**6. Conclusions**

A key lesson from the CoDEC and AfriCLP projects was that cross-sector collaboration across di fferent levels of governance can lead to sustainable energy transitions. These collaborations can foster learning and help to build relationships and capacity. Stakeholders frame problems and devise potential solutions from di fferent perspectives and dimensions. A multi-level, transdisciplinary co-design approach made it possible to understand what influences households' energy choices in Mathare informal settlement. The researchers assessed energy consumption at the household level by distinguishing between di fferent end uses and energy choices. The study looked beyond the measurement of how much energy is used and sought to determine the drivers of energy consumption and fuel choices. The high cost of legal power connection led many Mathare residents to opt for dangerous indirect connections to cater for their lighting needs. It also contributed to residents' dependence on biomass fuels such as wood and charcoal for their cooking and heating. Overdependence on traditional fuels contributes to deforestation. Their combustion in poorly ventilated houses increases indoor air pollution and release of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to climate change. This is a similar scenario in other urban informal settlements such Enkanini informal settlement in South Africa.

In this paper, we looked at how to increase resilience in urban informal landscapes through sustainable energy transitions. We demonstrated how academics can facilitate the search for clean and sustainable energy solutions in urban informal settlements through transdisciplinary co-design approaches. Using a landscape governance approach, this paper determined that the failure of technical solutions in Mathare is proof of the futility of approaches that are implemented in isolation without consideration of all stakeholders at di fferent sectors and landscape levels. Researchers can work closely with people in the targeted landscapes to help policymakers understand the critical underlying issues that influence choices and actions. Mathare residents were more open to interacting with researchers from the University, but reluctant to trust governmen<sup>t</sup> agents due to the disputed nature

of the settlement. The researchers were able to leverage this trust and bring together stakeholders from di fferent backgrounds and sectors within the academic, government, community, and private sectors. The academics thus facilitated co-design processes where all stakeholders had a platform to share their ideas and potential solutions to the challenges. This set the basis for the development of energy and landscape policies that respond to the needs of the urban poor and guide sustainable energy transitions.

We therefore recommend landscape governance as a promising approach for integrating energy issues with other competing landscape interests, while also encouraging cross-sector collaboration. Although our findings are context-specific, we argue that the landscape governance approach has relevance in understanding the dynamics of other informal settlements in and beyond Kenya.

**Author Contributions:** A.A. was the principal investigator in the CoDEC and AfriCLP projects. All authors were actively involved in the writing of this paper in the following capacities—Conceptualization: A.A., P.N.; Writing of the original draft: P.N.; Mapping and Visualization: D.G.; Editing and initial review: A.A., G.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** The writing of this paper did not receive any specific funding. However, the CoDEC research project referred to in this paper was supported by Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 In Africa (LIRA2030) program from 2017 to 2019. LIRA2030 is a five-year program aimed at supporting collaborative research projects led by early career researchers across Africa. The program is being implemented by the International Science Council (ISC), in partnership with the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Additional funding for policy work in Kenya came from the Africa Climate Change Leadership (AfriCLP) program. AfriCLP is managed by University of Nairobi and is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
