Rethinking the 21st Century Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the diplomatic capital and economic engine of Ethiopia. The urbanization pattern of the past decade has been marked by the government’s desire to fit the image of a “world-class city”. The city has undergone a process of clearing its vibrant fabric in an effort to provide better housing conditions. However their heavy handed approach has provided the mass produced image of housing in its most rigid form. This rigidity is foreign to the cultural fabric, actively displacing communities, limiting their agency and further exacerbating the housing crisis. We propose inclusive development to enhance social infrastructure and housing conditions to improve quality of life.

Recent urban development has turned its back to the city’s rivers by using them as sewers and garbage disposal sites. Through a series of design exercises we propose a suite of green infrastructure that will process and recycle waste water to improve the quality of the river, alongside recreational activities. We will create a social capital economy for river stewardship to further clean and maintain the river. This new river landscape of social and ecological infrastructure will penetrate the residential fabric to improve quality of lives. 

The Urban Design Studio’s goal is to develop spatial design concepts that strengthen the social, economic, and ecological capital for Addis Ababa. This potential is demonstrated through five key projects along a longitudinal section of the Akaki River.