Second Year M.Sc.

Regular in Urban Planning

Site Visit Report

SUBMITTED BY: Sahlit Girma

The process of making areas of activity more appealing and richer by adding new buildings

and parks, as well as increasing business activity, is known as urban redevelopment. Con-

structing with a higher density of land use, such as converting a row of townhouses into a

huge apartment complex. From a single structure to vast new neighborhoods, development

projects can be tiny or enormous.

Urban condition in older parts of Addis Ababa characterized by:

- Informal settlements/ fragmented plot size

- Poor housing condition

- Low level of infrastructure service

- No basic services(water)

- Narrow road in the neighborhood

- Substandard building materials

- Built with traditional wood and mud

Current redevelopment practice in Addis Ababa is public expropriation approach; public

sectors purchase the whole site of district, use of eminent domain as a legal instrument to

take private property for city initiated development projects. It proceeds with expropriation of

land holding and relocation of urban dwellers.

Urban development challenges in Ethiopia includes: relocation of residents to peripheral

areas, residents could not afford the subsidized condominium units, affected residents live

hood and social support system, the process was not transport and exposed for corruption,

weak partnership with the private sector, the economic activity of the dwellers affected,

absence of targeted subsidy for the poor, and excluding the community’s participation are

some of the challenges.

In rapidly urbanizing cities of developing countries, slums have become an inescapable kind

of urbanization. The Sub-Saharan Africa Region has the highest proportion of urban popula-

tion living in slums, according to UN-DESA (2017). UN-Habitat defines a slum as an area

characterized by unstable housing status, insufficient access to water, sanitation, and utilities,

low housing quality, and overpopulation (United Nations Human Settlements Program 2003).

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Site Selection

Addis Ababa is undergoing rapid physical, social and economic transformations. Among these transfor-

mations is landscape change at inner city due to large-scale urban renewal The renewal in Lideta

Condominium is one of it. This redevelopment is happening to replace the dilapidated inner city slums

with modern condominium housing and private commercial buildings and to improve the image of the

city.

Location

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Site: LIDETA INNER‐CITY REDEVELOPMENT

The revitalization of Lideta Condominium began in early 2011 with the demolition of slum areas and the

relocation of the bulk of residents to a new location. One of the rehabilitation projects that took a

bottom-up strategy; 81 percent of the community was willing to participate in discussions before and

during the reconstruction process.

The 26-hectare site of Lideta contained 1,070 existing households and up to 6,000 people living within

them. Between them, these families inhabited 932 Kebele houses, 323 privately-owned houses, 55

housing administration houses, and 11 existing government and religious buildings on site.

Figure Site Ownership Distribution Before Renewal

Source Lideta Sub‐City, Lemma (2014)

The Lideta redevelopment proposed the following site allocation: 1 ha of land was specifically allocated to

green space for residents; 2 ha of land were assigned for social services; 3 ha of land were provided for

allocation to private homeowners whose houses had to be demolished; an area of 5 ha was designated

to multi-use facilities; 2 ha were designated to the building of infrastructure; 4 ha were set aside for

commercial purposes; and 8 ha were allocated to condominium development.

The city administration had to propose a number of incentives which presented to residents:

- Option A: Kebele tenants receive condominium units in Lideta or elsewhere

- Option B: Kebele tenants are allocated other Kebele units within the same district(420 households

could not afford to purchase a condominium unit and have chosen to accept another Kebele house within

the same district.)

- Option C: Owners of private houses receive compensation and an alternative plot

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Site: LIDETA INNER‐CITY REDEVELOPMENT

The condominium projects were the result of the Integrated Housing Development Program (IHDP), a

national strategy that was launched in 2004 with the aim of addressing housing shortages and afford-

ability and at the same time reducing slum formation in Addis Ababa and other regional towns.

Lideta rehabilitation projects include four to nine-story condominium apartment buildings, solar

panels, lifts, playgrounds, and a variety of green spaces. The development of Lideta has received a

total of ETB 236 million (USD 18 million).

2010 2021

The previous neighborhoods were characterized by very poor socio-economic conditions Buildings are

high-density, single-story houses built from mud and wood but with lacking basic facilities such as water

supply, kitchen and sanitary units.

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Site: LIDETA INNER‐CITY REDEVELOPMENT

The current renewal improved: the land value of the neighborhood

- open space quantity

- Transport access

- Access roads and walkways

- The functional mix

- Availability of retail services

The redevelopment also improve the road and walkways, liquid waste management, socio-economic

mix , retail services, open space quality and the functional mix.

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Site: LIDETA INNER‐CITY REDEVELOPMENT

Economic aspects of redevelopment

Local jobs creation

Temporary jobs have been created through the urban

renewal process; construction jobs are created by the

housing project. Because of residents of Lideta Condo-

minium are relocated to Gofa Condominium, it disrupt-

ed residents from their employment opportunities.

Business activity in the area

The new development has eliminated previous companies in the region, both formal and informal, but it has

also brought in new enterprises because the ground floors of the condominiums are used for commercial

purposes.

Increase in land value: The renewal resulted in improvement of the land value of the neighborhood.

On street informal Market Mixed use condominium

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Site: LIDETA INNER‐CITY REDEVELOPMENT

Social aspects of the redevelopment

Access to social amenities: The renewal has built a new youth center.

Safety: Life in previous site, old neighborhoods was compact and the social cohesion serves as a

means of insuring safety.

Environmental aspects

Quality and availability of open space: the urban renewal has brought more open space to the area.

Roads and walkways

Development in connectivity for both pedestrians and motor vehicles has increased. Improvement in

road constructing material and allow vehicular access.

Pedestrian road Gated-communities

Open spaces Local roads that allow vehicular

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Site: LIDETA INNER‐CITY REDEVELOPMENT

Demerit of the redevelopment

Relocation destroys existing business networks and affordability is the other problem households as

Kebele house rent is so small and the shift from rental accommodation to home ownership requires

them paying down payment and mortgage, which is unattainable by the majority.

The renewal has demolished one public school with in Lideta Condominium site (John F. Kennedy

School) but did not consider building one.

Social Aspect: the new housing areas resulting from urban renewal are eventually turning into

gated-communities, as safety has become a serious issue, which might be due lose social cohesion

and the decline of owner-occupied houses.

Current situation of the redevelopment

The quality of the building in some case is low some of the building started cracking which

creates insecurity on the residents.

The quality of the road inside the gated condominium is low. Though most of the road are in

good condition some of them are not in good condition, in consistence of width also construc-

tion material in pedestrian roads in some case deteriorated.

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Reference

Biya Hipro. Alternative option for Urban redevelopment projects in Addis Ababa. Slide share.

https://www.slideshare.net/BiyaGirmaHirpo/urban-redevelopment-in-addis-ababa

Zewdie, M., Worku, H. & Bantider, A. Inner City Urban Renewal: Assessing the Sustainability and

Implications for Urban Landscape Change of Addis Ababa. J Hous and the Built Environ 36,

1249–1275 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-020-09797-7