Informality and the Right to Health: How informal networks shape access to water in the Makoko settlement

Lagos has historically been facing a water crisis, triggered by a colonial legacy, partially planned urbanization, and vested interests behind public health agendas. Multi-layered health data is scarce while existing literature misses socio-spatial dimensions of poor public health conditions or lacking access to water. This is also the case in Makoko, an informal settlement in Lagos built on water but with no access to clean water. I seek to understand how this lack of water infrastructure has come into existence and how the informal water networks that have emerged as a solution operate to meet the basic need for water and the right to health. Through interviews, cognitive mapping and a self-report on health with Makoko residents, we expect to produce data that is able to represent the reality of an under-narrated space, and to contribute to a more inclusive and diverse theorization about the nature of healthy cities.