THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RECENT URBANIZATION IN KADUNA, NIGERIA: LAND AND HOUSING

Comparative urban research has been characterized by historical studies, macro-studies, and policy and planning studies. Recent macro-studies have employed a political economy paradigm to explain variations in urban systems as a function of asymmetric regional, national, and international relations in the organization of production, distribution and surplus generation. In contrast, micro-studies have typically focussed on one aspect of urban life in one city without attempting to take account of the larger socio-economic system.; This study presents an exploratory analysis of the relationship between the macro-process of Third World urban socio-economic development and the micro-processes involved in the production, supply and distribution of land and housing. Specifically, we explore the implications of such development for the lower socio-economic strata which comprise the bulk of the urban population in most Third World societies.; Using a variety of primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data sources, we analyze the urbanization process of Kaduna, Nigeria, particularly the micro-level processes of land use and housing, within the context of the regional, national and international political economy of the Nigerian post-independence period from 1961 to 1980. We find that the development of Kaduna has been highly influenced by the degree and mode of Nigeria's integration into the world system. The direct and indirect effect of the Nigerian state on urbanization has changed throughout three historical periods: the colonial period from 1916 to 1960; the early post-independence period of 1960 to 1970; and the 1970 to 1980 period characterized by military government and greatly expanding petroleum revenues.; This latter period was marked by a decline in agriculture and increase in state urban expenditures which stimulated massive rural to urban migration and concomitantly high rates of urban growth. These expenditures resulted in the rise of an urban bourgeoise and increased urban-rural and intra-urban socio-economic inequality. Both land and housing were transformed from objects embodying use values to commodities possessing exchange value in the emerging urban capitalist economy. Land use in Kaduna began to reveal great disparities as low density bourgeois housing areas expanded and densities in lower-class areas increased.