Challenges of Sustainable Physical Planning and Development in Metropolitan Lagos ‘

Currently the concept and adoption of sustainable development is one of the most commonly adopted in recent time. This paper therefore examines the application of the concept in the physical development process in Lagos State. It delves into literature on physical development efforts with discussions on planning legislations from the colonial period to the present time in Lagos State all aimed at resolving the myriad of problems confronting physical and environmental development in the state. Existing problems identified in the paper are classified into physical/environmental, cultural/sociological, managerial and legislative problems. Efforts towards sustainable development in other parts of the world are examined upon which suggestions are presented on how sustainable physical development can be achieved in Lagos State. Among specific suggestions offered by the paper include need for public participation in planning, capacity building, integration of information technology into planning practice and that planning should not be commercialized.


Introduction
Sustainable development concept is a shift from mere sustained growth of a society to the level whereby such growth does not jeopardize the need of the future generation.Sustainable development is predicated on the articulation and incorporation of environmental and human needs in the pursuit of economic growth and development objectives (Aina, et al, 1992).It however has human, soci-economic and physical development dimensions.This paper is concerned primarily with the environmental and physical dimension of the concept of sustainable development.
Early literature on sustainable development did not lay much emphasis on physical dimension of the concept but it later became apparent that sustainability cannot be achieved in other facets of human development without the compliment of the physical environment.Thus sustainable physical development came into the debate.The early debates were on the need to create "green cities" (Leff, 1990).While some definitions linked social and economic development to environmental development, the World Health Organisation (1992) opined was that sustainable urban development should be concerned with the achievement of more productive, stable and innovative economies at low resource use.The definition by the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) which emphasized meeting the "needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs became the popularly embraced definition.This paper attempts to evolve strategies for sustainable physical development in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The paper also presents inherent problems of physical planning and the place of physical planning in the attainment of sustainable development.The nature of physical and environmental problems in Lagos State are examined and existing policies and laws influencing physical development in Lagos are evaluated to ascertain their shortcomings.At the global level, city development and management strategies are examined with examples from the UN-HABITAT efforts in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Santo Andre/ABC Region (Brazil).
The paper finally advances presents policy recommendations for Lagos State which include integration of socioeconomic goals with physical planning, unicity urban council and administration, e-planning and privatization of municipal services, and capacity building.Other recommendations include need for innovative approaches to environment management, exhibition and replication of best practices, annual awards for best practices and from development control (Permit) to development management.

Sustainable development and human settlement
Basically the concept of sustainable development is an attempt to articulate and incorporate environmental and human needs in the pursuit of economic growth and development.It is a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, investments, application of technology and institutional change are in harmony and enhances both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations (Adeyinka, 2005).The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) known as "Our Common Future" defines sustainable development as one that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.More prominenced was given to the concept of sustainable development due to its emergence as one of the key resolutions of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and seconded by the Habitat Conference at Istanbul, 1996, who emphasis were on the need for sound environmental management in order to achieve the objectives of sustainable development.
At the global level Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit concern for sustainability of cities is at two levels, first at the global level it involve a range of issues concerning long term sustainability of the earth.Secondly, at the local level it involves the possibility that urban life may be undermined from within because of congestion, pollution, waste generation and their accompanying social and economic consequences.
Therefore sustainability in the broad area of physical development particularly, human settlements goes beyond conventional concerns as better social conditions, equity and better environmental standards, to issues such as concern for the impact of city-based production and consumption activities within and outside of the city (Adeniji, 1998).In the area of human settlement basic yardsticks of sustainability as established by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), 1996 are quality of life of inhabitants, scale of non-renewable resource use, extent of recycling and re-use, the scale and nature of renewable resource use, waste emanating from production and consumption activities as well as the impact of these wastes on environmental health and ecological systems.It adopts equity, socially responsive policies at both local and regional levels.

The place of physical planning in the attainment of sustainable physical development
Physical planning like other areas of human endeavour has a credible role to play if sustainable physical development is to be achieved in any society.Urban planning has a central role in achieving sustainability (Wellbank, 1994).Though urban planning is a service and does not necessarily result directly into goods (Jiriko, 1998).It is judged by its product i.e. the outcome of the implementation of the planning provisions and programmes.It provides a plan-document to be used for physical development of the human habitat.By implication urban planning provides the led system for "building" the environment which is fundamental for the attainment of sustained control and development of the environment.Physical planning documents are vehicles for environmental development in the immediate term and set the direction of future growth.This is achieved through the use of a plan diagram backed-up with many legislative guidelines and administrative reports.Therefore sustainable physical development and management of human settlement hinges greatly on the effectiveness of physical development plans.This involve the reconciliation of land uses, provision of the right site for the right use, control of development, provision of facilities, services and public goods, preservation, protection and conservation of resources, preservation of heritage among others.Planning has a positive catalytic role to play (McDonic, 1986) towards achieving sustainable development.Planning provide a plan-led system.Such plans provide sustainable and best sites for various human activities.To a very high level, physical planning forecast and projects activities relationships through a planning process which involve evaluation, thus such plan stands a good chance of promoting sustainable development.
In summary for societal stability and quality environment based on equity the need for physical planning can be outlined as follows (Adesanya, 1998).
As physical development occurs, it most often have severe impacts on land and water resources and on the atmosphere, thus the need to take advance action to prevent potential damages.
Pressure of population growth and urbanization most often have adverse implications on the supply of adequate shelter, infrastructure and services, therefore the need to plan for them.
The poor most often do not have access to suitable shelter, and most often lack security of land tenure, the need to protect their interest.
To overcome these problems physical planning provide compatible land uses, ensures orderly development, equitable land distribution, provide functional and visually pleasing environment and satisfactory services in a sustainable manner.

The Study Area and Associated Environmental and Physical Development Challenges
Lagos State was created on May 27 th 1967 when Nigeria was restructured into 12 States.Before this period Lagos municipality was under the administration of the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Lagos Affairs as the regional authority.The city of Lagos was under the Lagos City Council.The regions of Ikeja, Agege, Mushin, Ikorodu were under the former Western Region.Lagos State lies approximately between longitude 2 0 42'E and 3 0 42 0 E and latitude 6 0 22'N and 6 0 52'.The state is located on the South-Western part of Nigeria with the southern boundary of the state framed by about 180 kilometer along Atlantic coastline while the northern and eastern boundaries are framed by Ogun State.The Republic of Benin formed the western boundary.The state is the smallest state in Nigeria in land area with an area of about 358,861 hectares or 3577sq.km(Odumosu, 1999).This represents only 0.4 percent of the entire area of the country.This size accommodates about 10 per cent of the entire 140 million appropriate population of the country.The state is also the most urbanized in Nigeria (Ayeni, 1979).Only about 5 per cent of the state total population are of rural areas.This has serious consequences on land use planning in the state especially in urban areas.It also has great implication on infrastructure such as housing, water supply, storm drainage, roads, electricity, telephone, waste management and other socio-economic, cultural and administrative issues.Ironically except for Abuja, Lagos stand out to be the best served with infrastructural facilities in the country yet it is where these facilities are most inadequate due to the high population density.The state is also the most affluent in spite of its small size.

Physical and Environmental Challenges in Lagos State
Physical and environment challenges in Lagos can be viewed from both socio-economic and environmental perspectives.Increase in the urban population has resulted in the proliferation of slums and shantytowns.The proliferation of these shantytowns results in the unwieldy expansion of the urban centres, which poses a major planning problem as the provision and management of roads, drainage and sewage systems among other infrastructure proves very difficult.Furthermore, shantytowns generate a high rate of poverty, diseases and epidemics, environmental pollution, urban conflicts and crime as typified by Mushin, Ajegunle, Isale Eko, Makoko, Oshodi, Ojo and Orile amongst others.Addressing the problems of the Lagos Metropolis requires a holistic approach.The prevalent problems are physical/environmental, cultural/sociological and managerial.[Mabogunje (1981), Egunjobi (1999), Olayiwola (2000), Oduwaye and Ogundele (2006)].Incidentally, UN-Habitat (2004) outlines these problems to be the major challenges to poverty reduction in Nigeria.Therefore, these issues must be the fulcrum for any meaningful intervention to the urban development problems of Lagos State.
Physical and Environmental Challenges: Physical and environmental challenges in Lagos State include conflicting land uses such as the infiltration of commercial land uses on housing as the case in Festac town; compete succession on Allen Avenue and Awolowo roads; poor aesthetics and unsightly cityscape, high building density and high rate of building collapse such as the recent one at Ebute Metta, and invasion of informal shanties in planned areas.Infrastructure problems include narrow and poorly constructed roads, mostly without provision for drainage.Other environmental problems include traffic congestion, pollution (Noise, atmospheric and water), flooding and ocean surge etc.These problems are particularly prevalent in areas that are inhabited by the poor.Due to the rapid population expansion and rapid urbanization being witnessed in the metropolis, more people, especially the poor are inhabiting ecologically vulnerable areas such as Ijeh, Amukoko, Makoko amongst others.Atmospheric pollution is high in Olusosun and Ojota; Ajegunle and Orile are prone to flooding while building collapse is high in Ketu, Ebute Metta, Ajegunle and Orile.Although the Lagos State Public Health Bye law recommends a room occupancy rate of 2 persons per room, as at 2004, occupancy rates vary from 1.4 in low density Apapa to 3.6 in medium density Surulere and 8.0 in high density Mushin (UNDP/LASG) See Table 1.

Sociological and cultural challenges
Prevalence of miscreants i.e. area boys, crime and juvenile delinquency, ethnic clashes, high population density, political violence, public ignorance and apathy, environmental health crises are common.All these issues are dominant in the shanty towns.Area boys are mainly located in the slums of Mushin, Oshodi, Ketu, Onipanu, Yaba, Shita and Isale Eko.Land disputes and extortion, usually accompanied by widespread violence are quite common among the Omo-Oniles of Ajah and other emerging settlements around the metropolis.Ethnic clashes usually occur in the shantytowns of Idi-Araba and Ladipo-Mushin.Environmental health crises are quite common in low income areas.High incidence of sexually transmitted were recorded in the low income settlements of Ipodo-Ikeja and Tolu-Ajegunle (Nwokoro and Okusipe, 2002).Political skirmishes are also widespread in low income areas.Crime is also higher in the low income areas of Agege and Somolu, compared to the middle and high income areas of Surulere, Apapa and Eti Osa.

Environmental management challenges
This includes legislative bottlenecks, technical inadequacies and lack of manpower, lack of public participation and corruption.Furthermore, the loopholes in the Land Use Decree of 1978 are yet to be revised, close to three decades later; selective implementation of the Urban and Regional Planning Decree 88 of 1992, paucity of qualified officers on the field and the inability of government to remunerate workers adequately.Community participation is also not fully implemented.Planning is still basically "for the people", rather than being "with the people".Therefore, planning ends up not being unsustainable as the people do not feel a sense of responsibility to their environment.Furthermore, the problems of the Lagos Metropolis are compounded because Lagos is a city that does not have citywide administration.There is an overlap of functions and activities by all levels of governments, and consequently, friction, conflicts and waste of public funds.If constituent local governments of a large metropolis plan and manage their own sections of the area, there are bound to be conflicts and narrowness in outlook.Overlap of functions of the various environmental management agencies is also an issue.The case of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Federal Road Safety Corps and Federal Road Maintenance Agency is an example.The populace has also lost confidence in their elected representatives and so many of them do not have a sense of responsibility to their environment or communities.Vandalism and destruction of government projects are quite pronounced, especially in the slums and shanties.It is obvious that in the Lagos Metropolis, Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry among other urban settlements in Lagos State, poverty has a dire effect on the general environment.
In summary the major challenges confronting physical planning and development in metropolitan Lagos include the following communication gap, non-integration of socio-economic goal with physical development planning objectives, fragmentation of planning and planning related agencies, low level of application of information technology in the planning process, and need to showcase good practices.

A review of efforts towards achieving orderly physical development in Lagos State
The major approach towards land use control in Lagos State has been legislative.The application of legislative instruments as guides to Town Planning in Lagos State is classified in this paper into colonial and post-independent periods.Prior to these periods, planning was under the control of traditional rulers and chiefs.Town planning in Lagos can be traced to the colonial period, that is, before 1854 when the British took over the administration of the country.The milestone statement of Sir Richard Burton in 1863 in his book on West Africa in which he suggested steps to be taken to clear the "Lagos Stables" that "that the site of Lagos is detestable" constitutes what could be termed the beginning of the first physical plan for Lagos (Aduwo, 1999).Also in 1873, as part of measures to ensure a clean environment in Lagos, the acting Colonial Surveyors gazetted that "Householders and owners of unoccupied lands throughout the town are requested to keep the streets clean and around their premises, by sweeping them at least once in a week as well as cutting and clearing away bush and grass and removing other sources of nuisance (Aduwo, 1999).

Colonial town planning legislations
In 1866, Governor Moloney, a botanist established a Botanical Garden at Ebute Metta.Between 1899 and 1904 a Sanitary Board of Health was established by Governor MacGregor who was a physician.The Board was established to advice the Governor on many township improvement schemes.MacGregor could also be remembered for his concern with the problem of water supply, prevention of malaria and other diseases.
The 1902 Planning Ordinance empowered the Governor to declare areas to be European Reservations with Local Board of Health of their own.Their duties were to preserve and improve the health of the reservation areas.The Public Health Ordinance was promulgated in 1908 under the Lagos Municipal Board of Health in order to improve environmental health conditions.In 1917, the Township Ordinance No. 29 was promulgated which made Lagos the only first class city in Nigeria with a Town Council.
The provision in the 1917 Township Ordinance did not allow for appreciable improvements of the Native Towns.This nonchalant attitude of the colonial government to the planning of Lagos Island and native settlements led to the disaster which preceeded the introduction of a planning ordinance to cover the Native Area of Lagos Island.The high population density of Lagos Island given in 1928 as 90193 (71.5%) of the city total on a land area of 4.4.square kilometer or 7% of the total land area of the city (Olomola, 1999) led to overcrowding, unhealthy housing and spread of diseases.This led to two terrible plagues in Lagos, the post-world War 1 influenza epidemic which claimed many lives followed by the Bubonic Plague between 1924 and 1930 which led to the enactment of a planning ordinance of 1928, the Lagos Town Planning Ordinance which also witnesses the creation of the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB).The 1928 Ordinance covers only the colony of Lagos.The LEDB major task was the vetting and approval of building plans.The Board also doubled as a housing authority.It was empowered to undertake comprehensive land use planning, replanning, improvement and general development of Lagos territory.The first major assignment of the LEDB was the reclamation and replanning of part of Oko-Awo and Idumagbo in Lagos Island.All the laws outlined above had various shades of successes and failures.It was with the aim of improving on the past planning legislations that the 1998 Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Edict No. 2 was formulated in order to incorporate and correct problems identified in the past legislations.It is also significant to note that the Lagos 1998 Planning Edict itself was derived from the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law Decree 88 of 1992 which is the only comprehensive Law covering the whole country after the 1946 Town and Country Planning Law.The most significant features of the 1992 law is that it provides for a federal planning framework by recognizing the three tiers of government (local, state and federal) as the basis of physical planning.The 1992 law empowers each level of government with specific planning responsibilities.

Post-independent town planning legislations (1960-
Despite the laudable efforts of the Lagos state 1998 planning law, and the commencement of its implementation which started more than seven years ago, there are many emerging problems.Some of these problems identified in the process of implementing the Lagos 1998 Planning Edict can be highlighted as those associated with system development of an innovative idea, yet some are self-inflicted human problems created by the administrators and implementers of the laws.These problems include the need for the implementation of the 1992 planning law at federal level, frequent dissolution of the Board at State level and the LPA's at local level, lack of full autonomy by the LPAs need to establish necessary departments at LPA level, inability of LPA to implement enforcement orders, lack of adequate working tools and need for staff retraining.Other problems identified are inter-departmental conflicts, top-sided revenue sharing formula and the need to expand the area of operational coverage of LPA and unethical composition of LPA board membership.The Ministry shall when required, delegated to the Authority specific responsibilities and functions for implementation.

Major
The Ministry shall be responsible for preparation and approval of the following hierarchies of plans: Regional, sub-regional, master and urban centre plans.
The Ministry shall provide technical assistance to all government Ministries and Agencies on physical planning matters.
The Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Development Authority shall be responsible for: processing and issuance of all building development permits and ensure compliance, with the express approval of the Governor acting through the Commissioner establish District Town Planning Offices.Also acting through the Commissioner and co-operation of the Local Government Councils establish Local Planning Offices (LPO) at Local Government levels.The LPOs are to refer any plan prepared by it to the Ministry for the purpose of obtaining the approval of the Commissioner.
The Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority shall identify, prepare and implement areas approved for upgrading and redevelopment.It shall hold, administer and maintain government acquired properties within redevelopment or renewal project areas.
The Ministry shall have powers to regulate the operations, and the Authority.
The Development Authority shall have powers to exercise operational control and supervision over its Constituents District Town Planning Offices and Local Planning Offices.
Every physical planning agency in Lagos State shall with the approval of the Commissioner set up programme for the preparation and review of Development Plans.
For the purpose of preparing Development Plans, the Ministry or the Authority shall from time to time invite relevant stakeholders including Ministry/Agencies, Non-Governmental Organisation, professional bodies and individuals for the purpose of considering any matter relating to physical planning and urban development.
A draft Development plan shall be made available for public inspection for a period of 28days.Such plan(s) shall be advertised in at least two daily newspapers and the public is allowed to raise objection/comments on the plan.
The new law to provide for the administration of physical planning is relatively new, therefore it is assumed that the promoters of the law base its emergence on the improvement of previous planning laws in Lagos State, especially the 1998 Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Edict.It is therefore too early to comment on the likely problems that will emerge but it appears that the intent of the law to centralise planning power within the Ministry is against the spirit of democratic system on one hand and the concept of bringing planning close to the local level and the community.
Perhaps due to these inadequacies, a new law has been enacted for the "Administration of Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, Establishment and Functions of Physical Planning and Development Agencies" in Lagos State (Lagos State Official Gazette No. 25, Vol. 38 of 2005).

The city development strategy (CDS)
The City Development Strategy (CDS) is one of the key approaches within the Cities Alliance, a coalition of cities and their development partners, committed to address urban poverty reduction as a global committed public policy issue in 1999.The main Consultative Group Members are the UN-HABITAT and the World Bank, Association of Local Authorities and Governments (www.citiesalliance.org).The CDS is fundamentally about participatory decision-making.It provides cities with framework for sustainable and equitable pro-poor policies, strategies and actions (UN- HABITAT, 2002).
On the other hand the Urban Management Programme (UMP) is based on three basic principles of enablement, participation and capacity building.It involve empowering local authorities and other partners through enabling legal and institutional frameworks, all which are necessary conditions for CDS exercise.The local level and local authorities role must be genuine, resulting in local ownership of the process.The goals of CDS process include solid institutional and technical capacity building, collective vision and strategy, improved governance and management increased investment and systematic sustained reduction in urban poverty.Initially when the Cities Alliance was launched in 1999, the concept of CDS was not well defined, though cities generally undertake city development strategy of some sort even through the use of the Master Plans or Strategic Plans, thus the initial lack of clarity about the difference between the CDS promoted by the Cities Alliance from existing city planning and development activities.This was later clarified through the World Bank Draft Urban Strategy Paper that called for making cities "Competitive, Bankable, Livable and Managable".Thus the emerging paradigm of a CDS identified by Cities Alliance is: "A collective vision for the city that is responsive to its comparative strengths and advantages in the national and regional context, a vision that is "owned" by the city and all the stakeholders, and provides an agreed strategic framework for growth and poverty reduction, and identified action areas with assigned roles for each stakeholder group" (UN-HABITAT/UMP, 2002) The CDS is focus to making cities work means development process through participatory processes.It is expected that cities governed and managed well can improve the efficiency with which scarce resources are allocated.Such cities can also improve their efficiency of administration, services and expanded productivity sectors.Cities that understand their competitive position and more wisely and quickly to capitalise on their comparative advantage can expect enormous economic returns.

The urban management programme (UMP)
The Urban Management Programme is one of the largest urban global technical assistance programme of the United Nations system.
The programme in partnership with all levels through regional and sub-regional offices, develops, applies and shares urban management knowledge.The UMP undertook 120 city consultations in 57 developing countries in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean between 1997-2001.During this period the programme, through consultation process; local governments are encouraged to engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholders and involve them in decision-making.Local and regional partner institutions are encouraged to build adequate support with government and stakeholders groups.The stronger the partnership the better the result.
While the CDS and UMP are complimentary and both target towards sustainable city development with poverty reduction and participation actions are the core values, but only varies in scale.The CDS takes definite economic views and clearly target poverty reduction.The UMP city consultation also focuses on poverty reduction but with broader sectoral and thematic entry points of participation.

Some examples of CDS programms carried out by UN-HABITAT/UMP
Seven CDS programme recently completed by the UN-HABITAT are Bamako (Mali), Cuenca (Ecuador), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Johannesburg (South Africa), Santo Andre (Brazil), Shenyang (China), and Tunis (Tunisia).This paper discusses the case of Colombo, Johannesburg and Santo Andre, the three which constitute the first generation of CDS.

Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a densely populated island nation of 18 million people; with a per capital income of about $670 with about 20% of her household living below poverty line, high level of insecurity, lack of land tenure, discrimination from service providers, exclusion, difficult living environment and lack of access to basic services.Despite this the country has a good record of human development indicators such as 72 years life expectancy, infant mortality rate of 16 and 90 per cent literary level.Through with history of remarkable political unrest and ethnic unrest, Liberalized trade, deregulated foreign investment, export based industrialisation and privatisation policy.
Colombo comprises of the city and its adjoining municipalities, it accounts for about 20% of the national population, 44% of the GDP and 80% of industrial establishments.The city had high level of traffic congestion, competition from other sea ports in the region and absence of integration of the formal and the informal sectors.City development is cross-sectoral with conflicting and overlapping roles by multiple agencies.Several meetings, interviews and consultative meetings were held, thematic reports on economic potentials, poverty and development efforts prepared through which shared vision emerged and the City Development Framework Guidance developed.The guidance finally formed the framework being used by local governments to establish sustainable mechanism.

Johannesburg, South Africa
South Africa is a middle-income bracket for developing country with a modern industrial sector and well-developed infrastructure operating alongside a subsistence informal sector (UN- HABITAT, 2002).The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (GJMC) contributes 11% to national GDP.The city is sharply divided into the white and poor African settlements with the former enjoying a high standard of infrastructure and service while the later have limited access to basic services.Crime and violence is a serious problem in the city.The new Municipal Structure Act led to the establishment of a single "unicity" council headed by one executive mayor.There is increase in responsibilities for the new GJMC in the face of declining financial resources.
To solve this problem, the GJMC device two major strategic plans to drive the city transformation called iGoli 2002 and iGoli 2010.IGoli 2002 is a medium-term strategy focused on the city's financial, institutional and service delivery challenges aimed at restoring the city financial health.It created ten independent service provider companies, a core administration and eleven regional administrations.IGoli 2010 is a long-term vision to drive the city into a globally competitive position.Majority of the GJMC works were with sound technical and financial modeling, using specialist consultants from the private sector.Though iGoli proposal many times had negative effects on local communities, despite this the iGoli 2002 recorded significant successes, while iGoli 2010 have been cited for a lack of adequate consultation, participation, sensitivity to workers and consumers, accountability and transparency.These are areas of challenges to be addressed in the Johannesburg experience.

Santo Andre/ABC Region, Brazil
The ABC Region composed of seven municipalities of over 2 million people.It contained the majority of the multinational firms in the car-manufacturing sector and concentration of other industrial firms.By 1990s the region started to suffer from pollution, lack of land, aggressive federal fiscal de-concentration policies, macro-economic shocks, overvalued exchange rates, trade balance deficits and high interest rates, thus informal sector employment is on the rise.The chamber of the Greater ABC Region was created with the participation form the public, private and civil society sectors.Through this Chamber, the Regional Development Agency was formed.When the UMP city consultation process was put, extremely rich and dynamic learning process among stakeholders has been achieved.
The New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) cities programme, which is a UN-Habitat response to the Maputo Declaration of the Africa Union Assembly is aimed at reaping the benefits of cities and towns as places of opportunity and prosperity for all African people (Lagos Megacity, 2004).The NEPAD forum recommended three imperatives for urban development in Africa which are: enhancing good urban governance, improving physical infrastructure and promoting access to among the urban poor.The NEPAD initiative is new and its effect has been slow in Africa.

Policy recommendations for Lagos State towards sustainable physical planning and development
Until recently, much of the development planning efforts in Nigerian rest largely on economic planning with very little regard to the implications of economic and social policies on physical planning (Adeniji, 1998).For few towns with master plans to guide their development there has been insignificant citizen involvement in the mist of rapidly changing socio-economic circumstances, thus making it extremely difficult to achieve the provisions of such plans.The results of this are settlements based on unsustainable yardsticks.This calls for a more dynamic approach which will not only be the use of the plan-design but with adequate support of appropriate management strategies.Such approach should be derived from the unique local situation from the area concerned.Based on this, the paper suggests the need to give consideration to the following in the attempt to achieve sustainable physical development in Lagos State.
An area where major efforts has been made in the Lagos State land use legislations is on provisions for public participation.What is presently lacking in that the public is not aware of these provisions.In order to benefit from the laudable efforts of governments through the various existing laws put in place to guide sustainable environmental development in general and enhancement of citizen participation, there is need to promote active participation of community leaders and planning advocacy practice.There is need for creative planning by professionals whereby forward planning involving wholistic view should be adopted rather than the present piece meal and sectoral planning approach.
The stakeholders in environmental development consist of many professionals groups, residents and entrepreneurs.All stakeholders should be encouraged to participate in the process of planning.To achieve this planners should be ready to stimulate, communicate and educate these stakeholders in order to make things happen.Stakeholders are government, professionals, non-governmental organizations amongst others.This should be the consultative role of not only the town planners but also the architect, lawyers, surveyors, engineers, among core professionals involved in environmental management.To win the support of the busy entrepreneurs the information disseminations system should show high degree of transparency and un-ambiguity.In this process of multi-background participation for example the businessmen should be encouraged to offer part-time services at either board or committee levels to use their experience in order to enrich the physical environment.The business sector has the financial and corporate resources which it can deployed to support local public sector officials who are involved in community base projects.They could also be involved in the initiation of research on environmental problems such as traffic congestion, slum upgrading, water supply amongst others in neighbourhoods.Industrial sector could sponsor environmental related programmes on television, radios and the print media.The industrial sector can also sponsor new methods of building and research in sustainable building products, while the business sector should sponsor media since this gives them an opportunity to market their products.This will be a means of educating the public on awareness, their roles, and available opportunities amongst others.
Since physical planning should aim at enriching the economic potentials of the people, it is important to locate land use where they can be of benefit to the people.This is not to say that we have to go back to the pre-industrial period when industries and residential areas co-exist but there is need to plan in such a way that employment should not necessarily be too far away from residential areas so that city dwellers will not have to spend larger proportion of their income on journey to work.This will require deeper researches on urban land economy.This is required if planning is to contribute to savings and improvement of quality of life.
Land use should be re-examined to take care of the informal land use especially within housing.The present rigidities and inefficiencies of public land administration hare resulted in a situation where high proportion of city population with limited economic capacity to pay for public housing have been engaged with the development of illegal and informed housing.This is a global phenomenon.For instance in Pakistan (UN, 1998) the informal or illegal land market provides land at a cost that is affordable by many low-income households, with the advantage of immediate possession and no paper work.Standards for plots sizes and infrastructure adjust to the capacity to pay.The lesson learnt here is that public land administration should make provisions to take care of this type of situation.The present public land administration especially that of land acquisition has the negative effect of contributing to land shortages rather than land availability.Planning should be pro-poor as not planning for them makes them contravene laws while trying to make shelter or tenure available for themselves.
There is need to bring the control of settlement under one major umbrella and this could be achieved through a mayorality system whereby all areas in a city-state like Lagos under the Lagos Megacity will be under a single local administration.This might be difficult in a situation where the existing local government are entrenched in the constitution but the merit of this should be examined.This will eliminate the present situation where there is conflicting and overlapping responsibilities between the local government authorities in the State and between various agencies of government concerned with environment planning and management, land use development and provision of infrastructure among other efforts towards the goal of sustainable physical development in Lagos State.
There is no doubt that information revolution is sweeping across the globe.This will determine not only the way cities are managed but now they will proper and grow.Cities without the ability to cope with the modern age information system are destined to fall hopelessly behind and doomed to fail in an increasingly competitive world.Tokyo alone has as many telephones as all of Africa (Dennis, 1995).This has serious implication on the growing information gap, between the "information rich" and the "information poor" nations.Access to information technology is important not only on how a city is managed but it is important on how local leaders communicate with their constituents.
Majority of Nigerian urban centres lack access to new technologies such as satellites, high-speed and low-cost computers, fibre optics, and other innovations that make possible links between and among people.Fortunately government regulations affecting broadcasting, print media and telecommunication, have been relaxed through privatization.This is a step in the right direction toward dissemination of information but only first class cities, mainly the early sets of regional capitals and those created up the early 1970's are benefiting from this level of information consumption.Therefore there is lack of facts for planning, unreliable information and poor information support to top decision-makers in medium and low order cities.
Nigerian cities information strategies for development in the new global system must emphasize their connectivity, their information capacity and their ability to manage social integration.Cities switched-off the global information network system will be marginalized and ultimately impoverished.Therefore adequate infrastructure of telecommunications, transportation and information system is a must for to sustain her leading role as the pole of wealth creation for her territories.Integration with the information system will enhance the ability of city managers at all levels to generate and process information knowledge required to propel the cities.Local and community level meetings at the ward and citywide levels are required as means of information flow.This will play important role in promoting communication between government and the citizens.There is need to get information technology consultants involved in the identification of information requirements of each settlement in Lagos State.Specific programmes such as "right to quality environment campaign" should be initiated at all levels of government to emphasis that quality environment is a right along with food, education, clothing and employment.Children environmental issue programmes and exhibitions in schools should be encouraged to tailor the minds of the children to their critical role in identifying solutions to environmental problems, thus influencing their development as they are highly vulnerable.
The concept of advocacy in planning should be given consideration in Lagos State physical planning efforts especially through the formation of partnership by multidisciplinary group such as the town-planners, architects, surveyors and the lawyers coming together to form environmental advocate groups and consultants.This could also be done in form of non-governmental associations.Among the major merits of the advocacy planning concept are availability of richer ranges of plans, exposing government planners to expert criticisms, aiding the disadvantaged, education of the client and the government on planning.The politicians should be encourage by advocate group as the former could serve as invaluable planning agent because they form the bulk of representatives of the community at all levels of government decision making.Thus, they are vital tools as advisers and presenters of planning information.Advocacy groups should also organize talk-shops with interests groups such as market women, drivers union, and other trade groups across the strata of the society during which people are to be educated about their roles, opportunities and how to contribute to make the environment livable.There is need to integrate the effort of theorist, government officials, private practitioners and private managers.These sectors will require a meeting point to exchange ideas.The thinkers whose theories are providing the intellectual brain for environmental planning and the investors whose investment affect and propel development should share ideas.
The process of capacity building should involve human resources development and institutional development in the area of urban governance, integrated environmental planning and management, awareness and involvement of local communities, promoting partnerships, capacity building of actors and stakeholders and replication of best practices.Also in order to make planning proposal acceptable to the people and carry them along it should be recognized that different environment are structurally different and cannot accommodate standardized formula or rigid methodologies.To manage the diverse physical, geographic, socio-economic, cultural, political factors necessitate pragmatic approaches.Therefore there is need for appropriate technologically choice of strategies.Affordability, user friendliness, ease of operation and maintenance of services should be considered when undertaking technology, choice for infrastructure and services.This call for shifting from generalities into specific plans based on consumers needs, resources and carrying capacity of the consumers and environmental resources.
The place of communication and information are critical in this millennium.Effective flow of information and improved communication facilities will affect the physical environment in at least two unprecedented ways (Laquian, 1996).Externally the potential advantages include improved communication with other parts of the state and other levels of government, communities and institutions.Internally, the advantage include the potential to improve land registry data bases, land use monitoring, traffic management improved public relations and possibility of increasing municipal revenues through more detailed monitoring of properly taxes.The above illustrations show that the information revolution will not only determine how modern settlements are to be managed but how they will prosper and grow.This shows that there is need for the state government to invest in information technology both in the areas of infrastructure and human capacity building.This should include capacity development and equipment in Geographical Information System.Planning agencies should be equipped with adequate vehicles, equipment, and good working environment.This will reduce corruption and give job satisfaction.
City management department should be created at local government levels as nearly all local government headquarters in Lagos State have matured to urban status.At this level the urban management unit should initiate participatory planning process whereby residents will be engaged in revitalization of their neighbourhoods rather than the traditional approach of waiting for the government to rehabilitate infrastructure facilities for them.This will lead to a shared vision of the future of the citizen.This approach will also require regularly scheduled public meetings to motivate the residents about their role in shaping the future of their neighbourhoods.Among other issues of concern which such neighbourhood forum should discuss are enterprises, fostering awareness on environmental issues such as waste collection, landscaping etc.All these local initiative programmes based on participatory planning and community-based development processes naturally adapt to the dynamics of the local economy which is a way of ensuring sustainable revitalization efforts.
A major step toward achievement of sustainable development is the organization of sustainable practice exhibition through joint cooperation of the private sector and all levels of government.The exhibition will involve the identification, documentation and dissemination of best practices in improving the living conditions and environments in different parts of Lagos State.
Such best practice may be inform of actors initiatives or projects that have led to tangible improvements in the quality of live and the living environments of the people in a sustainable way.Such exhibition will expose physical planning managers and communities to actors in other communities outside their areas and from this they will have opportunities to draw from such programmes that could be applied or adapted into their own communities.
The levels of success achieved in Lagos State are quite commendable when consideration is given to the fact that the Federal Government and many States of the Federation have not commenced the implementation of the 1992, Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law.It is however, necessary to mention the fact that event though the LPAs have been created, they have not been equipped with the necessary tools for them to achieve the expected results.For example, none of the LPAs have been able to establish the necessary departments.What all of them are presently engaged with is development control.This has grave consequences on the environment as planning is presently being done without facts at the LPAs level in Lagos State.
Lack of equipment and human resources with the later in the area of quantity of planners and quality of knowledge required to cope with emerging contemporary requirements for successful public institution planning practice are among the emerging problems.Generally, since planners are majorly trained in the area of management of resources especially on human resources and industrial relations, it is now critical in the planning practice of Lagos State as the State population is highly polarised in the area of social, economic and cultural compositions of Lagosian.To cope with the complexity of these divergent backgrounds will require sound knowledge of human resource management, public relations and industrial relations.Town planners should also realize that this is a political dispensation and therefore there is need to learn how to operate with political leaders.This is presently lacking as most planning schools are yet to introduce courses to take care of these needs to their curricular.
It appears as an irony that the act of physical planning that is town planning which has its nucleus as reconciling land use demand with the primary objective of protecting public interest is being viewed as an act expected to generate profit.This appears to be contradiction to the basic principle of planning, which is expected to guide land use in order to support the efficiency of the urban and rural socio-economic and technical systems.This is expected to invariably lead to the enhancement of land use values.Such enhancement of land use values is also expected to lead to increase in betterment and tenement rates and other taxes and rates by Government.The present situation where the operation of the LPA is expected to generated a lot of money through assessment charges could lead to stunted urban physical growth and improvement and in many cases the development of illegal structures, because if the town planning rates are too high and arbitrary people are likely to result into embarking on illegal development especially in the urban fringes.
There is need to identify and celebrate best practices in planning.This could be spearheaded by the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners in collaboration with allied professional groups and organizations.Also higher educational institutions may be in position as part of the organizers but the problem is that they too could be given awards in their area of planning practice which is teaching, research and publication.Such award should cut across many areas such as the best consultant of the year in environmental planning, best project proposal, best advocacy group, best government agency, best friendly environment, best sustainable environment, best new neighbourhood etc.This will go a long way in stimulating positive competition among players in the environmental planning within Lagos State.
To achieve, the basic aim of sustainable physical development in the State the planning approval (permit) stage is a major determinant of the prospects of the environment.Though this has recently been termed planning permit; whereas the actual demand of the complex situation is that of management of planning approval or project for which permits are obtained since the planning permit is not the end in itself.It must be seen within the context of managing change in order to achieve the greatest benefit.Therefore the signifier of this new thinking is that development control (permit) should be changed and practiced as "development management".This should be supported with the adoption of the new practices that this change implies.
The internet has brought many services into the home at the touch of a button (RTPI, 2006).Access into cyberspace will assist planning in making faster and more efficient decisions.This will be achieved through the e-planning concept.E-planning programme will assist strategic planning, pre-application information, appeals, enforcement and monitoring.This will be done through the Planning Portal which provides a one-stop shop for free online planning information and services.The Portal can be accessed by local planning authorities, planning agents and the public to apply for planning permission, fund information on development proposal and appeals or dig out details of government policy and research.A starting point is perhaps the efforts of the Lagos State Planning Information Centre (LASPIC).The intent of LASPIC is not only to be used for ensuring compliance with development regulation.It is also to ensure that data about permitted development could be monitored (Alade-Ojomo, 2005).The LASPIC database when launched can be accessed through internet and intranet from the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lagos State Physical Development Authority, all the District Offices and Local Planning Authorities (Oduwaye and Dekolo, 2005).The cyber planning -Portal system allow for easy submission of application and it will contains a wealth of information, and it will be cheaper and reduces human factors such as delay and corruption.
Land information is a critical element towards achieving sustainable physical environment, therefore there is need for free access to land information by the public at the touch of a computer button.This will provide invaluable information that will guide individuals, consultants, government and all stakeholders in environment planning and development.Like the Portal Planning merit, it will also eliminate human problems especially mis-information, delay and corruption.

Conclusion
This paper has presented a fairly elaborate issues concerning sustainable physical development with emphasis on its application in Nigeria and in Lagos State in particular.This has been done within the backdrop of the concept of physical development, planning, planning problems and sustainable development.It also presented the relationships between physical planning, the need for sustainable develop and how physical planning can be used to achieve sustainable development.It also reviewed efforts towards sustainable physical development in Nigeria and Lagos State upon which policy recommendations are presented on how sustainable physical development can be achieved in Lagos State.
Specifically to achieve sustainable physical development in the less developed world the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (The Earth Summit) Agenda 21 outlined eight programmes (Johnson, 1993) as outlined below: Promotion of adequate shelter for all; Improvement of human settlement management; Promotion of sustainable land use planning and management; Promotion of integrated provision of environmental infrastructure; Promotion of settlement planning and management in disaster-prone areas; Promotion of sustainable construction industry activities and Promotion of human resource development and capacity-building for human development.
Highlights of the new 2005, Lagos State Official Gazette No. 25 Vol.38 are stated in the following session of this paper.The Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development shall be responsible for all Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos State.The law made provision for the creation of an authority made up of the following; (a) The Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Authority (b) The Lagos Urban Renewal Authority and (c) Any other agency as may be established The CDS for Colombo therefore involve work at the level of the three municipal councils, coordinated into a larger CDS.The three main objectives of the Colombo CDS are: A Comprehensive development framework A Strategic Action Plan based on the comprehensive framework and The adoption of the elements of the Strategic Action Plan by development agencies.The Colombo CBS was stakeholder led by an NGO, SEVANATHA.The poor and marginalized were represented by leaders of Community Development Councils.
Date) By 1972, the LEDB became defunct when the Ikeja Area Planning Authority (IAPA) was created in 1956 by the Western Nigeria Government, Epe Area Planning Authority (EAPA) merged with the LEDB to form the planning nucleus of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) in 1972.The LSDPC had the power to acquire, develop, hold, sell, lease and let any movable and immovable properties in the state.With the creation of Lagos State in 1972, remarkable town planning efforts particularly in the area of legislation has been made.In 1973, the Lagos State Town and Country Planning Law, cap 133 was enacted with deliberate effort to assemble existing planning laws under the new act.They are Western Regional Law No. 41 of 1969; Town and Country Planning Amendment Law; the Lagos Local Government Act 1959-1964 cap.77; the Lagos Town Planning (compensation) Act 1964; the Lagos Executive Development Board (Power) Act 1964, the Lagos Town Planning (Miscellaneous provision) Decree 1967; the Lagos State Town Planning (Miscellaneous Provision) Decree 1967 and the Town Planning Authorities (Supervisory Power) Edict 1971.After 1972, other town planning laws that have been promulgated in Lagos State are Town and Country Planning (Building Plans) Regulations LSLN; No. of 1982 Guidelines for Approval of Layout, LSLN NO. 6 of 1983; Town and Country Planning Edict 1985 and Town and Country Planning (Building Plan) Regulations 1986.