This research is motivated by the scholarly calls for new concepts and analytic tools for documenting, analysing, and theorizing complex urban territories such as those of cities in Africa. With implicit comparative intent, it takes the case of Addis Ababa city and its old and typifying places—the sefer, to develop and test a new architectural transdisciplinary research methodology referred to as the trinocular. By way of this methodology, it unearths and introduces sefer, iddir, and gebbi of Addis Ababa as not only socio-spatial phenomena but concepts and vocabulary for a located and nuanced reading of the city itself. Sefer are introduced as flexible boundary conditions that are primarily cognized by their dwellers—results of indigenous and autochthonous foundation and continued processes of self-actualization by communities that construct them. Iddir is unearthed as a form of social capital embedded in sefer that appears in the structures of relations among residents. And the gebbi as an urban spatial typology that constitutes the sefer’s morphology—the last frontier of communality just prior domestic spaces which, in many cases, can be a single multi-functional room.
These concepts and vocabulary, it is argued, in both practical and metaphoric sense, should be the starting point of new urban imaginaries for Addis Ababa. Urban planning and housing projections thus, should draw inspiration from these notions, elements, and phenomena. Furthermore, lessons learnt from the trinocular and the findings are presented as new avenues for architectural research in similar, less-known, and complex urban conditions as the sefer of Addis Ababa.
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This chapter looks at the evolution of Addis Ababa through the agency of diplomacy. It focuses on the urban morphological and architectural manifestation of diplomacy in the city, based on a timeline of five recognizable periods. Using exemplary cases, it illustrates the physical and spatial impact and architectural influences associated with diplomacy and diplomatic institutions. This chapter looks at the evolution of Addis Ababa through the agency of diplomacy. 1 It focuses on the urban morphological and architectural manifestation of diplomacy in the city, based on a timeline of five recognizable periods. Using exemplary cases, it illustrates the physical and spatial impact and architectural influences associated with diplomacy and diplomatic institutions. Subsequently, we argue that the emergence of Addis Ababa as a diplomatic center in its first couple of decades has anchored it as a sustained political center, while diplomatic developments that followed and their physical manifestations played a vivid formative role in the city’s urbanization. Within Addis Ababa’s poly-nuclear structure, the diplomatic institutions prevail as frames and points of reference, spread out over the whole city. ... Read more

Since the turn of the millennium, many African cities have witnessed a
rapid urbanization the rate of which is seen with skepticism. This skepticism
is usually targeted at the risk that such a fast-tracked urbanization
might cause loss of existing socioeconomic relationships that are
sources of income and social security for low-income dwellers. And,
the possibility that spatial qualities that accommodate such pertinent
values may be written off without an appropriate survey and consideration.
Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is one such city gripped
with this challenging phenomenon. Over the last decade, a number of
housing projects have been realized through a Development-induced
Resettlement Program (DiRP) that relocated the low-income urban population
that were dependent on, and living in, the center of the city. Such
a practice has put many livelihoods at risk. Thus, the persistent question
that calls for a practical and epistemological response is: In such
rapidly urbanizing cities of Africa, what socioeconomic and spatial values
are being compromised?
This chapter aims at reviewing the evolution of Addis Ababa and
introducing its historic but poorly serviced neighborhoods, locally known
as sefer, as products of a process of self-actualization. By illustrating
the indigenous aspects of these neighborhoods, this chapter brings
forth the socioeconomic and spatial values that are threatened by the
looming rapid urbanization. ... Read more

Ethiopia is an old country with a long history of political change, both domestically and towards the rest of the world. Internally, Ethiopia’s ever-changing socio-political behavior was manifested by a tradition of relocating its seat of government. Axum, Lalibela, Teguelat, Gondar, Magdala, Ankober, and Mekele are only a few examples of such temporary headquarters, and many other “roving capitals” are excluded. The most recent shift was the foundation of the current capital city Addis Ababa in 1886. In the 131 years since then, this city has evolved from a simple village of hot springs and encampments into a global diplomatic center. The city’s diplomatic relevance has grown especially rapidly since 1950. Today, it hosts continental and global institutions such as the African Union (AU), a number of United Nation institutions (UN-ECA, UNDP, UNESCO) and others, in addition to diplomatic institutions for bilateral relations. Until today, Addis Ababa contains only fragments of the disruption caused by the brief period of Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941, when the occupiers attempted to erase the existing city and build a new colonial capital. This paper looks at the evolution of Addis Ababa through the agency of diplomacy. It focuses on the morphological and architectural manifestations of diplomacy in the city, based on a timeline of five recognizable periods. Using exemplary cases, it illustrates the physical and spatial impact and architectural influences associated with diplomacy and diplomatic institutions. Subsequently, we argue that the emergence of Addis Ababa as a diplomatic center in its first couple of decades anchored it as a lasting political center, while the diplomatic developments that followed and their physical manifestations played a vivid formative role in the city’s urbanization. Within Addis Ababa’s poly-nuclear structure, the diplomatic institutions prevail as frames and points of reference, spread out over the whole city. ... Read more

Cities under rapid urbanization such as Addis Ababa offer a set of challenges for today’s designers and planners. The urgent need for access to affordable and decent living environments presses city administrations, whose primary response tends to be a top-down approach of public housing projects and allocating plots through a bidding process in which only the affluent become beneficiaries. Such socially selective approaches usually segregate urban dwellers into economic classes and fall short of providing affordable housing options. The formal and informal horizontal sprawl of the city has continued unabated since the mid-1970s and has gained even stronger momentum in the past decade. It is important today to consider options that allow integration instead of segregation and to find options for legal and planned urban environments that deal with peripheral urbanisation. Coen Beeker’s ‘step-by-step’ process of urbanization, which allows gradual changes that promote incremental and adaptable formation of ‘urban fields’ in the peripheries of Addis Ababa, illustrates the possibilities. He argues that access to legally tenured plots of land and further urbanization through measured steps is crucial for developing affordable and cohesive communities in these areas. This paper is an analysis of the pertinent challenges faced by the city of Addis Ababa in relation to peripheral urbanisation and an assessment of Coen Beeker’s proposal to deal with these challenges. ... Read more