Africa is at a defining moment in its development trajectory (Mutizwa-Mangiza and Kamiya, 2019) and key among these defining moments is the process of urbanization, which is profoundly altering African societies, economies, and environments (African Union, 2025). Urban management has long been configured around administrative jurisdictions as trading enters, towns, municipalities, and cities, each of which embodies roles with a differing degree of autonomy in managing services, utilities, and development of the urban areas. This configuration remains important in Africa as the basis for electoral and technical management. Urban services and utilities are defined as public goods alongside ensuring hygiene, a clean environment, and orderly housing and infrastructure development. Despite the long-standing setup of the urban governance and management system through the hierarchical structure, there are still many systemic challenges that impede inclusive decision-making in urban management in Africa. There are many influential works on the urban governance and decision-making of the African continent, but the increasing complexity and dynamism of urban areas in Africa requires a transformation of governance and decision-making structures with an inclusive process in cities, including across jurisdictional boundaries. The New Urban Agenda envisages cities and human settlements that are participatory in promoting civic engagement, engender belonging and ownership among all their inhabitants, and achieve gender equality as well as empower women and girls for full and effective participation at all levels of decision-making (United Nations, 2020). The agenda also recognizes urban governance structures as collaborative platforms that engage several actors to realize desired visions. This places greater emphasis on sound institutions and mechanisms that make appropriate checks and balances with particular attention given to contributions from men and women, children and youths, older persons and persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and local communities, refugees and forcibly displaced persons and migrants regardless of their migration status without discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (Ibid).