Lagos Demolishes 6 Settlements Despite 40% Flood Risk
Lagos has demolished at least six informal settlements since July 2023, yet these communities supplied sand, water and flood-defence labor to the city's formal real estate market, where 40% of land is water or wetland. For proptech investors and developers, the demolitions remove critical adaptation infrastructure and threaten construction supply chains.
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PropTech briefing
Key takeaways
- Lagos has demolished at least six informal settlements since July 2023, yet these communities supplied sand, water and flood-defence labor to the city's formal real estate market, where 40% of land is water or wetland.
- For proptech investors and developers, the demolitions remove critical adaptation infrastructure and threaten construction supply chains.
In this briefing
Mentioned
Key Intelligence
Key Facts
- 1More than 40% of Lagos's surface area is water or wetland, making flooding a chronic hazard.
- 2At least six informal settlements in Lagos have been demolished since July 2023.
- 3A study examined 20 informal settlements along Lagos waterways, canals and shorelines.
- 4Residents sell lagoon sand to households and building sites across Lagos, including wealthier neighbourhoods, for foundations and floor raising.
- 5Residents dug boreholes and sold water to households in the settlement and surrounding residences.
- 6Demolishing settlements destroys working flood-defence and water infrastructure along with housing.
Who's Affected
Urban flooding is increasing as climate change intensifies
Analysis
For Lagos property developers and proptech platforms, the city's 40% water/wetland surface is already a flood-risk data point. New research on 20 informal waterfront settlements shows demolitions have removed at least six of them since July 2023—settlements that were quietly supplying lagoon sand for foundations, water and flood-defence infrastructure to formal building sites across the city.
Lagos, Nigeria, has demolished at least six informal settlements since July 2023, according to research published by a climate social scientist. The removals are framed as safety, development or climate protection, but fieldwork across 20 waterfront settlements shows they destroy some of the city's most effective, community-built climate adaptation systems. In a city where more than 40% of the surface is water or wetland, these informal systems were not marginal—they supplied sand for foundations, water and flood defence to both poor and wealthy neighbourhoods.
For Lagos property developers and proptech platforms, the city's 40% water/wetland surface is already a flood-risk data point.
The study observed divers working lagoon stretches from canoes, collecting sand bucket by bucket and selling it to households and building sites across Lagos. That sand is packed around foundations and under floors to lift structures above water. In a city with chronic flooding and coastal erosion, this is a direct flood-defence supply chain. Residents also dug boreholes and sold water to surrounding households. These were organised systems of living with climate risk, built by people who had the least formal protection.
The demolitions therefore carry a contradiction. When authorities clear a settlement, they remove not just housing but the working infrastructure embedded in the community. The sand supply chain that reaches wealthier neighbourhoods loses a source of material for raised foundations. Borehole water distribution is disrupted. Local knowledge of flood patterns and drainage is scattered. In a city where climate change is increasing flood frequency and intensity, this is a dismantling of adaptive capacity exactly when it is needed most.
For the formal real estate and construction sector, the implications are direct but often overlooked. Lagos property developers and builders rely on the same lagoon sand that informal divers harvest. Demolishing the settlements that supply this material could raise the cost of foundations and site preparation, or shift sourcing to less sustainable alternatives. The loss of community flood-defence labour also increases water exposure for new and existing developments across the city, not just within the demolished areas. Proptech platforms that map flood risk and construction costs should treat informal settlement removal as a data event with real estate consequences.
What to Watch
From a climate perspective, the findings challenge top-down adaptation narratives. Informal settlements are typically seen as vulnerable and chaotic, but the research shows residents built resilient livelihoods and physical infrastructure. Their sand mining, water systems and raised foundations functioned as distributed climate adaptation. Official demolitions, even when justified by risk reduction, erase these assets without providing replacements. This pattern is common in many coastal megacities, but Lagos is an extreme case because of its geography: more than 40% water and wetland coverage leaves little room for error.
The forward-looking implication is that climate adaptation and urban development policy need to recognise and integrate informal systems rather than demolish them. Mapping, documenting and formalising community-built infrastructure could preserve flood defences while improving safety. Failing to do so means Lagos will continue to lose its best defences against climate change, one demolished settlement at a time, while the wealthy neighbourhoods that depend on informal labour and materials remain unaware of the fragility of their own flood protection.
Cite This Page
"Lagos Demolishes 6 Settlements Despite 40% Flood Risk." PropTech Intelligence Brief, September 21, 2026. https://getproptechbrief.com/story/lagos-demolitions-climate-defense-proptech
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