Historically, while cities such as Mozambique’s capital Maputo have been analysed as divided into ‘formal ‘and ‘informal’ spaces, contemporary approaches tend to emphasise the heterogeneity and plasticity of African urbanities. Drawing upon original ethnographic material gathered from fieldwork in 2012/2013, we reframe the analysis of such cities through recognition of novel forms of urban imaginaries, emergent narratively, that may take the shape of dichotomies or trichotomies reconfiguring hegemonic notions such as formal–informal, centre–periphery or urban–suburban. In conclusion, it is suggested that this citywide ongoing process highlights the importance of appreciating dynamic discursive engagements with urban space, which not only are at odds with hegemonic definitions of the city but also, crucially, impinge on people’s own urban strategies – in Maputo as well as elsewhere.

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Critical voices on urban management tend to portray conflicting governmentalities, with Western "top-down" municipal development models on the one hand, and the everyday practices and diffuse forms of power of the poor majority on the other. This paper takes solid waste (lixo) management in Mozambique's capital city, Maputo, and its informal settlements as an entry point for assessing the relationship between these two urban development perspectives. It shows that while the municipality considers itself to be working actively through public-private partnerships to handle the complex issue of waste management in the informal areas, people in these informal settlements, despite paying a regular fee for waste removal, continue to experience lixo as a serious problem and see its persistent presence as a symbol of spatial and social inequalities and injustice. The paper is formulated as a conversation between city planning and management and the community side of the equation-leading to a joint set of proposals for how best to manage such a contentious part of African urban life.

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