An Environmental Plan for Lagos, Nigeria

This paper focuses on the practice of Urban Environmental Management (UEM) in developing countries, which both face more immediate problems than the developed world and have fewer resources to deal with them. It is the report of a graduate level workshop that took place at the School of Planning, College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, University of Cincinnati, USA from August through December 2014. The objective of the workshop was to prepare students to work overseas in data-poor environments as professional consulting planners. Several lectures were given to set the framework for the class of 14 students to operate in sector-level working groups or teams preparing a 5-year plan to help solve the urban environmental problems of Lagos, Nigeria, the largest, most environmentally complex metropolitan area in Africa, utilizing a real-world data base and a limited budget. This project culminated in the preparation of a professional quality plan. The instructor, who has over thirty years of planning experience in developing countries, including Nigeria, attempted to create an atmosphere within the project that duplicates the actual conditions of carrying out such a consultancy.