Newly Emerging forms of Neighborhoods in Ethiopia’s Urban Setting: A Study of the Living Conditions & Mode of Interaction among Condominium Residents of the “Yeka Sub - City” of Addis Ababa (original) (raw)
Related papers
This study aims to study to examine the success of the condominium housing development program. The result of the study revealed that the housing development office is constructing and distributing condominium-housing units with slower pace. Settlement in high-rise residential condominium housing saves land from encroachment and improper utilization. The open space reserved at sites of condominium is not proportional to the number of residents, and it is not used properly. Residents of condominium are satisfied with their spatial accessibility to some selected social and infrastructural service centers. At some sites, the roads leading to or passing along sites of condominium is not paved or asphalted. Of residents, those who moved to their condominium unit before the proper functioning of the installation suffered from the problem of water and electric power for four to eight months. The strength of social interaction among residents of condominium is weaker. When residents move to their condominium unit, they quit their membership of Ekub and Iddir associations, to which they were member and the livelihood activities that they were practicing at their former residence. Sound disturbance and theft crime are common social problems at sites of such settlement.
Ethiopia, like other developing nations, is striving to improve the life of its urban dwellers and Addis Ababa, the capital city, is receiving special attention to bring it up to standards in the continent. At 125 years old, the city suffers from severe housing shortage and is characterized by poor housing, infrastructural and neighborhood conditions. Considering the housing agenda as uppermost of the urban development challenge the city administration initiated a program to build several thousand homes based on the condominium concept for different categories of income groups. The initial target of the program, though, was the low income and lower middle income groups. Eleven years have passed since the program commenced in 2004. Needless to mention, even though home ownership has grown phenomenally, the price of a unit of condominium house has risen dangerously over the period. This article is based on ongoing doctoral study and looks at the affordability challenges of the condominium housing scheme, particularly regarding the poor slum dwellers and considers possible alternative means to tackle the issue. The specific study site is the Gofa-Mebrat Hail Condominium in Nefas Silk-Lafto Sub-city of Addis Ababa. The article gives a background account of the procedures followed by the researcher in the study: descriptive and analytical research methods employed, numerical and non-numerical data collected, questionnaires deployed for the household survey, interviews conducted, and relevant observations made. Moreover, secondary sources of information were available to aid analysis and corroborate findings. The most critical finding of the study was that the affordability challenge was, barring free offers or heavy subsidization, beyond prudent financial amelioration and that the only way to keep the poor slum dwellers housed was for them to pay a monthly housing mortgage installment dictated, largely, by a formula based on their ability-to-pay. Introduction This article is based on findings from ongoing doctoral research into the socio-economics of condominium housing development in Addis Ababa City, using the Gofa-Mebrat Hail Scheme as case study. Rapid population growth in cities has been cited by many researchers and scholars as the main challenge of the developing world. Earlier studies put the rate of city growth variably between 2 to 10 percent a year (Stephen K. Mayo; Stephen Malpezzi; David J. Gross, 1986). Unprecedented growth in urban areas coupled with severe
CONDOMINIUM DWELLERS HOUSING QUALITY PERCEPTION AND SATISFACTION IN ADDIS ABABA ETHIOPIA
This research assesses Addis Ababa condominium dwellers housing quality perception and satisfaction in four purposively selected condominium sites. The case study condominium sites were Lideta and Gotera from inner city, and Bole Ayati l and Jemmo ll from urban periphery. It examines condominium quality variation between floors of both inner city and urban periphery condominium sites. We identified 30 housing quality indicators, which were grouped into seven domains to assess satisfaction. Satisfaction was measured using 11-point Likert Scale. In addition, qualitative analysis was performed to get in-depth insight about housing perception. The 2D GIS and 3D GIS spatial analysis techniques were integrated to statistical analysis to visualize the sites and floors quality variability. The main finding of the study is that the dwellers of condominium are generally satisfied by having a dwelling for their family. There were variation in the level of satisfaction among dwellers depending on whether the condominium is located in inner city or urban periphery, ground floor or top floor. The result show that 54% of the respondents were satisfied, 42% dissatisfied and 4% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied in the overall condominium quality. The satisfaction variation shows that the majority of inner city condominium sites respondents were satisfied while the majority of urban periphery condominium sites respondents were dissatisfied. On the other hand, the satisfaction and perception for ground floor was slightly higher than other floors as well as negative perception and low preference for top floor. Unaffordability, structure inconvenience for home-based business, absences of children playground, absence of adult recreation centre, absence of elevators and ramp, day and night bar noise and lack of living experience in multi-storey houses were the main contributing factors to dwellers dissatisfaction irrespective of site location and floor level. Inner city condominium sites respondents were satisfied with accessibility domain than the respondents in urban periphery site specifically, Jemmo ll. This study suggests that future condominium sites development should consider social services accessibility, particularly in urban periphery. The condominium project office should also pay attention to improving housing quality, providing different housing finance options, awareness creation on management of shared structure and space to enhance housing satisfaction, to fulfilling needs and expectations of dwellers and to improve their quality of life.
Journal of Urban History
The article presents the reasons for which the issue of providing housing to low-income citizens has been a real challenge in Addis Ababa during the recent years and will continue to be, given that its population is growing extremely fast. It examines the tensions between the universal aspirations and the local realities in the case of some of Ethiopia’s most ambitious mass pro-poor housing schemes, such as the “Addis Ababa Grand Housing Program” (AAGHP), which was launched in 2004 and was integrated in the “Integrated Housing Development Program” (IHDP) in 2006. The article argues that the quotidian practices of communities and their socio-economic and cultural characteristics are related to the spatial attributes of co-housing practices. Drawing upon the idea that there is a mutual correspondence between social and spatial structures, it places particular emphasis on the analysis of the IHDP and aims to show that to shape strategies that take into account the social and cultural aspects of daily life of the poor citizens of Addis Ababa, it is pivotal to invite them to take part in the decision-making processes regarding their resettlement. Departing from the fact that a large percentage of the housing supply in Addis Ababa consists of informal unplanned housing, the article also compares the commoning practices in kebele houses and condominium units. The former refers to the legal informal housing units owned by the government and rented to their dwellers, whereas the latter concerns the housing blocks built in the framework of the IHDP for the resettlement of the kebele dwellers. The article analyzes these processes of resettlement, shedding light of the fact that kebele houses were located at the inner city, whereas the condominiums are located in the suburbs. Despite the fact that the living conditions in the condominium units are of a much higher quality than those in the kebele houses, their design underestimated or even neglected the role of the commoning practices. The article highlights the advantages of commoning practices in architecture and urban planning, and how the implementation of participation-oriented solutions can respond to the difficulties of providing housing. It argues that understanding the significance of the endeavors that take into account the opinions of dwellers during the phase of decision-making goes hand in hand with considering commoning practices as a source of architecture and urban planning frameworks for low-cost housing in this specific context. The key argument of the article is that urban planning and architecture solutions in Addis Ababa should be based on the principles of the so-called “negotiated planning” approach, which implies a close analysis of the interconnections between planning, infrastructure, and land.
2018
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.
reseaarch article, 2022
Even though situational factors are predominantly determining the housing scenario of urban residents, individual factors are the most essential elements that play a vital role in the housing development of urban residents. The main objective of this study was to investigate socio-demographic and socio-economic factors that contributed to urban housing development in Sebeta town, Ethiopia. To achieve the research objective, the explanatory mixed-method sequential research design was employed where quantitative data were collected from 384 respondents who were randomly selected, whereas qualitative data were collected via in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. Research findings confirmed that socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics were major determining factors of urban housing development. Socio-demographic and socio-economic dynamics associated with individual characteristics were found to cause variation in housing statuses among urban residents. This implies, in addition to structural challenges, individualistic factors of urban residents affect their housing choices. It was identified that differences in gender, migration status, ethnic background, income class, educational status, and occupational backgrounds were responsible factors for housing status discrepancy in the study area. The authors came up with the conclusion that socio-demographic and socio-economic factors are the most remarkable features, which determine the housing development of residents by accompanying structural factors. The authors would recommend that the housing development of urban residents needs the prerequisite of strengthening socio-demographic dynamism and socio-economic empowerment of the urban poor.
Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Addis Ababa's Urban Renewal
The Transformotion of Addis Ababa: A Multiform African City, 2018
With the growth of the urban population in Ethiopia, poverty is increasingly becoming an urban phenomenon. Roughly 28% of Addis Ababa’s residents are living below the poverty line of 0.7 USD per day, and the majority of them reside in the inner-city. This chapter explores the relationship between the lives of inner-city dwellers and the places in which they live, within the context of ongoing urban renewal. For this purpose, the case study site of this chapter is Dejach Wube, an old inner-city neighbourhood. We investigate the factors that gave rise to and perpetuated the city's urban renewal programme within the context of government policies and strategies. Our findings show that Addis Ababa’s inner-city is characterized by a high degree of socio-economic interdependence among its inhabitants which is facilitated by affordable shared spaces at the levels of household, compound and settlement. The livelihoods of many residents are dependent on informal economic activities located within their neighbourhood and its vicinity. There is a strong connection between housing location, use of home and communal spaces, and people’s livelihoods, especially among the urban poor. In contrast to the standard spatial model of the new government-sponsored condominium housing, the domestic and public places of the inner-city have multifunctional uses as living, social and economic spaces. At the same time, the physical conditions of inner-city areas of Addis Ababa are in need of significant improvement, which is one rationale for the government-led integrated urban redevelopment. Although the majority of respondents in the study area agreed on the need for such interventions, they claimed that their actual implementation thus far have not been conducive to accommodating their needs and meaningful participation. The promised onsite or nearby resettlement has not occurred: those evicted from the inner-city are now being relocated to expansion areas, which has threatened especially the poorest of the poor whose livelihoods are significantly attached to the inner-city. Key words: Inner-city, urban place, Addis Ababa, urban transformation, urban redevelopment, urban renewal, participation
2015
One decade ago in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, more than 80% of its four million inhabitants lived in the so-called kebele houses, which are the local variant of a well-known urban figure, the slum. In order to cope with the housing backlog sparked by the need to replace the dilapidated kebele houses, to accommodate the city’s natural growth, and to deal with the massive rural-urban migration, the government created in the mid-2000s the Integrated Housing Development Programme (IHDP). This program aimed at building throughout the country 360,000 dwelling units in five years based on a standard mid-rise housing block type that eventually became ubiquitous, especially in Addis Ababa’s built landscape. Over the last decade, the IHDP actually created “only” an average of 35,000 new flats per year, half of the expected turn out. In any case, “the condominiums”, as they are commonly known, have succeeded in upgrading the material living conditions of thousands of people. How...