From 7-8 August 2025, the Mathare solid waste co-researchers travelled to Naivasha for a two-day learning exchange. This was a journey filled with eye-opening lessons, inspiring stories and practical ideas that we have brought back home. The post Nairobi learning exchange on waste management: Growth and next steps first appeared on ACRC.| ACRC
Ismail Ibraheem, Taibat Lawanson, Folasade Adeboyejo and Deji Akinpelu discuss opportunities for improvements across the food system in Lagos, which could help make the city healthier and more liveable. The post Podcast: Fortifying food systems in Lagos first appeared on ACRC.| ACRC
Potable water is a luxury good in Lagos – a city with so many ambient water sources that planning around them has yielded a rather quirky layout. The enduring, seemingly intractable challenge for the city is how to convert this abundant natural resource into safe drinking water for residents. The post Water, water, everywhere: Challenges and opportunities for inclusive water delivery in Lagos first appeared on ACRC.| ACRC
What does research in informal settlements in Nairobi look like? This was the guiding question for a recent learning writeshop that brought together action research (AR) teams working across Nairobi’s informal settlements. The post Learning from the ground: Action research in Nairobi’s informal settlements first appeared on ACRC.| ACRC
The Kampala action research project on inclusive markets and resilient communities in Ggaba Market seeks to tackle the interlinked issues of flooding, waste management and sanitation in urban markets.| ACRC
Kenya has recently witnessed a unique series of protests, reflecting a growing concern among Kenyans about the high cost of living, persistent governance issues, corruption, foreign debt and an increasing inflation rate.| ACRC
This is the first in a series of blog posts exploring the practicalities and experiences of action research.| ACRC
This is the second in a series of blog posts focusing on how urban reform happens, and where ACRC fits into change processes. This post explores urban transformation and the centrality of trust in politically engaged development programmes.| ACRC
The impacts of climate change are already exacerbating the challenges posed by urbanisation in Africa. For informal settlements, the capacity for resilience remains critically low, leaving them highly vulnerable to both natural and human-made hazards. In response, communities of low-income urban residents are coming up with innovative climate-resilient solutions through locally driven climate adaptation initiatives.| ACRC
This is the fifth in a series of blog posts focusing on how urban reform happens, and where ACRC fits into change processes. This post outlines what donors can learn from ACRC's approach to development.| ACRC
ACRC has published a new paper synthesising research findings from political settlements, city system and urban development domain analyses of Maiduguri, Nigeria.| ACRC
A newly published ACRC report by Taibat Lawanson, Lindsay Sawyer and Damilola Olalekan explores the complex dynamics of contested political systems and their impact on the people of Lagos. The post New research: Strengthening urban systems, services and institutions in Lagos first appeared on ACRC.| ACRC
Although precise data on the number of youth living in the capital city Kampala’s informal settlements is lacking, voting patterns indicate a high concentration of young people who have consistently influenced electoral outcomes in the city. Beyond politics, Kampala’s youth also play a central role in Uganda’s economic development as key consumers and contributors to the informal and formal sectors. The post Improving access to information and development opportunities for young people ...| ACRC
The urgency of developing more effective mechanisms to capture rising land values for urban infrastructure and services is now widely acknowledged. It is also accepted that this is highly challenging. The post What drives land value change in African cities? Unlocking value and the prospects for progressive reform first appeared on ACRC.| ACRC
A new ACRC report, led by Tegegne Gebre-Egziabher, uncovers the interplay of politics, systems and urban development in the fast-growing capital city, shining a light on the challenges facing residents and potential pathways forward.| ACRC
The International Development Research Centre, Canada, and the Grassroots Justice Network are excited to announce a new open access volume: Legal Empowerment in Informal Settlements: Grassroots Experiences in the Global South. One chapter is co-authored by ACRC’s Smith Ouma, highlighting the role of legal empowerment in establishing the Mukuru Special Planning Area in Nairobi.| ACRC
Community representatives, academic researchers and practitioners from the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) convened for a three-day workshop in Nairobi on 23 November, to advance preparations for the implementation phase of the programme.| ACRC
ACRC is working in a range of focus cities within sub-Saharan Africa with the potential and need for urban reform, building on extensive research, networks and experience.| ACRC
Mainstream urban development interventions in Africa have often been designed through a primarily sectoral and technical lens. But there is abundant evidence that they are also intimately related to questions of power and politics, and that effective solutions must take into account the complex interrelations and interactions between urban processes and systems.| ACRC
Too often, the daily reality of African cities is characterised by the failure of systems to offer basic services. Take affordable transport or high-quality healthcare, for example – or by how the poor integration of systems leads to failures of both performance and accountability to users.| ACRC
A political settlement can be defined as an agreement or common understanding among powerful groups within a society about the basic rules or institutions of the political and economic game. Such institutions provide opportunities for those groups to acquire a minimally acceptable level of benefits, thereby preventing a descent into all-out warfare.| ACRC
Our recent blog series delves into the concepts underpinning the African Cities Research Consortium’s research approach, covering the challenges and opportunities of urban development in Africa, an overview of our conceptual framework, and more detail on how our “city of systems” approach, political settlements analysis and urban development domains will feed into our wider research programme.| ACRC
ACRC has partnered with Strathmore University and Akiba Mashinani Trust to equip the residents of Mathare with the tools and strategies they need to secure greater recognition of their land tenure.| ACRC
Kampala Kampala is the capital city of Uganda and one of the largest and economically most important cities in East Africa. Download the city report Download the city research brief Kampala is Uganda's financial and economic centre, the official seat of government power and close neighbour to Entebbe where the president sits – therefore forming| ACRC
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts focusing on how urban reform happens, and where ACRC fits into change processes. This post takes a closer look at how ACRC is helping build community capabilities to address urban challenges.| ACRC
“From Margins to Models” – a new ACRC action research project being rolled out in the vulnerable coastal informal settlement of Ajegunle Ikorodu, Lagos – seeks to unlock the potential of communities to enhance climate resilience.| ACRC
Through the Systematic Land Titling Project, women across informal settlements in Maiduguri are now registering their land – and receiving statutory rights in their own names.| ACRC
Property taxation could prove to be an important source of financing to pay for the infrastructure and public service investments that Accra requires, but implementing new taxes is always politically contentious and a technical challenge. Over three days, participants from ACRC cities, Ghanaian local and traditional authorities, civil society organisations, academia, professional bodies and the media came together to examine the design and administration of property taxation.| ACRC
Nairobi City County is taking a significant step forward in fostering inclusive development with its newly launched Refugee Integration and Community Building Strategy (NCRIS). The launch immediately provides refugees and other migrants living in the city with access to public healthcare and city-run schools, and the ability to obtain a business license.| ACRC
African cities are dealing with a range of interlocking, dynamic and seemingly intractable challenges. Through research that builds evidence and supports coalitions of urban reformers, we aim to show how complex problems in African cities can be solved collectively.| ACRC
This is the third in a series of blog posts focusing on how urban reform happens, and where ACRC fits into change processes. This post takes a closer look at how ACRC adds value to urban reform.| ACRC
This is the first in a series of blog posts focusing on how urban reform happens, and where ACRC fits into change processes. This post focuses on how ACRC’s approach links to issue-based programming.| ACRC
We want to grow and develop the ACRC urban reform database further – and that’s where we need you! We're looking for survey participants to share feedback on the database, suggestions for improvement and ideas for case studies.| ACRC
Youth and capability development Download the domain report Download the research summary Africa has the youngest population in the world, with children and young people constituting a significant proportion of the vulnerable segments of the urban population. Young urban citizens face several economic and political challenges in their transition to adulthood, which disproportionately push them| ACRC
