architecture, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Pearl Akunnaya Opoko Department of Architecture, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Adedapo Adewunmi Oluwatayo Department of Architecture, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.