Nowhere in Africa is urban development occurring as rapidly as in Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, at the present moment. During the last decade and a half, massive construction projects in housing, commercial buildings and infrastructure have transformed the landscape of the city, creating a social experiment that has never been replicated on such a massive scale in Africa. This volume, written by Ethiopian and Finnish experts in urban planning, architecture, geography, and ethnology, documents for the first time Addis Ababa’s process of radical transformation. It asks how the city’s poorest residents are affected by the current urban renewal, and identifies the most important challenges facing the city’s residents as a result. Its conclusions focus on three issues: the livelihoods of low-income residents, their participation in the development of the city, and their social networks of support. This volume also traces out the organic forms of the city’s development. Unlike cities in many other African countries, Addis Ababa emerged with only the thinnest traces of a brief colonial legacy: only five years under Italian occupation in the mid-20th century. The city’s development has eluded many planners and has produced unique indigenous forms of urban living. The book records the current spatial relationships and older architectural forms in the old inner city currently slated for demolition. Numerous maps and illustrations are included to help readers visualize the topics discussed in the volume. The volume will be of interest to anyone interested in Addis Ababa’s history and character, as well as policymakers, urban planners, architects, human geographers, ethnographers and researchers of urban poverty and urban informality.

Global Housing: Dwelling in Addis Ababa' is the first book in a new series about Global Housing, edited by Nelson Mota and Dick van Gameren, published by Jap Sam Books in cooperation with the Delft University of Technology.00'Global Housing: Dwelling in Addis Ababa' brings together essays and architectural projects that discuss housing as a key component in the social and urban development of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Over the last two decades the urban landscape of Addis Ababa has been changing at a fast pace, with disruptive consequences for the physical and social fabric of the city. Housing has been one of the key factors for this transformation, affecting job creation, craftsmanship, social and spatial equity, and dwelling practices, to name but a few.00The edited volume brings together twelve architectural projects developed by graduation students from TU Delft?s Global Housing educational program that explore alternative approaches to housing design, dwelling on the challenges brought about by Africa?s urban revolution.00Divided into two sections, this richly illustrated book offers reflections on the city of Addis Ababa, its different types of traditional and contemporary housing and its recent evolution in Part 1; and portfolios of the projects designed by the students enrolled in the program in Part 2. Each portfolio is structured around a theme or issue encountered by the participants in the studio, which is developed upon in a short study. A final essay based on interviews conducted with local actors and examining the challenges set by the city?s rapid urbanization concludes this fascinating contribution to innovative architectural thought in an increasingly urbanized world.

This book is a comprehensive account of the Ethiopian revolution, dealing with the entire span of the revolutionary government's life. Particular emphasis is placed on effectively isolating and articulating the causes and outcomes of the revolution. The author traces the revolution's roots in the weaknesses of the autocratic regime of Haile Selassie, examines the formative years of the revolution in the mid-seventies, when the ideology of scientific socialism was espoused by the ruling military council, and finally charts the consolidation of Mengistu Haile Miriam's power from 1977 to the adoption of a new constitution in 1987. In examining these events, Dr Tiruneh makes extensive use of primary sources written in the national official language. He was also the first Ethiopian nation to write a book on this subject. This book is thus a unique account of a fascinating period, capturing the mood of the revolution as never before, yet firmly grounded in scholarship.

This book highlights the positive achievements that Imperial Ethiopia made in its journey towards urbanization into the modern era, and undertakes a critical assessment of the economic, political, and social impediments that prevented the country from transitioning into a truly fully fledged modern urbanization. It provides a comprehensive history of the growth of towns between 1887 and 1974. It is organized chronologically, regionally, and thematically, divided into three distinct time periods during which Ethiopian towns saw progresses and exposures to limited modern urban features. First, during 1887–1936, the country saw the creation and growth of a national capital (1887) that coordinated the country’s economic and political activities and facilitated the growth of other towns in the empire. It introduced new towns, the railway, modern schools, and health centers. Rudimentary factories were established in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, along with motor cars and modern roads, which increased trade between cities. The next era was the Italian occupation from 1936–1941, which shook the pre-existing process of urban growth by introducing a modern European style urbanization system. Ethiopian cities saw a qualitatively different way of urban growth in both form and content. The Italians introduced modern economic and physical planning, administration, and internal organization. People were introduced to modern life in urban areas, exposed to modern wage labor system, and thus moved to towns to take advantage of the opportunity. The Italian occupation left behind many features of modern urbanization, and this influenced population exposed to modern consumptive tastes was determined to retain what the Italians introduced. Finally, the post-Italian period saw a new era of urban growth. Due to economic and organizational problems resulting from destructions caused by the war, the process of urban growth was slowed down in the early 1940s. Although the government did not introduce a clear urban policy in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, towns continued to grow progressively from the early 1950s to 1974.

This publication is centred around twelve manifesto points towards a people-centred urbanism and an architecture of belonging in times of rapid global urbanisation. Based on the authors? eleven year research experience, the book draws conclusions from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, as its case study. It contains essays on the historic development and the current housing situation of the city by local experts and numerous project examples. Addressing policy makers, architects and urban planners alike, the manifesto gives a series of clues and guidelines for a sustainable urbanisation of contemporary African metropolis.

From a war-torn and famine-plagued country at the beginning of the 1990s, Ethiopia is today emerging as one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. Growth in Ethiopia has surpassed that of every other sub-Saharan country over the past decade and is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to exceed 8 percent over the next two years. The government has set its eyes on transforming the country into a middle-income country by 2025, and into a leading manufacturing hub in Africa. The Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy studies this country's unique model of development, where the state plays a central role, and where a successful industrialization drive has challenged the long-held erroneous assumption that industrial policy will never work in poor African countries. While much of the volume is focused on post-1991 economic development policy and strategy, the analysis is set against the background of the long history of Ethiopia, and more specifically on the Imperial period that ended in 1974, the socialist development experiment of the Derg regime between 1974 and 1991, and the policies and strategies of the current EPRDF government that assumed power in 1991. Including a range of contributions from both academic and professional standpoints, this volume is a key reference work on the economy of Ethiopia.

This book critically assesses the impact of Ethiopia’s policy of Agriculture Development Led Industrialization. Employing qualitative and quantitative analysis, it presents empirical evidence suggesting persistent economic growth. The research highlights improvements in infrastructure, health care, education, poverty alleviation as well reductions in infant mortality rate. The impact of this economic growth has however had led to only slight improvements in the plight of the poor. The author argues that, while significant steps have been achieved with measurable economic gains, there are still undeniable obstacles within the federal system: prevailing patron-client relationships, constraints on state capacity to efficiently and effectively implement policy, and bureaucratic rent-seeking in the provision of public goods. The author concludes that these problems will have to be resolved before Ethiopia’s political economy can achieve the stage of sustainable development

This manual analyzes contemporary urban phenomena in economic growth regions using the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa as an example, and presents a catalogue of sustainable strategies for city planning practice in the Second and Third Worlds.

"Seeks to dispel the myths and clichés surrounding contemporary perceptions of Ethiopia by providing a rare overview of the country's recent history, politics and culture. Explores the unique features of this often misrepresented country as it strives to make itself heard in the modern world"-- Publisher description.

This international collection of essays offers a unique approach to the understanding of imperial Ethiopia, out of which the present state was created by the 1974 revolution. After the 1880s, Abyssinia, under Menilek II, expanded its ancient heartland to incorporate vast new territories to the south. Here, for the first time, these regions are treated as an integral part of the empire. The book opens with an interpretation of nineteenth-century Abyssinia as an African political economy, rather than as a variant on European feudalism, and with an account of the north's impact on peoples of the new south. Case studies from the southern regions follow four by historians and four by anthropologists, each examining aspects of the relationship between imperial rule and local society. In revealing the region's diversity and the relationship of the periphery to the centre, the volume illuminates some of the problems faced by post-revolutionary Ethiopia.