Dynamics of informal occupation and local resilience strategies in risk-prone areas of Bukavu

Bukavu, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, faces numerous urban planning challenges related to rapid and largely unplanned urban growth. Fueled by swift population growth since the 1990s due to displacement linked to armed conflicts, this dynamic translates into the progressive occupation of environmentally vulnerable zones, notably steep slopes, river and drainage basin banks, thereby exposing residents to recurrent risks of flooding, landslides, and waterborne diseases. Drawing on a qualitative methodology that combines documentary analysis, field observations, and 41 semi-structured interviews with local authorities, social actors, and residents of the Luziba drainage collector, this study examines the dynamics that shaped informal occupation around the Luziba collector and assesses the local resilience strategies developed by residents to live with water. The results show that settlement in this high-risk zone is primarily driven by socio-economic constraints, land pressure, proximity to urban cores, and the lack of accessible residential alternatives. Exacerbated by displacement movements linked to armed conflicts, occupation of the Luziba riverbank reduces hydraulic capacity and intensifies flood magnitudes, thereby exposing residents to multiple impacts during the rainy season. Faced with these risks, residents have developed individual and community resilience strategies to live with water, such as elevated-floor construction, raising entrance levels of houses, the erection of small retaining walls, dredging of the drainage collector, and mutual aid mechanisms. However, although useful and rooted in local knowledge, these practices remain limited in terms of effectiveness and scope. The study highlights the need to integrate local resilience dynamics into a contextually grounded urban planning approach that can reconcile risk management, social-spatial inclusion, and environmental sustainability in rapidly growing African cities.