Safe streets make for safe cities, but a lack of lighting can exacerbate the everyday insecurity of urban residents. ACRC’s safety and security research in Lagos found the absence of streetlighting in low-income areas to be a key concern among residents, as the cover of darkness facilitates urban crime and makes law enforcement more difficult.
Building on this, researchers have been looking into the condition of streetlighting in Lagos, conducting an in-depth assessment to better understand the provision, quality and impact of streetlighting in the city. With a focus on improving safety, security and livelihoods, they also aimed to uncover the challenges of streetlight provision in informal settlements.
A new research report presents the findings from this study and offers a framework for examining the challenges and opportunities of streetlighting systems – especially around accessibility and impact in cities like Lagos, that are experiencing rapid urbanisation, crime and extreme poverty.
Highlighting successful initiatives to build streetlight infrastructure in Lagos and drive improvements at the community level, the research findings underline the potential for action research to pilot new models for catalysing urban reform in low-income areas.
Key findings
1. Multiple stakeholders are involved in the provision of streetlighting, operating across varying levels and including governments, the private sector, community groups and civil society organisations.
2. Streetlighting takes various forms, from conventional, grid-based lights, powered by fossil fuels, to more sustainable solar streetlights that use LEDs.
3. Decisive state action is needed to power streetlighting interventions in informal settlements, which have been largely left behind so far, but stand to benefit from improved streetlighting.
4. Financial barriers and politically driven procurement are key challenges, along with limited resources and technical capacity, which must be addressed to improve streetlighting provision.
5. Low-income communities across the city have come together to drive progress, enabling residents to achieve some level of streetlight infrastructure in their neighbourhoods by co-producing solutions with the state and NGOs.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
As highlighted by the report, existing streetlighting infrastructure in Lagos is insufficient to meet the scale of the challenge. Solutions will only be found through inclusive engagements that push against established approaches to infrastructure development. Building on this, the authors recommend:
> Local communities need to be involved in planning and delivering urban infrastructures, to ensure the equitable distribution of benefits, with neighbourhoods shaped by the people and for the people .
> A proactive, transparent and collaborative management strategy is needed to address conflicting priorities among multiple stakeholders, while working towards shared goals of energy efficiency and improved public services.
> The state should create an enabling environment for investment in sustainable urban infrastructure, through reliable investment funding and a more robust regulatory framework for domestic energy production and solar markets.
> The state should move from broad, untargeted energy subsidies to targeted support for vulnerable households and informal communities, while actively promoting private-sector-led renewable energy solutions, especially for streetlighting and off-grid communities.
Header photo credit: passionng / iStock. Streetlights in Lagos, Nigeria.
Note: This article presents the views of the authors featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
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