Addis Ababa is experiencing a high rate of urbanization coupled with a decades-old housing crisis. This study problematizes the current housing problem not only in the frame of housing shortage but also as a ‘housing mismatch’, with the underlying dwelling typologies rooted in modernist design ideals not responding to context. These dwelling solutions, as seen in the recent condominium projects, do not fulfil the social and spatial requirements of dwellers. This problem calls for a thorough inquiry into tracing the roots of the ‘housing mismatch’. Since dweller-initiated housing transformations are a common phenomenon in most housing conditions in Addis Ababa, the study proceeded to analyze these transformations to understand the housing mismatch in its qualitative and spatial aspects. One of the reasons for dweller-initiated transformations is to finetune living habitats to cultural parameters. In line with this, transformations were observed during the test run of the fieldwork conducted on three households in 2020. Furthermore, the fieldwork revealed that dwellers used local conceptions of space such as the gibi, the gwaro and the gwada to explain the socio-spatial phenomena of transformations....

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A house made of living eucalyptus trees in Addis Ababa, designed by Ahadu Abaineh in 2001, prefigured a series of projects with an ecological outlook [...] ... Read more

Since the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944, housing has often been part of the foreign aid agenda of international agencies and non-governmental organisations. Housing concepts included in the development aid “packages” were often used to introduce new political ideas and economic paradigms that would affect dramatically the livelihoods of the society at large, an of urban communities in particular. During the cold-war period, this phenomenon was particularly striking. Addis Ababa is a case in point. In this article, we review three cases of housing settlements built in Addis Ababa from the mid1960s to the early 1990s, which were developed under the auspices of the foreign aid agenda. Spanning two completely different political systems, from the last decade of the rule of emperor Haileselassie I to the whole duration of the Derg regime, this article discusses the complex balance between individual homeownership and collective welfare as central aspects of housing programs and housing design that aimed at emancipating communities of urban poor in Addis Ababa. ... 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