Urban informal settlements are a visible form of informality. In their growth, the world will accommodate three billion population residing in informal areas by 2050, making informal settlement planning an urgent issue. About 60% of Accra’s population live in informal settlements, and the city’s “barefoot” planners are given little support to address such an issue. At the same time, the current growing trends of informal settlements often demand that they must be planned in a sustainable fashion as they will not only stay but continue to grow. From this lens, it is imperative to articulate what sustainability represents and whether current strategies of dealing with informal settlements are sustainable. Understanding what sustainability means in informal settlements thus remains a planning challenge for many urban planners. I respond to this gap by conducting a discourse analysis routing around urban informality and urban sustainability issues. I seek to unfold the imaginations of key stakeholders on the future of informal settlement planning in Accra. Through in-depth interviews, I will (1) position the driving forces behind the increasing informal settlements in Accra, (2) examine how sustainability has been differently conceived by stakeholders, particularly national and local planners, and (3) highlight the characteristics of policies on informal settlements. I particularly want to address whether the current practices are sustainable and responsive to the city’s housing needs. In that vein, my sharing will disclose how the “barefoot” planners today are given various roles to deal with the severer challenges, which have become more complicated during the COVID-19 pandemic.