Informal settlements are integral in the forms of urbanization across the global south. They differ greatly in character and do not conform to zoning regulations. Notwithstanding their variations, however, they share some characteristics: inadequate housing, insufficient and/or inappropriate living space, lack or poor public services and utilities.

In Rwanda, informal settlements emerged in and around the capital City of Kigali (hereinafter referred to CoK) since its creation early 20th century, due to the flux of rural-urban migration. Since 2007, the CoK published its Master Plan. Concerning non-formal settlements chapter, it recommended the on-site upgrading and clearance or relocation of critical informal sites. Listed herewith are countermeasures against new informal settlements and alleviation of pressure of housing demand: elaboration and implementation of urban planning and development tools (1); informal settlement upgrading strategies (2); development of secondary cities (3).

This research focuses the on-site upgrading of informal settlements as a sustainable solution that leaves intact the residents’ socio-economic networks. Many researches talked about this solution. Yet, there is no clear guidelines of best upgrading practices. This research points out clustering formations of dwellings typologies with respect to available public infrastructures and services.

The findings from this research will serve a basis to prepare adequate physical plans responding to the needs of informal dwellers in particular, and formalizing the informal in general. To carry out this research, we collected data by on-site surveys and interviews. We subjected the data to dimension-reduction tools and we found a consistent patterning between housing typologies and public infrastructures and services.