| AACRA | Addis Ababa City Roads Authority |
| AAPS | Association of African Planning Schools |
| AASHTO | American Association of State Highway and Transport Officials |
| ACC | African Centre for Cities |
| afd | Agence Française de Développement |
| AfDB | African Development Bank |
| AFSUN | African Food Security Urban Network |
| AMA | Accra Metropolitan Assembly |
| AMS | Association des Maires du Sénégal |
| ANT | actor–network theory |
| APCLS | Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo (DRC) |
| AR | Affirmative Repositioning movement (Namibia) |
| AU | African Union |
| AURI | African Urban Research Initiative |
| CBDs | central business districts |
| CID | City Improvement District |
| CLO | community liaison officers |
| CORD | Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Kenya) |
| CNDP | National Congress for the Defence of the People (DRC) |
| CRBC | China Road and Bridge Corporation |
| CSOs | civil society organisations |
| DBSA | Development Bank of Southern Africa |
| DRC | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| EABI | East African Bribery Index |
| EIU | Economist Intelligence Unit |
| EPWP | Expanded Public Works Programme (South Africa) |
| ERA | Ethiopian Roads Authority |
| FARDC | Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| FGDs | focus group discussions |
| FroK | Friends of Kloofendal |
| GAMA | Greater Accra Metropolitan Area |
| GaWC | Globalization and World Cities Research Network |
| IAGU | Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine |
| ICLEI | International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives |
| ICT | Information and communications technology |
| IDPs | internally displaced persons |
| IDRC | International Development Research Centre |
International Monetary Fund | |
| IPCC | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| ISUD-Plan | Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan |
| JCPZ | Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo |
| KAT | Kisumu Action Team (Kenya) |
| KIWASCO | Kisumu Water and Sewerage Company (Kenya) |
| KLIP | Kisumu Local Interaction Platform |
| KPAs | Key Performance Areas |
| KPIs | Key Performance Indicators |
| MDGs | Millennium Development Goals |
| MoA | Memorandum of Agreement |
| MONUSCO | United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| MoU | Memorandum of Understanding |
| NGOs | non-governmental organisations |
| NHP | National Housing Policy (Ghana) |
| nsdf | National Spatial Development Framework (Ghana) |
| NUs | neighbourhood units |
| NUPF | National Urban Policy Framework (Ghana) |
| ODM | Orange Democratic Movement (Kenya) |
| OECD | Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development |
| ORNs | Overseas Road Notes |
| PARECO | Coalition of Congolese Patriotic Resistance |
| PRD | Pearl River Delta |
| RCD | Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (DRC) |
| SACN | South African Cities Network |
| SDGs | Sustainable Development Goals |
| SDSN | Sustainable Development Solutions Network |
| SJC | Social Justice Coalition |
| SLAs | Service Level Agreements |
| SLOs | Stakeholder Liaison Officers |
| SMMEs | Small Micro and Medium Enterprises |
| TRL | British Transport and Road Laboratory |
| UCLG | United Cities and Local Governments |
| UCT | University of Cape Town |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNDP | United Nations Development Programme |
| UNECA | United Nations Economic Commission for Africa |
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme |
| UNESCO | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization |