Placemaking Lagos: The New Architects of Community
When we think about placemaking, we tend to imagine architects and planners mapping out public squares or designing waterfronts.
But as thinkers like Jane Jacobs, William Whyte, and Lewis Mumford have argued, cities are not defined by their structures — they are animated by people, culture, and daily life.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” — Jane Jacobs
I think about placemaking a lot because I have witnessed both the gentrification of neighbourhoods and also the decimation of towns and cities during the Tory era government.
My own hometown of Wolverhampton, as well as my ancestral home of Jamaica have suffered from Conservative placemaking (and colonising) principles. On the positive side, I’ve watched the long and slow regeneration of Kings Cross. For two decades, I would go through the area as a construction site thinking, "This will never be finished!" Only for it to become a destination I went for work, for friends and for the water fountains.
For places like Wolverhampton and Jamaica both locations dear to my heart, I often think — what would it take to revive them? What are the things that make someone want to…
- Visit (Tourism)
- Work (Tax incentives, infrastructure and trade links)
- Live (Retirement/Enjoyment)
...in any particular place, and what are the key things you need to actively encourage any of the above?
Africa’s Creative Capitals Are Rising
For decades, cities like London, Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles set the pace for global culture. They were the DESTINATIONS of music, fashion, art — places the world looked to for newness. But something is shifting.
Today, it is cities like Lagos, Accra, Marrakech and Dakar that are forging the future. Out of scarcity comes hunger. And out of hunger comes innovation. In places where access to formal systems, resources, and platforms has been limited, a different kind of creative muscle has developed:
Self-made. Improvised. Hybrid. Relentless. I’m obsessed with the results of the creative collisions that arise when a community has little resources but lots of ambition. It’s the PUNK work ethic (DIY) with the HIP HOP attitude (Glamour and Hustle) that I always strive for in my work.
In Lagos, this hunger is visible everywhere. This beautiful chaos of a city offers one of the most exciting examples of grassroots placemaking anywhere in the world. So today I'm going to share some of the things I've seen on my short trip to Nigeria that form a masterclass in placemaking and frankly - make me think I could live and work here.
I'm currently writing this by the pool at my hotel while a playlist of 2010s hip-hop is on the speaker. I am slightly hungover from being at the club til 5am but looking fresh because I had a brilliant business meeting at 10.30am. Lagos has an energy that makes you want to be part of whatever is happening and yes babes, I don't wanna leave!
