The Lagos Abidjan Corridor: Migration Driven Urbanisation in West Africa

Abstract

In the context of rapid urbanisation, a metropolitan corridor is emerging along the Guinea Golf in West Africa. This corridor runs along the coast spanning one thousand kilometres from Lagos to Abidjan, bringing together a dense network of megacities, towns and villages. Mobility plays an important part in sustaining this corridor as regional migrants travel along it seeking out opportunities. This doctoral thesis addresses the intersection of urbanisation processes and migration trends. It asks how migration is driving urban transformation along this corridor. How are people on the move contributing to the growth of this urban corridor? And how is this reconfiguring specific locations along the corridor? The Lagos-Abidjan corridor, whilst also a highly relevant region in and of itself, provides an opportunity to consider wider questions surrounding rapid urban growth, and new scales of urbanisation. The thesis draws on the theoretical apparatus of global urbanisation, and, more precisely, notions of extended and concentrated urbanisation. In analysing the role of migration in current urbanisation patterns, this thesis challenges current definitions of the urban fabric, proposing a more rigorous understanding of how exactly this fabric is produced. It proposes knots as a theoretical device that allows us to think through the various ways in which individuals engage with the urban fabric and transform it. Introducing specific typologies of knots, the thesis demonstrates how precise ways of tying, such as hitches or binds, can provide an analytical entry-point to understand current transformations of the urban environment. Each chapter is associated with a specific knot that reflects particular dynamics of migration-driven urbanisation along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor. This is both a conceptual endeavor, and an attempt to account for the many ways in which people on the move transform the urban fabric. The thesis draws on twelve months of fieldwork in South Benin, along with national census material, interviews, and mapping. It employs both mobile and multi-sited ethnography, travelling through the corridor, whilst also drawing on in-depth studies of several locations situated along the Beninese stretch of the corridor. This research is part of a trans-disciplinary collaboration with the Global Programme for Migration and Development at the Swiss Development Cooperation. As such it is embedded within ongoing policy debates on the opportunities and challenges posed by migration in the context of poverty reduction in West Africa.