DAAD Spring School and
Field trip
Lagos (Nigeria)
Everyday practices
May 7 to 13, 2023

Lagos is a megacity like no other.

Not so much because it is predicted to become the world’s most populous city, but rather because Lagos has nothing that is really public. Classic urban planning and classic developmentalism call for large-scale infrastructure and centrally organized urban services. Even though the already big metropolis has almost no public infrastructure and services, it has become Africa’s top startup ecosystem, for instance. On the micro-scale, residents thrive by giving resourceful responses to the conditions of partly extreme vulnerability. As a result, and despite of the lack of an effective and efficient central government, the city functions quite well.

During the DAAD Spring School (University of Lagos) and excursion (Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design) “Everyday Practices in African Urban Realities” we will study everyday practices of (female) residents from various communities in Lagos in detail and discuss their meaning for future urban planning and design approaches. The methodologies include interviews, critical and ethnographic mapping, photography, and filming. Participants will work in cross-cultural Nigerian-European/ German groups mapping co-production of urban services and community-led development.