Theorising Urban Informality and Planning Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Lagos and Kano

Urban informality has been conceptualized variously as a failure of planning, a rational response to governance deficits, or an endogenous mode of urban production with its own institutional logic. This study advances theoretical understanding of the relationship between urban informality and planning governance in sub-Saharan Africa, using Lagos and Kano as empirical sites for theory building and testing. Grounded in a critical realist ontology, the research employs a multi-site ethnographic and institutional analysis methodology, combining three years of longitudinal field observation in selected informal settlements, 80 in-depth interviews with residents, informal land brokers, community leaders, and planning officials, and institutional network analysis of governance actors in both cities. The study critically engages with prevailing theoretical frameworks including Hernando de Soto's formalization thesis, the Southern urbanism paradigm, and institutional collective action theory, testing their explanatory adequacy against Nigerian empirical evidence. Original findings are expected to demonstrate that informality persists not due to planning failure alone, but as an outcome of mutually constitutive relationships between formal planning institutions and informal land markets that each derive resources and legitimacy from the other. The study develops a co-production theory of urban informality applicable to West African planning contexts. Recommendations contribute to planning theory by proposing a reconceptualized governance framework that treats informality as a managed planning domain rather than a residual problem category, with implications for restructuring Nigerian planning institutions. Keywords: Urban informality, Planning governance, Theoretical framework, Lagos, Kano.