The history of urbanization in Ethiopia goes back centuries. Archeological and historical evidences show the existence of cities since the Aksumite period. Despite its long history, however, the process of urban development in Ethiopian is known for its extremely slow and sporadic progress (Mesfin 1976). This is in part a result of the fact that pre-twentieth century Ethiopian urbanization was intimately linked with political capitals. After the abandonment of Aksum as a capital, Ethiopian kings have for centuries practiced a tradition of roving capitals because of political, military, and environmental reasons (Assefa 1993:275). Menilik’s decision to make Addis Ababa a permanent capital represented an end to this longstanding practice.
The city was established in 1887 when Menelik moved his palace from Entoto to the hill around the hot springs in the then Finnfine. Establishment of city didn’t follow and conscious urban planning, rather it reflected the pattern of the traditional military camp, the nobles were granted land on strategic hilltops of the city and their entourage clustering around the nobles’ compounds. The city escaped the fate of being abandoned due to shortage of fire wood within few years of its establishment as a result of the establishment of the exotic eucalyptus tree. Moreover, a number of internal and external factors including the internal political, administrative and diplomatic developments, and the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway that reached Addis in 1917 strengthened the city’s position and the national capital.
In the last 125 years of its existence the city has undergone numerous changes and processes, including the Italian occupation and attempts to reorganize it under colonial principles, the post occupation period and accelerated urbanization, a socialist revolution and political upheavals. This paper focuses on the various processes, challenges and policy measures aimed at dealing with problems in the city under the current government.
Challenges of Sustainable Urbanization
Migration and Rapid Population Growth: Addis Ababa has been expanding, both physically and in population, for the past several decades. A city of about half a million residents in 1961 (AABOFED 2009), the population in 2011 is stated to be slightly more than 3 million (CSA 2011a). While the decline in death rate has contributed to this increase in population, an equally import contributor to this increase in population is the rapid pace of rural urban migration. According to the 2007 Population and Housing Census about 48% of the residents of the city were migrants. Moreover, during the census period nearly 14% if the migrants in had stayed only a year or less in the city.
A cursory view of the characteristics of the migrants in the city is helpful in setting the context of the discussion to follow. First, it is notable the women have consistently outnumbered men among the migrant population. Second, and even more important, almost half of the migrants originate from rural villages.
- Unemployment: the fact that the city economy has been unable to generate enough jobs, coupled with the continued influx young semi-skilled and unskilled job seekers has created a significant burden on the job market. It is true that the level of unemployment has in the city has slowly declined over the years. However, the rate remains worryingly high. The results of a March 2011 survey by the Central Statistical Agency depict that highest level of unemployment in the Country (25%) is recorded in Addis Ababa (CSA 2011b).
- Pressure on urban services and Amenities: while huge investments and private sector involvement in the health and education sectors seem to have alleviated some of the pressure in the sectors, complicated problems still exist in various other sectors, particularly housing. Not only is the sector unable to proceed at par with the increasing demand, even the existing housing stock suffers from problems of durability, lack of connection to services, and overcrowding (AABOFED 2010). In fact, it is estimated by the Ethiopian government that the housing in 2008 was “between 900,000 and 1,000,000 units in urban areas, and that only 30 per cent of the current housing stock is in a fair condition, with the remaining 70 per cent in need of total replacement. In Addis Ababa alone, 300,000 units are required to meet the deficit.” (UN-HABITAT 2008: 6).
Urban decay and slums: like its many counterparts in the developing world, Addis Ababa suffers from urban decay and the emergence of slums, particularly in the older, city center neighborhoods. According to the UN-HABITAT (2011:5), 80 per cent of Addis Ababa is a slum with 70 per cent of this comprising government owned rental housing.
Measures
A number of measures have been taken in order to deal with the challenges the city is faced with. While multiple stakeholders are involved to varying degrees in planning, funding, and implementing these measures; below are some of those being implemented by the city government and its various agencies:
- Micro and Small Enterprises: entrusted with the task of employment creation and providing support to and organizing the unemployed, the Micro and Small Scale Enterprises Agency has reportedly created more than 73,000 jobs in the 5 years between 2004/05 and 2008/09 (AABOFED 2009:6).
- Housing: being a priority agenda of the government, housing has gotten significant attention over the past few years. Under The Integrated Housing Development Programme, the city has benefited from the construction of some 80,000 condominiums between 2005/06 and 2009/19.
- Inner-city renewal: recently, it has become more common to see large plots of land fenced off, or houses under demolition in the central parts of Addis. Since 2009, about 155 hectares of land has been cleared off and nearly 10 thousand houses demolished and their residents relocated. In total, the city plans renew about 10 thousand hectares of land.
Issues for Discussion
Keeping in mind that the above presented measures face several hurdles and are indeed criticized by some on their planning, and execution, let’s proceed to some outstanding issues that can serve as starting points for discussion:
- Continued rural-urban migration to the capital city (which is already a primate city, dwarfing even its nearest competitor), even when matched by a similar level of economic development, is problematic and likely to exacerbate the phenomena of urban sprawl. What is the status of measures such as regional planning, decentralization, and re-routing migration in Ethiopia?
- What is the status of management of condominiums, which are common property resources and thus much more challenging to effectively manage?
- How suitable is the urban land tenure system and urban land administration for better participation of the private sector and individuals in the housing construction sector?
References
Addis Ababa City Government Finance and Economic Development Bureau. 2009. Addis Ababa Population Images 2009. Addis Ababa.
Addis Ababa City Government Finance and Economic Development Bureau. 2009. Urban Development Indicators. Addis Ababa.
Assefa Mehretu. 1993. Cities of Sub-Saharan Africa. In, S. Brunn and J. Williams (Eds), Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development (267-303). New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.
Mesefin Woldemariam. 1976. Some Aspects of Urbanization in Pre-twentieth Century Ethiopia. In Marina Ottaway (ed) Urbanization in Ethiopia a text with integrated readings, Addis Ababa University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
UN-HABITAT. 2011. Condominium Housing in Ethiopia: The Integrated Housing Development Programme. United Nations Human Settlements Programme: Nairobi.
UN-HABITAT. 2007. Situation Analysis Of Informal Settlements In Addis Ababa. United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
CSA. 2011a. Statistical Abstract Ethiopia. Addis Ababa.
CSA. 2011b. Analytical Report on The 2011 Urban Employment Unemployment Survey. Addis Ababa.