In many cities and urban areas in Africa, land acquisition for urban redevelopment, land readjustment, and resettlement of affected urban residents are currently framed as innovative approaches to eradicating informal settlements, improving the living environments, and supporting the implementation of newly adopted city Master Plans. Nevertheless, it is not yet known how the responses of institutions and affected people shape these processes. Based on research conducted in Kigali, Rwanda, this article discusses affected residents’ responses to land expropriation and resettlement necessary for urban redevelopments. Our findings show that affected informal settlement dwellers voiced their concerns over the deviations from the Expropriation Law, compensation decision-making made behind closed doors, lack of transparency in property valuation, and compensation packages that they perceive to be unfair. Some of the consequences of these concerns are strong feelings of unfairness, exclusion, and marginalisation; distrust and increased perceptions of impoverishment risks, all of which fuel contestation and resistance attitudes among the affected landowners. The affected landowners agitate to assert their rights and stake their claims through contestations, community mobilisation, and legal recourse. We conclude that such contestations constitute claimed spaces and interactions in which affected landowners are laying claim to fair processes against the ‘’exceptionality’’ and the “decide-defend” decision-making approaches, while local authorities assert legitimacy of their decisions. Critically, informal households affected by urban redevelopments see opportunities for participation in their resettlement decision-making as fundamental to securing their future.

Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are increasingly used in research areas such as precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, and disaster response. They can carry a wide range of sensors and users produce diverse datasets that include raw imagery, orthomosaics, and spatial models. Sharing these datasets in a Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) way requires rich metadata. However, current practices often lack essential details about sensors, processing steps, and licensing, which limits FAIR compliance. We assessed how UAV data is currently published by reviewing metadata from 71 datasets in public repositories. We also evaluated existing metadata frameworks and surveyed over 70 UAV data users and experts to understand their needs and challenges. Based on this analysis, we identify key metadata requirements across the UAV data lifecycle, including information on sensors, spatial and temporal coverage, processing workflows, and provenance. Our goal is to clarify and summarize these needs rather than propose a formal standard. More consistent metadata practices will support the FAIR principles and improve UAV data sharing and reuse in science.

Resettlement programmes to prevent exposure of communities to natural disasters are indispensable in protecting people’s lives and assets, and expanding national and local economies. However, poorly executed resettlement may disrupt the social, economic and cultural organization of the affected households, leading to various risks of impoverishment. Using the case of the City of Kigali, Rwanda, this chapter analyses the risks of impoverishment faced by relocated urban households and shows how these risks might be minimized through the systematic selection of suitable resettlement sites using a GIS-based multi-criteria technique. Our findings show that landlessness and joblessness are the most critical risks experienced by displaced urban households in Kigali. The location of a resettlement site is a major factor associated with these two risks. Based on their socio-economic characteristics, a suitable location that provides access to basic services and job opportunities for low-skilled people is fundamental to the well-being of resettled households. Our sites suitability analysis revealed that access to public transport raises the level of suitability of potential resettlement sites. Therefore, when resettled households cannot walk to livelihood opportunities, the provision of effective public transportation is necessary to minimize the impoverishment risks of the resettled households.