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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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.@en

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.@en

A test project for establishing new rural towns was initiated in 2008. In 2010, its implementation started, under the name BuraNEST in Bura kebele, Libokemkem woreda of the Amhara Regional State.3 The planning, design, and implementation process was consulted by a consortium of local and international experts known as the NESTown Group. BuraNEST is a striking case, where self-built initiatives are planned and organised within a governance structure whose instinctive disposition is top-down with firm regulations. This conversation by Anteneh Tesfaye Tola is with the local experts of the NESTown Group: Fasil Giorghis, chair of Conservation of Urban and Architectural Heritage, and Zegeye Cherenet, Head of Emerging Cities Lab (ECL), both at Addis Ababa University’s EiABC4. This interview illustrates the contemporary challenges planners face in dealing with forming New Towns in emerging economies such as Ethiopia.@en

The project is a part of the Global Dwelling studio in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The focus of the studio is on Affordable Housing for the Global Urban South. This project looks to continue with the current method of affordable housing in Addis Ababa in the form of mass housing condominiums. These developments are appearing in huge numbers across the city. They are dense and efficient but are not affordable to those displaced for their development and do not meet the needs or express the qualities for and inherent to the existing low income communities. The existing communities, called sefers represent resilient communities and the condominiums represent a backbone of efficiency. Through the design of it's next implementation and additions to the existing condominium, the Condominium 3.0 creates a balance of efficiency and resilience resulting in an affordable, inclusive, efficient and resilient approach to housing Addis Ababa.

In developing cities across the globe, as in Addis Ababa, the number of residents is growing while the amount of good-quality housing remains low. The demand for low-income housing is rising rapidly due to the contemporary aim to eliminate the unhealthy living conditions and the influx of migrants. Without newcomers a city would not be able to grow, as internal migration is essential for urbanization. Research has shown that migration within a country can even play a role in poverty reduction and economic development. A large amount of migrants can, on the other hand, also put pressure on a city when the city fails to have the capacity to adequately house all the newcomers. In turn this may lead to the formation of informal settlements, as previously mentioned. This describes in very few words what has and still is happening in Addis Ababa.

The cities government realized at the beginning of this century that the capital suffered a tremendous housing backlog and initiated the previously mentioned IHDP with good intentions. Unfortunately the result did not live up to its initial goals or the citizens needs and expectations. Only half of the predetermined amount of units were built, thereby the construction costs increased making the units unaffordable for one of the target groups; the lower-income. This so-called urban renewal begins with clearing out the site, meaning the often clinical demolition of entire neighbourhoods. Moreover, this means that the places which used to function as a foothold, the informal settlements, are being destroyed and replaced by static housing units where the newcomers and other poor can only dream of living in.

This research and design proposal aims at investigating the importance and potential of transitory spaces within developing cities. Eventually it has the goal of providing the poor with a foothold in the city, by creating truly cheap housing for a temporary period, through the creation of a permanent structure, which encourages the individual or group to develop.

How can an affordable housing scheme in Addis Ababa be an open border that generates economic and social exchange? And how can this scheme respond to the topography and the future plans of the government?
The design of an affordable housing scheme which integrates social and economic exchange of the residents but also the city dwellers.

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.@en