Abstract

Rising urbanism is both a global challenge and a sustainable development challenge. This study investigates urban informality and infrastructure planning in Hong Kong and the city of Lagos to develop urban design principles for sustainable development. It adopts a case-study methodology and a triangulation method of data collection with multi-stage and multi-criterial sampling techniques. The data were analysed using mixed-method data analysis, and the findings in Lagos reflect that inadequate infrastructure planning is critical for the proliferation of urban informality vis-à-vis sustainable development. The challenge in Hong Kong is one of social equity, policy, economic, and systemic issues, which do not necessarily affect one another. This study, therefore, recommends urban design principles, sustainable design principles with socioeconomic and environmental design strategies in urban planning, and sustainable design principles to correct these challenges and promote sustainable development in the study areas.