Community Agency and Planning Resistance in Lagos: A Grounded Theory of Urban Citizenship

Urban communities in Nigerian cities have demonstrated varied capacities for organized resistance to planning decisions that threaten their livelihoods and homes, yet the conditions enabling or constraining community agency in planning processes are theoretically underdeveloped in the Nigerian context. This doctoral study develops a grounded theory of urban citizenship and community planning agency in Lagos, based on intensive longitudinal research in three communities that have mobilized differently in response to major planning decisions affecting them. Drawing on social movement theory, citizenship studies, and African urban studies, the research employs a multi-year grounded theory methodology in Makoko, Ijora Badia, and Orile Iganmu, each representing different forms and outcomes of community-planning authority engagement. Data collection over four years involved participant observation, 80 life-history interviews with community leaders and members, 40 interviews with planners, lawyers, and NGO advocates, and documentary analysis of community mobilization records, legal filings, and media coverage. Theoretical sampling guided ongoing data collection until theoretical saturation was achieved. Original grounded theory findings develop an Urban Citizenship Agency Model articulating the conditions, processes, and consequences of community resistance to planning decisions in Lagos. Theoretical contributions challenge liberal planning theory's assumptions about community participation by centering power, history, and material stakes as determinants of community engagement quality. The study contributes the first grounded theory of urban citizenship from Lagos to international planning theory. Keywords: Community agency, Planning resistance, Urban citizenship, Lagos, Grounded theory.