Vulnerable coastal slums in Freetown are plagued by seasonal flooding and their designation as risk prone areas means the threat of eviction is ever present and the extension of basic services restricted.

Makoko is one of Africa’s floating inner-city slums, with a third of the community built on stilts in a lagoon off the Lagos mainland. Makoko doesn’t feature much on current maps, and there is very little information on its geography, population density, or land ownership.

Mukuru is a slum in the East of Nairobi with a population exceeding 100,000. The Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) process is a rare, precedent-setting opportunity for participatory upgrading partnerships at scale.