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While upgrading approaches have evolved over the years, and often include a focus on improving the livelihoods of people living in informal settlements, there remains little attention or understanding in the literature of how upgrading can influence the livelihoods of residents in informal settlements. This paper examines the extent to which upgrading can contribute to improvement in economic activities, looking specifically at the case of the Chaisa settlement in Zambia, where various upgrading projects were conducted in recent years. It investigates the extent to which this upgrading has contributed to the establishment and expansion of such home-based enterprises as shops, kiosks, saloons and barbershops, as well as its impact on room renting and on livelihoods generally, and discusses the dynamics underlying these improvements.

Economic growth in African cities has attracted the attention of international property developers and architecture firms seeking new opportunities as demand has waned in the shrinking economies of the Global North. Their interest has produced new computer generated master plans for African cities depicting modern utopias which would not look out of place in Dubai or Shanghai. The incongruity of these plans for cities where 70% or more of urban residents live on the margins in unplanned settlements raises important questions about the processes shaping the future of African cities. Urban theories, in particular neoliberal ideologies of urban entrepreneurialism, offer compelling explanations for how these visions have come to be. What is less well understood is the local dynamics at play in the structuring of African cities and the role of local actors in the construction of these new master plans. This paper documents the attitudes of residents of Lusaka to market driven development in their city and new master plans for African cities. Making use of concepts of policy mobility – it explores the aspirations of those that live in the city and the extent to which these correspond to the promises of these grand new visions. The findings highlight ways in which these new visions of African cities are at odds with lives and concerns of residents in Lusaka from across the social spectrum.