Informal settlements are home to 32 per cent of urban dwellers worldwide. Access to sanitation in
these spaces is amongst the most pressing needs and contentious issues in cities in developing countries.
Residents of informal settlements, or shack dwellers, regularly cope with flooding that reduces their
access to basic services. Yet the impact of environmental risks, such as flooding and climate change, on
urban service delivery is understudied. Using a case study approach, key informant interviews were
conducted in Cape Town, South Africa with municipal staff, civil-society organizations, and local
researchers. Opportunities for climate change adaptation in informal settlements were located within
municipal service delivery and flood mitigation strategies. Six major themes emerged: the need for an
integrated approach to urban service delivery; the social and human factors which undermine technical
interventions; the reality of trade-offs in complex environments such as informal settlements; the role of
experimentation and collaboration in creating opportunities for building trust between stakeholders
and bridging knowledge gaps; the limitations of formal planning tools in informal spaces; and the
need to theorize cities from the reality of urban spaces in the global South.