the sustainable city, c.a. brebbia a. ferrante, m ... one and half million in 1986, ... census data...

Inner-city renewal and locational stability of

the poor: a study of inner-city renewal

program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A. Gossaye

Department of Town and Regional PlanningNorwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Abstract

Focusing on the case of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, this paperaddresses the renewal of old inner-city areas of the developing countries. It israther common both in developed and developing countries, that most inner-cityneighbourhoods in the initial stage of their formation establish a balance betweenresidential and commercial activities. The prevailing trend toward increasingcommercialisation appears to be in rriost cases the predominant threat to theinner-city poor resulting in uprooting people and dwellings, destroying themicro-business and the informal economy established in the area, gentrificationand marginalization of the poor.

In what follows, the paper will describe and briefly analyse the causes of thewidespread deterioration and decay of inner-cities, conflicting interests andimpacts of explicit and implicit public-sector interventions. It advocates thatplanners and architects should act as educators and enablers, facilitating peopleto articulate their needs through the renewal of their urban environment. Thepaper concludes that only with a more process oriented and participatoryapproach can inner-city renewal benefit the whole community and be used asvehicle to create sustainable quality and living environment in which peoplecould improve their economic and social position according to their owncapacities.

The Sustainable city, C.A. Brebbia A. Ferrante, M. Rodiguez & B.Terra (Editors) © 2000 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISBN 1-85312-811-2

438 The Sustainable City

Introduction

Driven both by socio-economic and political forces, changes are constantlyoccurring in the urban environment. The essential characteristic of thesetransformations, as noted by Couch [1], is that "they bring about change in theuse or occupancy of urban land and buildings and therefore result in change inwhere, how and under what condition people live". In the process of this changeand growth there is also a shift in importance of sub-areas of a city. The oldinner-city areas, which traditionally provide shelter and employmentopportunities for the poor, are the main targets of such changes.

This is more apparent to Addis Ababa, which faces unforeseen transitions indemographic, economic, environmental conditions as well as policies andgovernment structures. Following twenty years of economic stagnation andurban neglect, economic liberalisation and privatisation since 1992, have broughtabout thriving commerce and a rapid change in the physical fabric of the city.The inner-city of Addis Ababa, even more than elsewhere, is at the centre ofcurrent development efforts.

In response to this new development environment and with an ambition toimprove the urban environmental quality, housing standard, efficiency ofmovement and urban aesthetics, the Addis Ababa city planning authorities havetried to develop an urban system through inner-city renewal programs.Realistically, no one would quarrel with such improvement objectives thatprovide a more satisfactory environment. However, strong doubts have beenexpressed as to whether the current approach is sustainable in many aspects. Thisis the subject which underline much of the discussions in this paper. The findingsof this paper and the discussions in it are based on the author's present doctoraldissertation on the conflicts, shortcomings and implications of inner-city renewalin Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Urban growth and change

Rapid urban growth, which is being impelled by natural population growth aswell as by the basic shift in the distribution of the population toward urban andmetropolitan centres, has created significant changes in the urban systems of thedeveloping world. The particular pace of urbanisation and the extent of its effectin any city are, in a sense, unique and therefore must be understood within thecontext of the city's particular historical development, which will embrace awide range of issues. As Devas and Rakodi [2] have observed, it is the historicalcontext in which the cities were founded and grew, the structure of theireconomy, culture, society, the commutative results of planning process and theparticular ideological and political milieu that make cities different.

Seen from this perspective, Addis Ababa may possess unique patternsbecause of its historical development. Founded in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II,Addis Ababa is the last in a succession of capitals of the Ethiopian Empire.Addis Ababa, which means "New Flower" in Amharic, is an indigenous Africancity. Unlike many other African capitals, its founding, growth and development


The Sustainable City 439

are not rooted in colonisation. It is formed casually, little by little. The buildersfollowed no formal plans that confirm to western concepts of planning anddesign and the form and situation of the houses and streets came out as they builtthem.

As a result, the townscape of the inner-city is of an organic character. Part ofthe city's indigenous character was established by the early settlement patterns.Soon after founding the city, Emperor Menelik began to allocate land to leadersof the nobility, the military, and the church. The land grantees built residencesand/or churches on elevated or centrally located sites. As each of the grantees, inturn, issued to their dependants use rights to land in the immediate vicinity oftheir residence or church, and as more and more newcomers made attachments toone of these encampments, a series of safars (neighbourhoods) of different sizesand shapes emerged (Zewde [3]).

This marked the first land use pattern of the city which can actually beconsidered as old unplanned neighbourhoods. Moreover, this historical origin ofthe city has also produced a multi-centered urban system, where differentfunctions and different social and economic classes still mingle and live together.This mode of development continued to exist in the subsequent years withoutsubstantial planning intervention. Thus, throughout most of its history, AddisAbaba's growth has been relatively uncontrolled. Ethiopia's worseningeconomic circumstances and limited resources, ineffective planning procedures,and inefficient institutions since the 1974 revolution, have resulted in failure tocontrol the direction and pattern of urban development, to provide residents andenterprises with adequate services, or to establish a relatively autonomousinstitution to manage urban growth.

Addis Ababa, being the capital city and centre of commerce, industries aswell as other amenities, such as education, health, and transportation facilities,has been found to hold a record of population growth when compared to othercities of the nation. It is exercising its privileges and rights to dominate the restof the urban system in economic, social and political activities of the wholenation. As a matter of fact, its population accounting for 29 percent of the totalurban population is a clear demonstration of the overwhelming dominance it hasover the national urban system. Available information on Addis Ababa growthindicates that within one century of its existence, the city grew to a metropolis ofnearly one and half million in 1986, and it now has a population of more than 2.6million (CSA [4]).

However, this rapid rate of growth has not been accompanied by theprovision of basic urban services in the same or nearer to the growth rate.Because of this failure, the fast growing population has put tremendous stress onthe already overstrained existing urban services. Besides, this growth and changeresulted in a number of other serious problems, which include high levels ofurban unemployment, vast spread of squatter settlements, extreme housingshortage, pollution as well as other forms of environmental deterioration (Cole[5]). It is obvious that in order to handle these crises the city authorities havesomehow intervened. The fundamental question is, however, how effective arethese government interventions in resolving all the problems.



Public sector interventions

Since the 1960s, policies and strategies in response to the problems associatedwith rapid urbanisation in developing countries have changed significantly. Theurban housing problem, one of the principal challenges facing most developingcountries, has attracted heated debate and controversy among scholars of variousdisciplines. The huge amount of housing literature of this period (Abrams [6],Turner [7], Ward [8], Payne [9], to name but a few) clearly demonstrates thenotable amount of professional interest in and knowledge of low-income housingstrategies. The different views expressed have changed the attitudes and policiesof governments and multilateral bodies as well as academic communities. Themost important aspect of these changes was the recognition of the role peopleplayed in the housing process and acceptance, as legitimate form of shelter, oftheir own creations and building standards, irrespective of their quality or legalstatus.

Despite these changes in attitude, the authorities in Addis Ababa havedevoted themselves in project oriented activities and play the role of primaryprovider instead of supportive to the users. But this centralised, top-down andpublic sector provision has made no significant impact on the housing situationof the city population compared to the task. This can easily be demonstrated by asimple exercise with absolute figures. Census data from the period 1984-1994indicate that while the number of households grew by 140003, the total numberof housing units constructed both by private and public sector over this periodwere only 115187. The difference between these figures suggest thatapproximately 25000 households were either homeless or have beenovercrowded in the existing stock (CSA, ibid.).

Apart from that, it seems that the city authorities have not yet realised that itis counter-productive to clear old housing stock on wholesale basis, given thetremendous housing demand. Obviously, this brought the role of the publicsector into question. Faced with enormous housing deficits and widespread ofenvironmental deterioration, is demolition of thousands of homes and relocationof households the real answer?

As urban problems become increasingly complex and challenging, clearpolicies are required to guide the process of urban change towards the desiredend. In Ethiopia, however, there appears to be lack of perspective and, moresignificantly, lack of will for planned urban development. Decision-makers arecarried away more by the forces of development - national and international-rather than influencing the direction of change by a conscious and well-conceived policy frame. Despite some efforts of transformation into marketeconomy and market oriented housing sector, there is currently nocomprehensive urban development and housing policy at the national or regionallevel.

One of the earliest public sector interventions was the nationalisation of"extra (rented) houses" after the 1974 revolution for ideological reasons and aspractical attempt to make low-income housing accessible to the poor. As a result



of this, today nearly 40 percent of the total housing stock is owned by the state(CSA, ibid.). There is no doubt that this measure, by maintaining rents ataffordable levels, has helped stabilise low-income households in inner-cityresidential neighbourhoods, which they would have otherwise lost. However,several negative effects are generally observed. First of all, private investment inlow-income rental housing had ceased, and consequently, an acute low-incomehousing shortage was developed over the years. Secondly, it has presentedunmanagable tasks and expenses pertaining to repairs, delivery of services andmaintenance on the public sector. Arguably, therefore, as the government andresidents decline to assume responsibility and the rent collected is extremelylow, it has contributed to deterioration of the housing stock.

While lack of appropriate action to preserve the existing housing stock isaccelerating the process of urban deterioration, the scarcity of urban land forpoor families has also contributed for the acute shortage of housing and anincrease in the development of spontaneous settlements. In 1975, in anendeavour to build a socialist economy, Ethiopia adopted a public landownership policy. Ownership and management of land have henceforth remainedin the public domain, at least in principle. Thus, to date the state bureaucracy isresponsible for overall management of land. It determines who gets or enjoyswhat, where and how. However, recent years have witnessed a decreasingcapability of the state to manage urban land. This is evidently displayed by theemergency of informal land markets and the extent of informal housing as wellas by gross underutilization of buildable sites.

The inner-city and its problems

Due to the rapid growth of cities in many developing countries, particularly inAfrica, attention has been directed mainly to new developments, that is to say, apreoccupation with desperately trying to cope. The usually old and sometimesvaluable inner portions of the cities have been allowed to stay as they were. Thequestion of what should become of them in the future having been generally leftout of consideration. This areas are, however, more significant and importantthan is commonly realised. In Addis Ababa, for example, the housing stock isquantitatively very important. About 53 percent of Addis Ababa, most of whomare low-income, live in the inner-city, the area of which represents only 14.53percent of the total area within municipality's boundaries [10].

The old inner-city residential neighbourhoods of Addis Ababa not onlyprovide housing at rents that can be afforded by the low-income residents butalso provide, within the settlement areas, a wide variety of employmentopportunities, formal and informal. The inner-city which is characterised byintensive mixed land uses is also a major economic centre. Paradoxically,however, the majority of the residents are low-income and often engaged ininformal economic activities. Many households run small-scale commercialactivities in their home. Consequently, small kiosks, home-made drinks bars,snack bars as well as small-scale repairing shops are concentrated in the area.



Activities like street vending and personal services such as shoe shining, carwashing, carrying of goods, etc. provide an employment opportunity for a largenumber of people in the centre of the city. Besides, the inherent stability of theinner-city's low-income residents has led to the proliferation of kinship tieswithin the area and the establishment of a wide variety of strong social andcommunal organisations that provide the dwellers with essential social support inthe occasion of difficulty and stress.

If we look at the physical characteristics of the area, we find miserableconditions and a degraded environment. The housing stock is often instructurally poor condition due to a combination of factors including age,inadequate maintenance and the pressures of overuse. Concerning the types ofconstruction materials used, the great majority of the housing units, 83 percent,are of traditional "chika" construction: mud and straw on a timber frameworkwith corrugated iron roofing and in most cases without foundations and properflooring. Aside from its predominance, the main characteristic of this type ofconstruction is the need for constant maintenance. Unless this is carried out, themud cladding flakes off leaving the timber frame exposed to the elements, toeventually rot and collapse.

Overcrowding is common and has two forms. The place is overcrowded withbuildings and the buildings are overcrowded with people. The number of personsliving in a single room ranges up to ten. This single room serves as a livingspace, bedroom, dining room, kitchen, or workroom, among other purposes.These areas are also characterised by inadequate circulation systems, scarcity ofwater supply or drainage system, lack of toilets, high incidence of communicablediseases and high rate of infant mortality. Besides, in some places they are alsosusceptible to flooding and other hazards. Finding no alternative, the dwellersstruggle for survival in these settlements.

The need for renewal and the conflicting interests

In the inner-city areas, where conflicting interest groups are juxtaposed, theinterests are great and the stakes are high. In these areas the low-income groupsare competing with other interest groups for access to services and resources.However, for obvious reasons their competitive position is weak and it isgenerally worsened by explicit and implicit public-sector interventions.

In Addis Ababa, as mentioned above, land is owned by the state and the cityadministration is highly engaged in the land market and derives revenuestherefrom. It is evident; therefore, that the city authorities would seek the mostprofitable uses for land. Consequently, their interest to clear and redevelop thisvaluable land or to aid private sector developers in doing so is very strong.Besides, there is also a growing concern about the constant expansion of the cityinto its agricultural hinterland, while a large quantity of urban land in the centreis under-utilised. This also calls for redevelopment of the existing urban fabric.

Moreover, as a result of the pressures from donor agencies, such as the WorldBank, the new economic reform program of the country tends to support thegovernment's role as the promoter of economic growth by facilitating



investment. While it is generally assumed that this could create newopportunities for the local community to improve their living conditions, thebenefits have in reality been much more socially and spatially differentiated. Inaggregate, this increased reliance on market would seem to divert focus anddiminish the equity, welfare and social goals embodied in state interventions.

In addition, the desire to make Addis Ababa a modern urban system and toimprove the image of the city originates from its national and international role.In fact Addis Ababa is not only the capital city of Ethiopia but also the seat oftwo among the most important international institutions in the world: theOrganisation of African Unity (OAU), the UN Economic Commission for Africa(ECA) and many other international organisations. As a consequence AddisAbaba is one of the continent's largest and premier diplomatic centre. Besidesthese functions, Addis Ababa being at the centre of a country rich in historicalmonuments and natural sceneries offers tourist facilities and attraction. In orderto give adequate services to the needs of the national and international role andbecome competent centre for domestic and foreign investment in the future, thecity must expand and upgrade the present system of services and infrastructuresupporting modern requirements.

Meanwhile, being in the city core, with location advantages such asconvenient public transport facilities, concentration of major economic, social,cultural, administrative and political activities, and high population density, theinner-city of Addis Ababa is nowadays becoming more and more attractive forlarge public projects and commercial complexes. Real estate developers regard itas an area for profitable development. Business firms as well as publicinstitutions looking for strategic locations for their enterprises have also greatinterest in the area. As a result of this, a number of project proposals to undertakeredevelopment activities in the central part of the city are coming to the localgovernment from private developers initiatives.

For all of these and other reasons, renewal of the inner-city of Addis Ababa,would appear to be necessary and very urgent. But there is an absence of clearpolicy or direction to be followed. The critical questions of renewal as to 'how'and to what purpose remain unresolved.

Shortcomings of the current approach

The adverse effects of the practice of mass demolition of property and forcibleresettlement from inner-city areas are well documented. The disruption of theinformal economy of the low-income groups, increasing burden on the publicsector in terms of the provision of replacement housing and services, disruptionof the social fabric and links with the past are some of the negative consequencesof this approach [11]. Because of the apparent failure of this form of renewalprogram, recent years have witnessed the emergence of alternative strategies fordealing with the problems of inner-city neighbourhoods.

Generally, it can be observed that the evolution of policies regarding urbanrenewal were gradually evolving from demolition and eviction approach to asofter, more socially, economically, culturally and environmentally sustainable


/I /\/\ The Sustainable City

approaches. As noted by Forster et al [12], more attention is given to issues likeimprovement of the well-being of the community; preservation of investedcapital, promotion of economic development, preservation of cultural heritageand traditions, preservation of the environment as well as extension ofdemocratic process.

Despite these global shifts in thinking, in Ethiopia, inner-city renewal throughclearance and resettlement is still regarded as the only viable way to moderniseinner-city areas. Although the inner-city residential neighbourhoods provideaffordable housing and economic opportunities to low-income households,government-planning authorities have maintained negative attitudes towardsthem over the years. This can be explained by the fact that the Addis AbabaMaster Plan documents labelled most part of the inner-city areas as 'slums' andproposed clearance and redevelopment programs.

These areas, however, have physical, social, economic and cultural valuesthat are, perhaps, beyond the perceptions of bureaucrats or planners. Most ofthese authorities are firmly devoted to the belief that physical ordering is the onlycure for all urban ills and to provide a more satisfactory environment. There is nodoubt that a good living environment is an asset but by no means the only onenecessary for a good life. A better environment also implies satisfying theeconomic, social and cultural requirements of those who make use of theenvironmental resources.

The problems of Addis Ababa are rooted in social, economic, political andadministrative complexity and they can hardly be corrected by demolishing olderresidential neighbourhoods and sweeping out the poor from the inner-city. Thedeterioration of the environment in the inner-city is the result of lack ofmechanisms that allow the low-income groups to take charge of the basic task ofupkeep. There can be little doubt that as long as those conditions which causepoverty in the city remains, this dilapidated structures will continue to be anintegral part of the urban landscape.

No one would argue for total preservation of everything that exists in theinner-city. But the present clearance and resettlement program in Addis Ababa,which is highly motivated by the high value of land, is on a rather massive scale.Sheraton surrounding redevelopment program [13] is a good example toillustrate this. This program has been carried out since 1992 in three phases.Namely, phase I, which resulted in the demolition of 397 residential units, phaseII, which resulted in the resettlement of 390 more households, and phase III,which is presently at the project planning and design level, is expected to affectthe lives of 2443 households.

And this is by no means the end; in fact, it is just a very small portion of theprocess. The overall planning area covers 150.5 hectares, in which it is estimatedthat more than 9000 households live. This means that somewhere around 45000people will actually be affected. If we include other similar projects like EGAsurrounding redevelopment program, one can imagine the amount ofdisplacement as well as the consequences that follow.

The case of Addis Ababa is also a clear indicative of the public sector failureto understand the locational needs of low-income groups. The displaced



households were resettled in the newly developed site about 10 kilometres fromthe city centre. These suffered such hardships, in terms of loss of income owingto disruption of their employment opportunities; the cost of transport is higher;and the journey to work is longer and more tedious; and, as a consequence, thecost of living is considerably higher and takes a larger proportion of thehouseholds' income. Moreover, some residents admit feeling isolated there notonly because they are so far from the city centre, but also because they have lostcontact with their relatives, friends and even old neighbours who still live in theinner-city.

It is, therefore, a serious challenge to the housing and planning professions, aswell as to the society as a whole, to clarify and comprehend the effects ofrelocation and to identify policy options to reverse the trend of forcing low-income groups to relocate in suburban areas.

Some final reflections

The fundamental question that arises from the discussions above is this: whatbetter alternative strategies exist to improve the inner-city of Addis Ababa wherethere is limited government resources, competing interests, extreme housingshortage, progressive decay of existing housing stock and environmentaldeterioration? It would be difficult and pretentious to answer this questionexhaustively here. However, some suggestions could be made.

Results of theoretical studies as well as practical experiences suggest thatstrategies geared to only one sector of urban development are a threat tosustainability. Similarly, where constraints are many and competing interests arenumerous, there is hardly any single solution that can satisfy all the demands ofthe various interest groups at once. Hence, a compromise between theseconflicting interests and goals would appear to offer a viable policy option.

The introduction of such an approach, however, would require importantpolitical considerations, institutional reform, and tenure arrangements as well asa high degree of social responsibility. Moreover, well-defined and unumbguousimprovement policies with an improved housing finance system under themanagement of strongly committed and relatively autonomous institution areother key elements in the success of this approach.

A sustainable and realistic renewal program must be comprehensive,integrated and aim at restricting displacement to the minimum possible. In orderto implement a renewal program in this manner, the focus has to be not just onthe physical environment but on the social community as a whole. A gratconcern for maintaining the local community and hence, the long establishedsocial fabric need to be developed.

As outlined in the previous sections, the continued ownership of the housingstock by the state is one of the major reasons contributing for the deteriorationof the housing stock. In this respect, it seems apprpriate to devise a mechnismwhereby tenure could be transfered to the communities. Undoubtedly, this canstimulate a greater involvement of the users in improving the living environment,minimize threats of eviction, and prolong the lifetime of the housing stock.



All who participate in any way in the planning, design and implementation ofimprovement projects should be well aware of the need to look beyond thepurely technical matters and have to come to terms with reality. For the low-income groups the housing condition is not always their principal concern butthe need to maintain an adequate income from whatever source may oftenpredominate an attitude to housing, especially where it is located. Hence, in anyeffort to improve the inner-city condition, the issue of how to ensure thelocational stability of the inner-city poor needs to be treated as the foremostconcern.

References

[1] Couch, C. R., Urban Renewal: Theory and Practice, Macmillan EducationLtd; London, pp 79, 1990.

[2] Devas, N. & Rakodi, C. The urban challenge (Chapter 1). Managing FastGrowing Cities: New approaches to Urban Planning and Management inthe Developing World, eds. N. Devas, & C. Rakodi, Longman Group UKLtd; Harlow, pp. 1-40, 1993.

[3] Zewde, B. Early safars of Addis Ababaipatterns of evolution. Proc. of the Int.Sympsium On The Centenary of Addis Ababa, eds. A. Zekaria, B. Zewde &T. Beyene, Commercial Printing Press; Addis Ababa, pp. 43-55, 1986.

[4] CSA -Central Staistical Authority, The 1994 Population and Housing Censusof Ethiopia: Results for Addis Ababa: Volume /, Statistical Report, CSA;Addis Ababa, 1995.

[5] Cole, R. L. Ethiopia Housing Sector Study : Household Survey Report.UDSS; Addis Ababa, pp. 17-46, 1997.

[6] Abrams, C. Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World, MIT Press;Massachusetts, 1964.

[7] Turner, J. F. C., Housing by People: Towards Autonomy in BuildingEnvironments, Pantheon Books; New York, 1977.

[8] Ward, P. M., Self-Help Housing a Critique, Mansell publishing Ltd.;London, 1982.

[9] Payne, G. K., Urban Housing in the Third World, International TextbookCompany Limited; London, 1977.

[10] National Urban Planning Institute, Addis Ababa Master Plan SummaryMetropolitan Report, AAMPPO; Addis Ababa, pp. 89-90, 1984.

[11] UNCHS, Upgrading of Inner-City Slums, Habitat; Nairobi, pp. 14-38, 1984[12] Forster,W.,Gruber,H., Hansen, K.E., Tosics, I., Szolgayova, E. & Hauri, E.,

Strategies to Implement Human Settlements Policies on Urban Renewaland Housing Modernization, UN Publications; Geneva, PP. 11-16, 1996.

[13] Addis Ababa City Administration, Sheraton Surrounding Urban RenewalProject: Executive Summary, Urban Development and Works Bureau;Addis Ababa, pp. 7-29, 1998.


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