Taibat Lawanson

Dr Taibat Lawanson is Professor of Planning and Heritage at the University of Liverpool. She is also Professor of Urban Management and Governance at the University of Lagos, Nigeria (on leave of absence) where she led the Pro-Poor Development Research Cluster and served as Co-Director at the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development. She holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.Her research focuses on the interface of social complexities, urban realities and the pursuit of spatial justice in Africa. She is well known for her inter-sectoral work which engages students, policy makers, local communities and civil society actors. She is particularly interested in how formal and informal urban systems synthesize in emerging African contexts.She has published widely in academic and popular platforms.
Taibat currently serves on the international advisory committee of UNHABITAT flagship ‘World’s Cities Report’. She was a member of the board of directors of the Lagos Studies Association, and is a pioneer World Social Science Fellow of the International (Social) Science Council, Global Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo and a proud alumna of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre.