The need to merge scientific with societal knowledge in addressing global sustainability challenges has deepened research on a methodology known as co-producing knowledge. This paper draws on case study projects in Africa to discern the forms of power that are navigated by actors when co-producing locally grounded knowledge and solutions for urban sustainability. The projects include: localizing norms on sustainable energy in Kampala city Uganda; confronting coastal vulnerability in Durban South Africa; and upgrading informal settlements in Stellenbosch South Africa. Navigating these forms of power is possible, if boundary objects are used in dialogues on scalable solutions to sustainability challenges. These boundary objects interrupted the reproduction of unequal power relations, while demonstrating how hierarchies in co-producing knowledge can be flattened (Abstract).