**1. Introduction**

Modern societies are grappling with the pressure of creating a balance between satisfying the needs of a fast-growing population and landscape conservation [1,2]. Population trajectories indicate that informality is likely to persist as more people move into urban areas [3,4]. Approximately, only 37% of the world's population lived in urban areas in the 1970s [5]. This number has nearly doubled with the 2018 world population report, indicating that urban landscapes were home to 55% of the world's population [6]. This figure is expected to rise to 60% by 2030 and 70% by 2050 [7]. Worldwide, it is estimated that 1 billion people live in urban informal settlements [8]. This trend leads to the assumption that as rural–urban migration continues, more people seeking cheap housing will continue to flock into informal settlements, making basic service provision more strenuous and further decreasing the sustainability of such landscapes [8–11]. This intensifies the need for implementation of strategies that can help provide sustainable energy transitions while also creating a balance between the synergies and trade-offs of urban informal landscapes in regard to energy, environment and community welfare [12].

Rapid and unplanned urban growth is also likely to exacerbate existing environmental and socioeconomic challenges plaguing urban cities of developing countries [3,4]. The demand for food and energy continue to grow as population increases [1]. Meanwhile, unsustainable land practices of both the present and past human generations contribute to land degradation and unsustainable use of natural resources such as rivers and forest landscapes [1,13]. This situation prioritizes the need to

implement integrated restorative and conservation approaches to promote landscape resilience [14]. Conserving indigenous forests, promoting a fforestation, reducing deforestation, and increasing access to clean energy are some of the approaches that actors can implement to create resilient landscapes [15]. Attempts to solve potential challenges of urban informality have heightened attention among academics, policymakers and community organizations to understand how to shape cities to improve the quality of life of urban dwellers while protecting the environment [12].

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 'Unsustainable patterns of energy production and consumption threaten not only human health and quality of life, but also deeply affect ecosystems and contribute to climate change. Sustainable energy, however, not only tackles these challenges head-on, but is also an engine for poverty reduction, social progress, equity, enhanced resilience, economic growth, and environmental sustainability' [16]. Enabling sustainable transition to clean energy in informal settlements is therefore an important strategy as it increases the chances of improving the environment and welfare of communities living there [15–17].

Urban informal settlements face various challenges that undermine their resilience and adaptation to climate change [11,18,19]. Their location in environmentally fragile landscapes such as steep slopes, riverbanks, and flood plains increases residents' exposure to climate hazards such as landslides and flooding [8]. The fact that most informal settlements are considered illegal makes it hard for national governments and local authorities to design frameworks to enhance their resilience [8,11]. Lack of spatial planning and insecure land tenure systems also a ffect e fforts to govern and develop the landscapes on which the slums have been established [17,18]. Lack of infrastructure, illiteracy, and high levels of poverty further reduce the capacity of communities living in informal landscapes to transition to more sustainable livelihoods, including accessing safe energy [8]. Successfully adopting and implementing e ffective landscape approaches in such places is unpredictable. It requires a degree of muddling through, co-learning, adaptive planning, and creative design [20].

Urban development in Africa depicts a diverse and ambivalent phenomenon whose aspects do not fall neatly into global development standards [21]. About 59% of urban dwellers in Sub Saharan Africa live in informal settlements [9]. Di fferent informal settlements pose di fferent challenges [17,22]. Governance and development e fforts in Kenya and other developing countries often misinterpret the needs and challenges of urban informal settlements [23]. To meet these complex challenges, many actors have recommended multi-stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> as a plausible approach [17,18,24,25]. However, little is known about how multi-stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> can be facilitated to achieve long-lasting change in informal landscapes [18]. One of the two projects discussed herein was a multi-country research project titled Co-Designing Energy Communities with Energy Poor Women in Urban Areas, (in short CoDEC)1. This was a two-year study on household energy in informal settlements in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa (see ref. [17,18]). The study highlighted the role of academics as knowledge intermediaries and change agents who can trigger cross-sector collaborations around innovations for sustainable energy transition in cities [18]. In this case, the researchers set out to better understand how sustainable energy solutions in urban informal settlements can be achieved through collaborative efforts between community members, experts, and policy actors. The second project was follow-up expert interviews under the AfriCLP program where we set out to gather views from policy actors. In both projects, a transdisciplinary co-design methodology proved to be a promising approach for facilitating multi-stakeholder engagements. In the present paper, we widen the scope of the co-design process using a landscape governance framework.

The use of landscape approaches is increasingly gaining prominence as a methodology for effectively adapting to climate change, reducing disaster risk, and enhancing community resilience [26]. Principles of landscape governance and landscape approaches are anchored by the concept of multi-stakeholder participation [24]. The widely accepted '*Ten Principles of an Adaptive Landscape*

<sup>1</sup> http://codec.livinglab.co.ke/.

*Approach*' proposed by Sayer et al. reflect the participatory nature of landscape approaches and how they are entrenched in a process of multi-stakeholder governance at the landscape level [24]. Landscape governance primarily relates to how decision-making addresses various conflicting interests in the landscape [25]. It also relates to how the decisions made encourage collaborations among stakeholders and stimulate sustainable managemen<sup>t</sup> of the landscape [24,27]. For this paper, we define landscape governance as the taking of collectively binding decisions considering the landscape, its use, and its development [28]. This perspective acknowledges that numerous actors are involved in the decision-making processes and development of policies and other interventions that impact the landscape.

The objective of this paper is to explore how landscape governance can help frame transitions towards sustainable energy. The paper also highlights the role of academics in facilitating multistakeholder engagements upon which landscape governance and sustainable energy transitions are anchored. Within this framework, we examine the constraints faced in establishing cross-sector collaboration and present our transdisciplinary co-design methodology as a promising approach in enhancing urban services in contested landscapes where various land uses compete. We argue that standardised and technocratic top-down approaches fail to deliver development and access to sustainable clean energy in urban informal settlements. We underscore the importance of implementing an adaptive and multi-layered cross-sector collaboration approach and the need to view energy through a landscape governance lens. Our paper indicates a need to understand and appreciate the underlying issues that lead communities in urban informal settlements to make the choices that they make. The suggestions herein should help inform the development of e ffective energy transitions and landscape governance policies.

#### *Case Study: Mathare Informal Settlement*

Informal settlements house over half of Nairobi's population, ye<sup>t</sup> occupy only 5% of the residential area and just 1% of the total Nairobi land area [29]. Most urban centres in Kenya were established during the colonial era as seats of the British colonial governmen<sup>t</sup> [23]. Segregation of White and Native residential areas created a basis upon which a skewed system of land distribution was formed [20]. Following the colonial legacy, Nairobi was racially zoned, and the native urban poor were ghettoised in the outskirts of the city [23]. The end of colonialism did not solve the issue of unequal land distribution. Land arbitration by the post-colonial governmen<sup>t</sup> did little to settle the landless citizens, and as a result, led to the formation of numerous informal settlements to house the native squatters [20,23,30]. These informal settlements mostly occupied the poorest quality lands due to a lack of formal systems to provide a ffordable serviced land [8,29]. We chose the Mathare informal settlement as our landscape site (Figure 1).

Like many other slums in Kenya, Mathare informal settlement in Nairobi, as it is known today, was established in the 1960s shortly after Kenya gained independence in 1963 [31]. This informal settlement is the second largest in Kenya after Kibra. Informally, it is comprised of 13 villages across a land of roughly three-square miles (Figure 2). The larger Mathare sub-county is home to 206,564 people, resulting in a population density of 68,941 per square kilometre [32]. Residential land use dominates all other land uses in the Mathare area. The landscape is characterised by hundreds of structures laid haphazardly without any structural or spatial planning. The other land uses in the settlement are for commercial and public purposes, but this only takes a small percentage.

In terms of the physical and natural characteristics, the informal settlement is a flood plain located along Mathare River. This overly polluted river [33,34] is one of the three tributaries of the Nairobi River Basin. It connects Mathare informal settlement to Kiambu County upstream and Lower Eastern and Coastal Counties downstream. About 30% of Mathare Valley falls within the 30-metre riparian reserve (Figure 3) [20,23]. The landscape slopes from west to east and towards the river channel. The soils are a mixture of alluviums, black cotton, and red clay, thereby making some parts of the settlement relatively unstable in regard to bearing capacity [20]. It features various areas that were previously quarry sites

and are presently characterised by steep riverbanks. Some of these areas remain uninhabited due to their rocky terrain and steep gradients. The settlement has been an arena of unending land disputes between the governmen<sup>t</sup> authorities and private investors, tenants, and structure owners, and is often characterised by numerous evictions and arbitrary demolition of structures [23].

**Figure 1.** Location of Mathare informal settlement in the context of Africa (Source: authors).

**Figure 2.** Mathare informal settlement in Nairobi (Source: authors).

**Figure 3.** Map showing human encroachment along the Mathare River (Source: authors).

#### **2. Material and Methods**

This paper builds on previous data and lessons generated by an interdisciplinary research team on the multi-country research project titled Co-Designing Energy Communities with Energy Poor Women in Urban Areas (in short CoDEC) and follow-up expert interviews in Nairobi under the AfriCLP program (see ref. [17–19]). Using Mathare informal settlement as the case study in Kenya, the team held workshops, a policy seminar, and key informant interviews. These brought together participants from Mathare informal settlement: Residents, community leaders, energy service providers; Policy actors from: Nairobi County government, Nairobi County Council (Health department), Ministry of Energy, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA); and researchers and experts from: The University of Nairobi, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), IRD-Kenya, and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy, Research and Analysis (KIPPRA).

In the two-year study, CoDEC researchers used participatory research methods to facilitate knowledge co-production and solution co-design. The team engaged community members in carrying out household surveys and participatory GIS mapping to establish the socio-spatial, economic, and cultural dimensions of energy, in relation to energy and health outcomes. The case study was selected through convenience sampling because the researchers had prior research experience with Mathare. This enabled them to leverage existing relationships and work with participants who were easily accessible and willing to participate in the survey. In an initial baseline study, research questionnaires were distributed to 100 households within the settlement. The questionnaires were administered by trained field workers drawn from the community and researchers from the University of Nairobi. The survey provided insights into the energy situation in the settlement in relation to health perceptions and other socio-economic factors. The survey was followed by two focus group discussions with residents to deliberate on factors such as the quantitative findings, gaps, and inconsistencies in the data collected. Each focus group had 20 participants. The preliminary findings were used to engage energy and health experts, community members, and governmen<sup>t</sup> o fficials in a co-design workshop (19 participants), policy seminar (27 participants), and a dissemination workshop (20 participants) between 2017 and 2018. The co-design workshop was held to come up with energy system options for Mathare. The purpose of the policy seminar was to discuss policy options for the energy-health nexus in Kenya. The dissemination workshop was held to launch "Mathare energy stories" booklet, which contained highlights from the household survey and comic strip illustrations of energy stories as told by Mathare community members. Through these engagements, the researchers were able to relate the context-specific energy challenge in Mathare to the broader energy market and policy environment in Kenya. A regional workshop for CoDEC regional partners was held in 2019 to engage stakeholders in Kenya and discuss comparative analyses of case study findings (39 participants). This study enabled the researchers to identify constraints that hinder clean energy transitions in informal settlements and circumstances that necessitate the use of traditional fuels such as charcoal.

In a follow-up project under the AfriCLP program, the researchers used findings from the CoDEC study and carried out six key informant interviews between October and November 2019 to develop a policy brief to propose electricity subsidies for informal settlements. This was used as a basis for gathering further insights from research and policy actors (see ref. [19]). Respondents for the key informant interviews were drawn from the Ministry of Energy, County Government of Nairobi, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), and Kenya Institute for Public Policy and Analysis (KIPPRA). This enabled the researchers to identify various constraints that hinder multi-stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> and cross-sector collaborations between actors involved in policy and governance and local communities. The CoDEC research and the follow-up project under AfriCLP program identified the need to bring together the diverse range of stakeholders and establish viable pro-poor energy solutions that can help meet the objectives of *Kenya Vision 2030* policy blueprint while also ensuring sustainable energy access for all as subsumed under the global SDG 7 [4,17,18].

In this paper, we use a landscape governance framework to re-conceptualise the findings from the CoDEC and AfriCLP projects. Specifically, we used three landscape governance dimensions namely the ecological, socio-cultural, and the political dimension to discuss the relationships between energy demands and other landscape issues in the case study.
