Three examples from the Global South, Medellín (Colombia), São Paulo (Brazil) and Bangladesh, offer critical insights into how water-responsive urbanism can emerge under complex social, economic and environmental constraints. Selected for their diversity and relevance to African contexts, these examples reveal how communities, municipalities, and national agencies can collaborate to deliver practical, inclusive and climate-resilient solutions. In Medellín, community-led green corridors link informal settlement upgrading with slope stabilization and flood mitigation. São Paulo illustrates the challenges of transitioning from engineered flood control to nature-based river restoration, balancing ecological goals with the realities of informality and resettlement. Bangladesh shows how local knowledge and adaptive design enable low-cost, community-centred responses to extreme flooding and unstable terrain. Together, these experiences highlight key lessons for African cities: the importance of participatory planning, institutional coordination, incremental implementation, and respect for local adaptive practices. They underscore that effective water-responsive urbanism depends as much on governance and social equity as on technical design.