Olajide, OluwafemiLawanson, Taibat2025-03-192025-02-2420250956-2478Y7V3J (isidoc)https://hdl.handle.net/10182/18333This paper examines how grassroots coalitions mobilize for the right to the city, the politics they encounter and the extent to which their actions result in urban reforms benefiting marginalized communities. The paper invokes a discourse on the right to the city as the mobilizing frame for grassroots social movement encounters against exclusionary development and displacement. Drawing on interviews and documents, we situate this discourse within two case studies of forced eviction in Lagos, Nigeria. To ground the investigation and highlight the tactics and politics of coalitions, the paper applies the conceptual framework of the invited–invented space of encounter. Our findings reveal that state-led neoliberal urban restructuring and spatial displacement in Lagos have triggered grassroots movements and the formation of coalitions, which, depending on the politics encountered, have both enhanced and constrained the struggle for transformative urban reforms that enable the right to the city for marginalized communities.19 pagesen© 2025 International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).collaborationempowermentinvited–invented spacepower relationsright to the citysocial movementsurban reform coalitionsJournal Article10.1177/095624782513182311746-0301ANZSRC::330410 Urban analysis and developmentANZSRC::440408 Urban community developmentANZSRC::440407 Socio-economic developmentANZSRC::330403 Housing markets, development and managementANZSRC::3304 Urban and regional planningANZSRC::4404 Development studieshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Attribution