CHAPTER THREE

INNER-CITY DWELLERS AND THEIR PLACES

IN THE CONTEXT OF ADDIS ABABA'S URBAN
RENEWAL 1

Y ONAS ALEMAYEHU SORESSA

AND IMAM MAHMOUD HASSEN

Abstract
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, 2
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 flildings show that Addis Ababa's
inner-city is characterized by a high degree of socioeconomic
interdependence among its inhabitants which is facilitated by affordable
shared spaces at the levels of household, compound and settlement. The
live)jhoods of many residents are dependent on infonn al economic
activities located within their neighbourhood and its vicinity. There is a
strong connection between housing location, use of home and conununal
spaces, and people' s live)jhoods, especially among the urban poor. Ln
contrast to the standard spatial model of the new government-sponsored

1
The research on which this chapter is based was funded in part by the Academy
of Finland under grant number 265737.
2
Development and Poverty in Ethiopia (MoFED 2013); Socioeconomic Profile of
Addis Ababa (BoFED 2015).
78 Chapter Three

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 redevefopment. 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, poverty, neighlbourhood, place, heritage, Addis

Ababa, transformation, redevelopment, urban renewal, participation

Introduction
This chapter explores primarily the relationship between the lives of Addis
Ababa' s inner-city dwellers and the places in which they live, within the
context of an ongoing and extensive government-led urban renewal. In
order to investigate the multidimensional character of such phenomenon, a
case study with an integrated approach to spatial research is used. The data
collection and analysis address spatial and activity patterns of individuals
and households in their homes and surrounding settlements. Key issues
considered in selecting the case study area were its location, age, and
inclusion in the current urban redevelopment process. The selected case
study is an area located in one of the eairliest settlements of Addis Ababa
called Dejach Wube Sefer. Like many parts of inner-city Addis Ababa, the
study area is currently undergoing government-led urban renewal. This
renewal involves the development of affordable housing targeting low-
and middle-income inhabitants of the city. In this regard, the study further
investigates the process of urban renewal, the forces and events that
instigate and perpetuate the associated interventions, the participation of
different stakeholders in this process., the experiences of inner-city
residents in the renewal, as well as pertinent government policies and
strategies.

In the post-Marxist era of Ethiopia which began in I 991 , the rural-centred

development policy of the new government gave less attention to urban
areas. Although investment in the rural economic base of the nation had
some success, the policy did not give due focus to urban areas and
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 79

overlooked their meaningful contribution to national development. This

resulted in urban stagnation, which is evident from physical deterioration,
substandard development, lack of urban-based employment opportunities,
increasing economic inequality, and poverty. Although there were attempts
to alleviate some of these problems tlurough, for example, the Eco-City
project and the Grand Housing pilot project (Gerji condominiums), they
did not bring the changes needed on the scale required. The dissatisfaction
of urban dwellers was expressed during the 2005 national election, when
the party in power officially lost the vote of the majority of urban dwellers
in Adrus Ababa. This led to a re-evaluation of the government's
development approach, followed by a policy shift toward viewing cities as
centres of development and transformation, and recently as nodes of
industrialization. The change has been expressed in the form of extensive
public investments that aim to improve the socioeconomic and spatial
conditions of urban dwellers, and also by linking national economic
growth goals to the process of rapid urbanisation. Improving existing
urban areas while facilitating and supporting the formation of new urban
centres has not been without challenges. To address the multifaceted
problems of urban Etluopia, the government has planned and implemented
programmes that integrate several rustinct aspects and goals with the aim
of bringing rapid and extensive urban development.

The Integrated Housing Development Programme (IHDP) represents one

government effort to tackle the problems of housing shortage and the
deterioration of the existing urban environment, while creating multiple
opportunities for employment and public-private partnership. Since its
beginning as a pilot project for Ethiopia's Grand Housing Programme, the
project has aimed: to increase decent and affordable housing supply
mainly for lower- and middle-income residents, to mitigate the expansion
of existing urban slum areas, to reduce urban sprawl, to increase the
density of existing built-up and future expansion areas, to increase job
opportmuties and skill development through micro and small-scale
enterprises, and to inlprove wealth creation and distribution for the nation.

The early interventions of the IHDP in Addis Ababa tended to focus on

constructing multi-storey condominittm apartment buildings within
existing settlements. Later, the Adrus Ababa Housing Development
Project Office (AAHDPO) began to develop large-scale neighbourhoods
in peripheral areas reserved for the city's expansion. The availability of
large tracts of land for construction orn the city's outskirts significantly
increased the production of new housimg and urban infrastructure. The
apartments in these settlements are rustributed through a lottery system to
80 Chapter Three

city residents on a waiting list for government-sponsored condominium

houses. Households which are relocated due to urban redevelopment or
other urban infrastructure projects are guaranteed to receive IHDP housing
units, provided that they can afford the initial and subsequent payments for
such housing.

Parallel to the development of expansion areas, the AAHDPO has also

recently been involved in the projects of Addis Ababa's urban redevelopment
programme. These interventions are partly the extension of an IHDP trend
which includes preparation of typology design, local development plan,
and neighbourhood (urban) design, followed by construction involving
private contractors, micro and small-scale enterprises, and some sections
of the government itself. Here, IHDP mainly focuses on the housing
provision component of the urban renewal prograrnme. But, unlike the
expansion areas, the redevelopment sites have been densely populated by
low-income urban residents; therefore, the intervention involves resettlement
issues.

The 1986 Master Plan of Addis Ababa and the subsequent Development
Plan (Revised Master Plan) of200I 3 eannarked the majority of inner-city
areas of Addis Ababa for renewal and, where applicable, for upgrading.
Although there were differences in the two plans concerning the type and
role of actors to be involved and the scale of interventions, both plans
proposed renewal for most of the inner-city areas. This is partly because
the majority of dwe!Iings in the core area of the city are poorly constructed
with chika (mud, straw and wood), and for a long time have been without
proper maintenance or upgrading. The current actions of the government
to replace existing kebele 4 houses and to significantly improve the
infrastructure of Addis Ababa's inner-city thus represents the implementation
of the city's Master (Development) Plans.

3
Some of the official documents indicate the period 2000/2001- 20 10/2011 (1993-
2003 Ethiopian Calendar) as the implementation period for the Development Plan.
However, some of its final proposals were not issued until 2002. The pe1fonnance
evaluation of the Plan, commissioned to EiABC by the city's government,
considered 2003 as the beginning of its implementation.
4
The kebele used to be the smallest administrative unit of local government in
Addis Ababa; however, it no longer exists. The role of kebe/e, including the
management of 'kebe/e houses' was transferred to the woreda. The woreda is
currently the smallest administrative unit in Addis Ababa incorporating the
territories of a number of previous adjacent kebeles.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 81

Planning and Implementation of Contemporary Urban

Redevelopment in Addis Ababa
Although the ongoing urban redevelopment is not the first in the post-
Marxist era of Addis Ababa (which began in 1991 ), it is unique in terms of
its objective, scope, focus and scale. Previous large-scale inner-city
redevelopment locations of this era include the Filwuha area for the
construction of the Sheraton Addis Hotel, and the Cazanchis area for the
expansion of the Economic Commission for Africa and the construction of
other new multi-storey developments. These were isolated cases in which
interventions were limited to those specific areas and their scope did not
include government-sponsored or affordable housing. The previous
residents of these areas and, in fact, the majority of the city's dwellers
were not expected to be among the end users. Furthermore, the actors
involved in their implementation were mainly private developers and
international organisations. By contrast, the current ongoing urban
redevelopment of Addis Ababa is being implemented on an enormous
scale, simultaneously in multiple locations, and using a fairly uniform
approach. In it, the role of the government bas been high during both the
planning and implementation of the projects. The financial burden of the
redevelopment has been taken on by the government. A significant portion
of each project (except for areas cleared for expansion areas of international
organisations or for other specific projects) includes government-
sponsored affordable housing that aims to enable low-income citizens to
become home owners. In the current renewal, mixed development and the
socioeconomic profile of end users have been considered in diversifying
the land use. Furthermore, the urban redevelopment is integrated with
efforts to economically empower the poor by creating employment
opportunities, predominantly for the urban youth.

The extensive urban redevelopment of Addis Ababa began in 2008. 5 The

first of its projects was the Sengatera-Firdbet Phase-I commonly known
as, the "Lideta Urban Redevelopment Project," which covers an action
area of26 hectares ofland. In addition to its contribution in improving the
housing and infrastructure conditions of the city, the project also
functioned as a pilot for other urban renewal interventions that followed in
different locations of the city' s core area. Currently, the IHDP component
of the Lideta project is almost complete, and most of the housing and

5
The Lideta redevelopment project was initiated in 2008, and demolition began in
2009. Construction was started early in 20 I0.
82 Chapter Three

commercial units have been transferred to private owners. The majority of

the privately-funded constructions within the intervention area are in their
final stage. The other renewal projects that followed the pilot are also
underway, though not at the speed originally planned. According to the
Land Development and Urban Renewal Agency of Addis Ababa, 23 urban
renewal projects with a total area of roughly 392 hectares were begun
between 2008 and 2015 in Lideta, Kirkos, Arada and Addis Ketema sub-
cities. The total number of households affected by these projects exceeds
25,000, out of which around 75% were previous tenants ofkebele housing
(see Table 1 for details). 6

c:J S'l'UHC:IC
(~'CS'fM.Dn' A&f.AS

. . . . . .Cl:WAl.AUAJ

- uL ..'AYUSI.$

Figure 1. Intervention areas, Development Plan of Addis Ababa. (Source:

ORAAMP 2002a)
The white circle indicates the area eannarked. for urban renewal

6
Unless otherwise specified, all drawings, photographs and tables have been
produced by the authors.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 83

Figure 2. Houses in the inner-city Addjs Ababa. (Source: The Authors)

Although there have been variations in the planning or implementation

processes, the general approaches taken by the government to inner-city
renewal as well as resettlement have remained the same. These have
included: population densification through resettlement in multi-storey
buildings; fi.mctional and socioeconomic mixed development; preparation
of land in the city core to be leased out to private developers; relocation of
previous residents of the renewal area into preconstructed multi-storey
84 Chapter Three

apartment blocks (condominiums) mostly located in geographically

peripheral expansion areas; home ownership as the preferred target for end
users of the condominiums; and subsidies on the infrastructure, land lease
and administrative costs of the housing units. Those who cannot afford to
pay for the condominium units are relocated to other kebele housing areas
in which the rent, compared to other forms of rental housing in Addis
Ababa, is extremely low. By 2015, more than 1,500 relocatee households,
representing nearly 6% of the total 25, l 01 households affected by Addis
Ababa's inner-city redevelopment, had been transferred from the
redevelofment project sites into other kebele dwellings (see Table 1 for
details). However, these other kebele dwellings too are most likely
earmarked for future urban renewal. If the government ultimately succeeds
in clearing the city's low-income kebele housing areas, this kind of rental
option will disappear. So far, government housing programmes have been
focused on making urban residents home owners, and future possibilities
for low-rent housing and the government's role in it are not clear.

I. Pilot Proj ect

7
By the mid-2016, 14,740 househo lds affected by Addis Ababa' s inner-city
redevelopment have been resettled into multi-storey condot:ninium houses
sponsored by the government. This figure is based on data compiled from the
agency responsible for the transfer of houses built under IHDP of Addis Ababa to
their owners.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 85

II. Urban Infill

Ill. Expansion Area

86 Chapter Three

IV. Urban Renewal

Figure 3. lntegrated Housing Development Programme intervention areas. (Source:

Authors and AAHDPO 2005)

lt is worth taking a closer look at one of Addis Ababa's urban redevelopment

projects that bas nearly reached completion - the Lideta pilot project.
According to AynaJem Hadra (2009), s. before the start of this project,
multiple requests for urban renewal were presented to the city's
administration by sub-cities having sizable areas of land covered by low-
income housing of poor quality. The location for the pilot redevelopment
project in Lideta Sub-city was selected, according to the publication, for
the following reasons: I) a formal petition was presented to the Addis
Ababa City Administration by the community of the Lideta project area
before 2008, requesting condominium !housing to be built for them; 9 2)
there was sufficient motivation, readiness, and coordination of the sub-
city's administrative bodies; 3) a high proportion of the Lideta area was

8
Lideta Fana Magazine, Special Edition, November/December 2009.
9
According to the fmdings of a study done by Samuel Afework Lemma (20 14) on
the Lideta redevelopment project, this petition was made by the local public
administration and some members of the community who were victims of
flooding, without an open discussion involving all households living in the Lideta
redevelopment project area.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 87

government-owned houses, rrurum1smg compensation issues; 4) the

presence of servicing plots that have low built-up areas such as garages
and warehouses; and 5) in comparison with other potential locations that
submitted similar requests, the Lideta project site was considered to be a
manageable size for a pilot project.

The local development planning of the Lideta pilot project was carried out
by the Addis Ababa Urban Planning and Information Institute in 2009
(UPII 2009). As part of the planning process, socioeconomic and physical
studies were conducted. ln addition to analysing the existing situation, the
study included issues such as the residents' willingness to be part of the
redevelopment and their preferred type of housing units (number of
bedrooms). This indicates an original assumption of onsite relocation and
construction of some of the condominiums based on the results of the
survey. However, except for a few households, neither the onsite
resettlement nor the proportioning of housing units based on residents'
preferences was incorporated into the design programmes of the
neighbourhood or its typologies. 10 Attempts were made by the city's
administration to engage the community in decision-making regarding
other issues of the renewal process. A series of discussion forums were
arranged by the city government in which different groups in the affected
community, as well as government bodies from the woreda, 11 sub-city
(kifle-ketema) and city levels were involved. However, in these meetings
the agenda was predetermined by government bodies and the limited time
given to discussion was dominated by a few individuals (Lemma 2014;
Weldeghebrael 2011). As a result, community participation was limited.

In the pilot and subsequent urban redevelopment projects, the government's

approach thus far has primarily been total site clearance followed by
formation of standard public and domestic spaces. Generally speaking,
unlike the low-income informal settlements of Addis Ababa, the new
developments are characterised by greatly improved physical conditions
and amenities: this applies to housing units, infrastructure, accessibility,
open spaces, social services, and commercial spaces. There have been also
attempts by some neighbourhood designers to create a settlement layout
that encourages and possibly sustains positive social interactions among

16
The neighbourhood and typology desi!:,'llS of the Lideta project were carried out
by private consultants based on programme requirements developed by the Addis
Ababa Housing Development Project Office (AAHDPO).
11
The woreda is currently the smallest local administrative unit in Addis Ababa,
below the kifle-ketema (sub-city) level.
88 Chapter Three

residents of the new housing units in the city core. Nevertheless, concerns
have been raised regarding the implications of the prevailing renewal and
housing approach used thus far. The first concern is its disregard for the
physical setting, activities and meanings associated with the various
aspects of the demolished and therefore 'disappearing' city places. The
second concern regards the approach's strong emphasis on the fonnation
of vast standard spaces that diminish a local sense of place.

To make condominium housing affordable to relocatees from the inner-

city and to other low- and middle-income urban residents who aspire to
own their own home, the IHDP introduced mechanisms such as free access
to public land, cross-subsidization, reduction of the amount of the advance
payment, a grace period, minimal finishing to lower the cost, modularisation
of bttilding elements, mass purchase of construction materials, reduction
of quality standards, and creation of job opportunities with a focus on the
urban poor. Yet, research carried out on. the affordability of the JHDP for
its target groups indicates that a high percentage of Addis Ababa's
population cannot access housing units even as small as the one-bedroom
type if they must depend solely on their own income (Alemayehu &
Soressa 2011). On the other hand, some housing lottery winners mobilize
financial resources from friends and relatives - at least for the initial
payment - when they receive the chance to purchase their own home. Jn
the end, however, according to the Addis Ababa City Administration
Micro and Small-scale Enterprise Deve!opment Agency (AACAMSEDA
2011 ), approximately 26% of residents of the inner-city of Addis Ababa
do not have the means to pay the down payment even for the smallest
subsidised housing unit. ln the case of the Lideta pilot renewal project, for
example, 17.8% of the kebele housing tenants were relocated to other
kebele houses outside the intervention area because they could not come
up with the necessary down payment (Yakob 20 15). Although micro-credit
loans were arranged for down payment of female-beaded households in the
Lideta renewal site who were willing to be organized into cooperatives,
many did not use this opportunity, fearing the risks associated with group
loans (Weldeghebrael 2011).
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 89

Table 1. Urban redevelopment projects that started between 2008 and

2015 (2001 and 2007 EC 12)

Tenure before

e,-
'i:" ....~~'C
"' Resettlement*
~
.a ~ z-= ....uQ Q G.l
"<ji
=
.J:J ~
G.l
'C
G.l -
~=<
G.l
"'>~ -...
G.l
~ ~
G.l !'.:
<
:c
00 Name of
Project <'"'
-
t:
~
00
==
~=
·c
~
.J:J
G.l
~
~
Lideta 26
Firdbet (Lideta) 2008 1,442 373 1,018 7
Sengatera 17 2010 619 78 496 25
Sbebele 10.43 2013 428 53 284 91
Tekle-Haimanot 33 2014 2,733 536 2,100 97

Kirkos Sheraton 25 2009 1,944 473 1471 -

Expansion
ECA Expansion 2 2009 321 81 174 -
Africa Union I 23 2009 145 33 109 3
Africa Union 2 12 2010 639 141 476 22
Wolo Sefer 9.8 2008 537 180 346 l
Meske! Megbia 3.2 2008 223 26 198 -
Kazanchis 2 26 2012 687 145 474 68
Kazanchis 3 23 2013 2,793 524 l,833 100
Felege- 17. I 2014 909 163 849 17
Yordanos

12
EC - Ethiopian Calendar.
13
Agency for Rental Housing Administration (ARHA), commonly called Kiray
Bethoch.
90 Chapter Three

A rada Basha Wolde l 27 2009 1,640 262 l,027 53

Basha Wolde 2 14 2009 1,3 19 270 713 12
Aroge Kera I 9 201 l 1,874 168 935 3
Aroge Kera 2 45 2013 1,246 224 841 181
Sheraton 17 2009 l,342 389 985 4
Exoansion
Parliament 4 2009 319 70 259 5
Expansion
Dejach Wobe l l.6 2014 762 121 568 70
America Gibi 2 6.7 2014 218 33 172 13
Gedam Sefer 13.9 2014 1,012 147 685 93

Addis America Gibi l 16 2014 1,949 256 1,345 182

Ketema

Total 391.73 2008- 25,101 4,746 17,358 865

2014
* The data from the agency does not specify the tenure situation of 2, I 32 households
prior to their resettlement.

(Source: Land Development and Urban Renewal Agency, Addis Ababa City
Administration)

Research Approach and Methodology

ln order to investigate the multidimensional features and relationships
among Addis Ababa's inner-city residents and their places, an integrated
approach to socio-spatial research is used. In support of this approach,
Roderick J. Lawrence (2006) and Lindsay Asquith (2006) argue that the
links between architecture and human behaviour need to be examined on
interrelated levels. Asquith (2006) summarises these levels as shared
spatial and activity patterns common within a culture and different social
groups (anthropological and sociological level), the relationship between
individuals' social profiles and their spatial behaviour (behavioural level),
and the relationship between the physical features of a place and its
influence on the use of space (architectural level). To this end, the authors
used data collection and analysis techniques such as semi-structured
interviews, documentation of spatial characteristics through graphics, time-
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 91

diaries, 14 Life histories, spatial configuration mapping, and the review of

available documents on the area under study and its urban redevelopment.

When the case study area was selected, there were a number of places in
the inner city in which residents were being affected by the renewal
process. However, in some of these locations, the residents had already
been relocated and in others, residents had limited experience of the
redevelopment process because it was in its early stages. Although it could
have been possible to find and study these residents after relocation, it
would have been difficult to document the actual spaces in which they
lived and their activity patterns in their previous settlements. Therefore, it
was crucial to find inner-city communities living in their old
neighbourhoods that were undergoing the urban redevelopment process at
the time of study. Another important factor for selection was the historical
development of the site. Settlements associated with the early and
subsequent development of Addis Ababa can better illustrate the formation
and transformation of spatial and activity patterns in the city's layers of
history. These criteria narrowed the selection of the case study area to a
few locations among the old neighbourhoods (sefers) of Addis Ababa in
which residents were undergoing the renewal process but bad not yet been
resettled.

At the time of data collection, Dejaclh Wube Sefer met the selection
criteria described above. It is located in the core area of Addis Ababa and
was earmarked for urban renewal. It was one of the oldest settlements of
Addis Ababa, and its founding can be linked to the early development of
the city. The neighbourhood was a setting for active and unique urban life
well into the end of the imperial period. Moreover, although most
residents bad been allocated their future residential units in the
redevelopment process, they were stiH living in their old residential
structures at the time of data collection. These specific conditions allowed
the researchers to look into the socio-spatial features of the case study area
within the context of ongoing urban redevelopment.

Throughout the study, data were collected from multiple sources. lndividual
dwellers, community leaders, government agencies, and observation of the

14
A time diary (time-space-activity diary) is a record of activity, time and space
use in relation to an individual or a household. Diaries are used to effectively
record household routines and spaces used in homes, shared compounds,
neighbourhoods, or cities. They can be used to develop spatial mapping and spatial
configuration diagrams.
92 Chapter Three

physical environment were the main sources of data. Among the residents
that participated in this research were key informants who provided more
in-depth information, especiaUy regarding the collective issues of the
community and the historical development of the area. The physical
environment ofDejach Wube Sefer and the activities taking place within it
were important sources of primary data. Among the primary and
secondary data sources were officials at the woreda and sub-city levels of
the city government and other public offices such as the Addis Ababa
Land Development Bank and Urban Redevelopment Project, the Addis
Ababa Land Development and Urban Renewal Agency, the Addis Ababa
Housing Development Project Office, the Addis Ababa Urban Planning
and Information Institute, the Arada Sub-city Administration, the
Ethiopian Mapping Agency, the Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia, and
the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage.

Ln order to determine the locational distribution of households to be

interviewed, the case study area was firstt divided into six parts. This began
with a preliminary reading of Dejach Wube Sefer in terms of its existing
functional, morphological and topological features, and the surrounding
elements that influenced its functional as well as spatial dimensions. Then,
the selection of households to be interviewed was made through random
sampling, proportionaUy distributed in each subdivision.

Most of the primary data coUection was carried out using three sets of
semi-structured in-depth interviews that focused on the key issues of the
research. The first set includes all 121 households of the case area that
participated in the research. The second set comprises 56 life-story
interviews selected from among the already interviewed households. Ln
this second set of interviews, the participants were also asked about daily
routines and their relationships to their domestic and urban spaces. The
third set of interviews used customised questions for key informants such
as community leaders and government officials. Other data-collection
techniques used parallel to the interviews included: measuring, sketching,
labelling, photography, video recording, and mapping of activities and
spaces at domestic and settlement levels. The study also reviewed urban
redevelopment-related policies, regulations, and implementation guidelines
in order to understand the recent inner-city renewal process. The data was
analysed using techniques such as spatial configuration mapping at
domestic and settlement levels, paraphrasing, tabulation, examining the
relationship between variables, comparison, and interpretation.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 93

Case Study
Dejach Wube Sefer, commonly known as ' Wube Bereha', is a renowned
and historically significant early neighbourhood (sefer) of Addjs Ababa.
Like some of the oldest and historic settlements of the city including
Gedam Sefer, Serategna Sefer and Doro Maneqia, Dejach Wube is also
located in what is today the sub-city Arada (see Figure 4).

OROMIA

AKAKIKAUTY
OROM I A

Figure 4. Map of Addis Ababa - Locations of Arada Sub-city and Dejach Wube
Se fer.

The establishment of Dejach Wube Sefer is primarily associated with a

nobleman serving under Ethiopia's Emperor Menelik II (1844-1913), 15

15
Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913.
94 Chapter Three

Dejazmach 16 Wube Atenafseged, who settled in the area surrounded by

his advisors and servants. Ras 17 Mekonnen and Bitwoded 18 Haile-
Giorghis were other noblemen who also settled in the vicinity and
contributed to Arada 's social and spatial patterns. In addition to the
settlements which sprung up around the noblemen's residences, other
elements such as the Arada Market, Arada Giorghis Church, Dejach
Wube's Prison, and construction of the Ras Mekonnen Bridge also
influenced the early formation of Arada, especially Dejach Wube Sefer
and its surroundings. The paths that Linked these primary elements
determined the shape and road networks of the case study area up to the
present day (see Figures 6 and 8). At the time of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile-
Selassie I (1892- 1975), 19 the road that connected Arada Giorghis Church,
Ras Mekonnen Bridge and the National Palace was paved with asphalt,
which further increased the importance of the area in subsequent decades
of Addis Ababa's history.

Figure 5. The residence originally belonging to Dejach Wube Atenafseged, now

Addis Ababa Restaurant.

16
Dejazmach (Dejach) - "commander of the gate," a military and political title of
Ethiopian nobility.
17
Ras - "head," most important title of Ethiopian nobility under an emperor or a king.
18
Bitwoded - "favourite," or "beloved," title of Ethiopian nob ility given to
principal adviser of an emperor or a king.
19
Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 until he was overthrown by Derg (a mi litary
regime) in 1974.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 95

A. Oejach Wube Residence

B. Arada Gioghis Church
c. Arada Market
D. Ras Mekonnen Bridge
E. Dejach Wube Prison
F. Hager-Fikir Theater

Figure 6. Primary elements that influenced the formation ofDejach Wube Sefer.
(Source: Authors and Line Map)
96 Chapter Three

ADD I SU
GEBEYA

SEMEIN
MAZEGAJA
2KM

1KM

Figure 7. Linkage map ofDejach Wube Sefer to important urban service nodes.
(Source: Authors and Addis Ababa Land Use Map)

During the five-year Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941, Dejacb Wube
Sefer was frequented by Italian officials. Some of its houses, including the
residence of Dejach Wube, were used for the Italian's personal and
administrative purposes (Giorghis & Gerard 2007). 20 The Italians also
constructed new buildings in the vicinity of the case study area. During the
occupation and following the return of Korean War veterans, Dejach Wube
Sefer became known for its nightlife with several bars and nightclubs. The
focal point for these businesses was the street that nms from Arada Giorghis
to Afincho Ber 21 and its immediate surroundings. During that time, the
location gained its widely known name in the city: Wube Bereha. The
splendour days of Wube Bereha continued until the end of the lmperial
Period in 1974 (Addis Ababa Millennium Secretariat 2007). Now the area is
predominantly residential. However, the legends and adventures associated

20
Today, Dejach Wube's house is used as a restaurant (see Figure 5).
21
Today this street is officially named Benin Street.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 97

with it l.ive on in songs and 1.iterary works.

The contribution of Dejach Wube Sefer to Addis Ababa's history is

significant. Much of the intangible and tangible heritage of the city is
embedded in the socioeconomic and physical features of the place and its
environs, which are worth preserving andl reviving as part of the current and
future development of the area.

The current tenure and administrative features of Addis Ababa's inner-city

are shaped by the fact that since 1975, the Ethiopian government has
owned all urban land as well as dwellings not used for the owner-family's
own needs (Proclamation 4711975). 22 This was the most significant urban
policy of the post-imperial Marxist government era known as the Derg. 23
The policy was aimed at solving urban land and housing problems by
providing equitable access to land and by el.iminating exploitation through
rent. As a result, the government took responsibil.ity for making available
land and credit for the construction of new houses and buildings for other
purposes. ln the process of implementing this policy, a stock of largely
informally built, low quality, but publicly owned housing emerged as part
of the national.ised ' extra' dwellings which had been earl.ier rented out by
owners. The administration of these structures was divided into two
groups depending their rental values. Those houses with rental value of
24
above JOO birr per month (equivalent to 48.31 USD in 1975) fell under
the management of the Agency for Rental Housing Administration
(ARRA), while the remainder were entrusted to the kebeles, at that time
lowest level of local administration.

Some of the inherent features of Addis Ababa's inner-city areas are

derived from the unplanned construction of private rental housing during
the lmperial era. Before the revolution of 1974 that ousted Emperor Haile-
Selassie, it was a common practice for the owners of a plot of urban land
to build low-quality rental houses or rooms in their compounds, usually as
additions to their own homes. In the old neighbourhoods of the city's core
area, where such practices were widespread, the appropriation of these
'extra' rental houses by the government bad a considerable impact on

22
Proclamation No. 4711975. Government Ownership of Urban Lands and Extra
Houses. Negarit Gazeta, 34•h Year, No. 41.
23
Derg, meaning "the council" or "the committee'', is the abbreviated name given
to the Provisional Military Administrative Council of Ethiopia, the regime that
overthrew Emperor Haile-Selassie in 1974.
24
In 1975, I US Dollar (USO) was equivalent to 2.07 Ethiopian Birr (ETB).
98 Chapter Three

property rights, maintenance and provision of housing and amenities, and

future development of the areas. A significant proportion of the inner-city
neighbourhoods such as Dejach Wube Sefer is thus characterised by the
conditions associated with kebele housing.

Figure 8. Aerial picture of Dejach Wube Sefer (Wube Bereha) in 2002, showing
Addis Ababa's heritage in the form of urban patterns and historic structures.
(Source: Ethiopian Mapping Authority)
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 99

Kebele houses have been the preferred housing option for the urban poor
due to their extremely low rent and relatively high tenure security. Even in
situations in which the tenants were unable to pay their rent, the kebele
administration transferred them to even cheaper kebele housing, or let
them stay in the same dwelling for free but forced them to accommodate
another household that would pay the full rent of the dwelling.

Although kebele administrations were mandated to maintain ex1stmg

rental houses under their management and construct new ones, they were
not able to adequately carry out these tasks due to the minimal amount of
rent collected. According to Wubshet Berhanu Nigusie (2002), roughly
70% of kebele house tenants pay below l 0 ETB per month (equivalent to
0.40 euro in 2016), out of which 48% is transferred to the former owner of
the house. This illustrates the economic infeasibility of kebele housing as a
self-sustaining system. Furthermore, the mismatch between the housing
stock in the city and the increasing population of Addis Ababa has forced
or encouraged the tenants to extend kebele houses into the open spaces of
their compounds for their own spatial needs or for rental purpose (Soressa
2003). Sometimes, the administration itself has subdivided existing houses
previously rented by single familjes into separate housing units in order to
accommodate multiple households without producing new structures. The
nationalised houses rented out to low-income families by the kebeles
include the majority of Addjs Ababa's historic residences. Neither the
tenants nor the kebele administrations are equipped to maintain these
residences, which has resulted in their deterioration. Moreover, extensions
and replacement of damaged parts of these residences have been carried
out without proper consideration of their impact on the original character
and structure. Therefore, despite its original intentions, the nationalisation
of additional dwelling units used as rentals has contributed to the
stagnation, dilapidation, overcrowding, and unhealthy living conditions
found in most inner-city areas of Addis Ababa.

After the fall of the Derg in 1991 , the official policy was changed in 1995 to
allow the sale of fovernment-owned houses to private owners (Proclamation
No. 112/1995). 2 Despite this, however, the ownership of practically all
kebele houses has remained in the hands of the new government, which
has no plans for improving the condition of the structures themselves.
lnner-city upgrading projects in Addis Ababa have focused on improving

25
Proclamation No. 11211995. Proclamation to Provide for the Establishment of
an Office for the Sale of Government-Owned Houses. Negarit Gazeta, 54~' Year,
No. JO.
100 Chapter Three

the surrounding infrastructure such as roads, drainage systems, and

communal toilets, without improving actual housing conditions. In
addition, for the past decade the government's main strategy towards
inner-city neighbourhoods has been to demolish almost all existing
structures, followed by construction of new multi-storey condominiums
and other buildings with significantly improved infrastructural provisions.
Similar redevelopment schemes are expected to continue by clearing
Addis Ababa's unplanned inner-city settlements, including some of its
oldest neighbourhoods such as Dejach Wube Sefer.

From the time of its formation, Addis Ababa has expanded southward,
influenced by topography, planning decisions, and new urban growth
magnets such as transportation infrastructures, while also shifting the
centres of its development. In today's Addis, most of the traditionally
renowned locations of the Arnda, 26 including Wube Bereha, are no longer
considered to be significant places of social interaction for many new
urbanites. Therefore, Dejach Wube Sefer is not closely connected to the
newly developed areas of the city in terms of providing a platfonu for
socioeconomic activities. However, other important urban nodes that are
critical for more informal and affordable commercial and social
interactions can be found in close proximity to the case study area. These
include Merkato, the largest market and main commercial centre in
Ethiopia with its diverse formal and informal trade options; Atikilt Tera,
one of the main vegetable and fruit markets of the city; and Piassa- Arat
Killo corridor, offering formal and specialised commercial and socio-
cultural services located within walking distance of Dejach Wube (see
Figure 7). These areas are important especially for the poorest of the poor,
whose livelihoods are closely attached to the inner-city due to availability
of more informal work, reduced transportation costs, and broader social
networks.

The total number of households formally living in the case study area was
1,167 at the time of data collection. The average and most frequent fan1ily
sizes were 4.8 and 4 respectively. However, in some instances, 10 to 15
people Living in one household were observed. Out of the site's total
estimated population of five thousand six hundred, 43.3% were male and
56.7% were female. Jn the study area, 76.8% of the residents are within
the working age range of 15 to 64 years, which is a significantly high

26
Arada is part of Addis Ababa' s core area that includes the oldest sefers
(neighbourhoods) such as Dejach Wube Sefer, Gedam Sefer, Serategna Sefer, and
Doro Maneqia.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I0 I

proportion. Children below 15 years of age and adults above 64 years

make up the remaining l 7.1 % and 6.1 % respectively.

Determining the actual income of a household in Addis Ababa is very

difficult. Most respondents in our study were not willing or able to answer
the questions regarding income, or may have minimized or exaggerated
their income depending on their perception of the ultimate purpose of the
study. However, by comparing their responses regarding their income and
expenditure, and by using different spending categories, a reasonable
conclusion can be reached. Based on the research data and a similar study
carried out on Dejach Wube in 2013, 27 we estimate that close to 40% of
the population had a monthly income of,600 birr (equivalent to 24 euros in
2016) or less, while at least 30% of the population earn more than I ,OOO
birr (40 euros) per month. 28 Furthennore, 59.5% of the residents do not
participate in formal or informal/traditional saving practices. Therefore,
based on their income claims alone, one can conclude that many of them
cannot afford government-sponsored condominiums. Nevertheless, in
situations in which people are given the chance to own property of
significant value such as a condominium apartment, they often strive to
mobilise resources from friends and relatives to come up with at least the
housing down payment. Such practices highlight the difficulty of detennining
people's economic potentials based on their income/expenditure claims.

Nearly 50% of Dejach Wube's residents of working age earn their income
by actively engaging in informal economic activities such as washing
laundry, baking injera, 29 washing cars, house painting, satellite dish
installation, food preparation, informal vending of fruits, vegetables,
charcoal, candles and so forth along the roadside, and other labour-
intensive activities. Forty-three per cent of the residents are engaged in
economic activities in their homes or shared compounds, and 84.5% carry
out their daily activities within walking distance of their homes.

The amount of social interaction between neighbours in Dejach Wube

Sefer is high. Although only 16% of household heads were born in Dejach
Wube, 82% of families are actively involved in at least one of the

27
Djach Wube LOP.
28
Using the currency exchange rate in 2016, l euro (EUR) was equivalent to 25
Ethiopian birr (ETB).
29
lnjera is a large sourdough flat bread in Ethiopian cuisine, commonly made out
of fermented teff flour.
102 Chapter Three

traditional vollliltary social organisations such as iddir, 30 iqub, 31 or

mahiber, 32 which indicates high socioeoonomic interdependence among the
residents. Almost all appreciate the value of their social networks as a very
important element in their survival. Eighty-nine per cent of the
interviewed residents responded that they have directly benefited from this
social interaction in the form of financial assistance and loans, emotional
support, exchange of materials and goods, sharing of valuable resources
and information, or other fonns of social support. Furthermore, 75% of
household heads have lived in the neDghbourhood for twenty years or
more, which is one of the reasons why inhabitants in Dejach Wube report
a well-established sense of belonging. Some even consider their
neighbourhood to be a large family in which conflicts among neighbours
are regarded as family matters to be resolved by neighbours themselves
without the involvement of police or other legal bodies.

One of the typical features of Addis Ababa's old inner-city neighbourhoods is

the presence of kebele housing covering significant portions of their area.
The tenure distribution in Dejach Wube Sefer is no different. Of the
houses registered by the local administration, 86% are government owned.
Of these, 77.7% are kebele houses while the remainder, 8.3%, belong to
the Agency for Rental Housing Administration (ARRA). The remaining
14% of the total belongs to private owners (see Figure 9). These houses
with different forms of tenure are spatially mixed rather than being in
separate sections of the neighbourhood, a result of Addis Ababa' s early
socio-spatial development pattern and the appropriation of rental dwelling
units by the Marxist government. In addition to the dwellings formally
recognised by the city's administration, there are also temporary shelters
in the case area that have been infonnally constructed by the homeless.

30
An iddir is a voluntary traditional association established among neighbours
with monthly contributions to be used during emergencies, mainly death within the
group or their families.
31
/qub is a voluntary traditional and informal association usually established by a
small group of people in order to provide substantial rotating funds for members.
32
Here the term mahiber is used to denote a voluntary traditional and iafonnal
association usually established by a small group of people based on their common
religious, ethnic or other social interests.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I03

Figure 9. Dejach Wube tenure map. (Source: Authors and AA GIS Map)
RHA - Rental Housing Administration
104 Chapter Three

Figure 10. Dejach Wube building height map. (Source: Authors and AA GIS Map)
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I05

As one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Addis Ababa that still maintains

its original settlement patterns, Dejach Wube exhibits a strong connection
to its primary (most influential) formative elements which are significant
not only to the locality but also to the city as a whole. Between the paths
of movement that linked the important nodes, chunks of irregular urban
blocks were formed that again subdivided into a number of compounds or
parcels of different shapes and sizes (see Figure 6 and Table 2). Prior to
the 1975 proclamation of nationalisation of urban land and rental
dwemngs, these compounds had their own private owners who usually
occupied them and who had incrementally built in.formal housing units for
rental purposes. This unplanned development ultimately resulted in urban
blocks filled with groups of housing ttn.its sharing some form of small
internal c-0urtyards. By the time of the 1975 proclamation, except in some
areas along the river bordering the study area, most parts of the site bad
already been built. This does not mean that the neighbourhood has not
undergone spatial transfonnation since then. Like other areas of inner-city
Addis Ababa, 33 tenants of kebele housing in Dejach Wube have also
continued to extend and subdivide their dwelling units (see Figure 11 ). 34

The average gross density of Dejach Wube is nearly 99 households per

hectare, but as shown in Table 2, the population distribution is not uniform
throughout. The linear urban block along the riverside has far less density
compared to other blocks on the site. This is partly due to unfavourable
settlement conditions such as steep topography, pollution, and inaccessibility
resulting from the block's close proximity to the river (see Figure 14).
Compared to the density standard of 125-380 households per hectare in
the Development Plan of Addis Ababa for its core areas, Dejach Wube is
still below the expected minimum density for its location in the city
(ORAAMP 2002b). 35 But, because more than 95% of the houses are single-

33
Low Rent Public Housing in Addis Ababa: Renter-Initiated Transformation of
Kebele Housing (Soressa 2003).
34
In some cases, additional new floor area is produced by subdividing the height
of a room to create a loft-like space, which can be done without alerting the
authorities and without the need for negotiation with neighbours for extending the
house into shared spaces.
35
The 2014 draft document entitled Structure Plan Spatial Framework
implementation Guidelines and Standards: Land Use and City Stmcture (Eshetu et
al. 20 14), proposed 150-300 households per hectare for mixed use residential areas
within the section of Addis Ababa circumscribed by the Ring Road, and a
minimum of 300 households per hectare for high density residential areas which
include main trnnsportation corridors (like LRT and BRT lines), the main city
centre, sub-centres, and urban renewal sites in the inner-city.
106 Chapter Three

storey, the area lacks neighbourhood-level open spaces (see Figure I 0).
Aside from the small open areas within the compounds and some areas
along the river, the winding streets are the only urban spaces in the
neighbourhood that support communal activities. Dejach Wube' s streets are
not useful merely for mobility purposes but also serve as extensions of semi-
public and domestic spaces (see Figure 12). The dynamic hustle and bustle
of everyday life happens on the streets with various activities such as
washing laundry, traditional food preparation, children playing and street
vending, occupying different areas of the street at different times of day.

Figure 11. Dejacb Wube Sefer: study of figure ground and informal
transformation.
(Source: Extracted and adapted from Sofratop Map 1973, Nortech Map 1995,
Google Map 20 14, and sketches based on direct observation)
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I07

Figure 12. Washing laundry, hanging clothes to dry, and socialising are some of
the domestic activ ities that extend into the streets of Dejach Wube.

Our examination of existing land use in Dejach Wube reveals that 61.4%
of the total 12.53 hectares of land area is covered by housing. Other land
uses in the neighbourhood include the historical Dejach Wube's prison
currently used as a police station occupying 7.6% of the land, commercial
activities (shops, bars, restaurants, etc.) taking up 14.1%, green slopes
along the river occupying 6.8%, and the road network taking up 10.3%.
The remaining 6.6% is taken up by a very small primary school (an old
house now used as school), a garage, a furniture workshop and a plant
nursery (see Figure l3 and Table 3). Most of the standard social services
needed by residents of the case study area are located outside the
neighbourhood, and residents are forced to cross major streets to find
them. In addition to the substandard tproportion of the available road
coverage, the poor conditions of internal roads contribute to the
inaccessibility of roughly half of the total houses in the neighbourhood by
vehicles including fire trucks. Consequently, 56% of households feel that
they are vulnerable to fire-related hazards. This is partly the result of the
unplanned original development of the area and the limited capacity of
subsequent city administrations to significantly rectify infrastructural
problems.
108 Chapter Three

Ta ble 2. Size a nd density of Dejach W ube Sefer urba n blocks.

'1 \ .....
.,
~
-;;;-
-0
§
&.
<I)
-0
E
a a ]., al
§ gJ ::c:.....
.!:'.?
~ ~
~ '-
0 "'
32
&:
~
.....
....
0
Q)
..0
"'g
~ ~ ::c:
35,784 36 172 48
2 25,942 68 342 132
3 17,191 63 241 142
4 12,098 24 127 106
5 17,793 50 214 119
6 6,641 14 71 101

(Source: Addis Ababa GlS Map and Authors)

Table 3. Dej ach W ube Sefer distribution of la nd use by a r ea.

Per centage
Cod e La nd Use Area in H a
(%)
p Police station (Dejach Wube Prison) 0.95 7.58
s Shop 0.97 7.34
BR Bar and Restaurant 0.84 6.76
GB Riverside Green 0.65 5.18
PI Plant nursery 0.02 0.13
SC Primary School 0.06 0.44
G Garage 0.06 0.45
F Furniture work shop 0.08 0.65
R Residence 7.67 61.4
RNW Road 1.29 10.32
Total 12.53 100.00
(Source: Authors and Addis Ababa GIS Map)
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I09

- SHOPS
llll eARS&RESTALIW~~,Y("
---6ANl~o&E."50~~
~ c·l"ID"--~
- OPEN SPACE
- RIVERSIDE GREEN
- N U R SERY
MIXED USE
- GARAGE
- WOODWORK

Figure 13. Dejach Wube land use map. (Source: Authors and Addis Ababa GIS
Map)
LIO Chapter Three

Figure 14. Dejach Wube topography map: .slope analysis. (Source: Authors and
Addis Ababa GlS and Line Maps)
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 11 I

The unplanned formation of Dejach Wube and the incremental

transformations that followed have created spaces that have accommodated
changing social patterns at different times in Addis Ababa's history.
Shared spaces in compounds have supported especially the domestic life
of low-income households living in small kebele houses. ln total, there are
255 compounds in the study area with an average of 4.5 households per
compound. Everyday activities such as food preparation, eating meals,
laundry washing and drying, children's play, hair braiding and weaving,
chatting, sunbathing, gardening, poultry raising, religious gatherings, ritual
mourning, weddings, and holiday celebrations, all happen within the
shared spaces of the compounds (see Figure 15). Members of households
living in the compounds, especially women, spend between two and seven
hours per day in these shared spaces caTrying out various vital activities.
Therefore, the presence of these spaces have helped women and other
members of households maintain their families ' wellbeing, reduce
expenses, and generate significant amount of income. Furthermore, the
daily routines, casual communications, ritual activities, and various
communal events facilitated by these shared spaces help sustain the culture
and memory that have evolved with the history of the place. Communal
open spaces and buildings are provided for these same activities in most of
the new multi-story condominium neighbourhoods, and the amenities are
managed by the condominium owners' associations. However, the
frequency of use of the communal facilities by each condominium
household depends upon factors such as quality of the facility, type of
tenure, the floor level on which the housing unit is located, and
socioeconomic profile of the household such as size, income and presence
of children (Admasu 2014; Kidanemariam 2015). 36

36
For discussions on the effects of redeve1opment-induced relocation in Addis
Ababa, please read the chapter in this volwue by Hassen and Soressa entitled
"Experiences of the Poor in the Contemporary Urban Resettlement of Addis
Ababa."
11 2 Chapter Three

Figure 15. Shared spaces and socioeconomic activities.

 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I 13

LIFE STORY: Amina

Amina, 37 a resident of Dejach Wube Sefer, was born thirty years ago in
Enemore, Gurage Zone, South Ethiopia, about 187 kms south of Addis
Ababa. She has no children and has never been married.

She came to Addis Ababa in the year 2000 with her younger brother, now
age 27, to get medical help for her injured eye and for her brother's mental
health problems. She moved to Dejach Wube in the same year by
informally renting a room in a chika (plastered with mud and straw) kebele
house as a subletting tenant. Later she received a resident's ID from the
woreda by registering as a member of ber landlady's household. The ID
gives her access to free medical services from the government's health
facilities. After Jiving in the neighbourhood for five years, her divorced
elder sister, now age 40, also came to live with her, leaving her two
children with their father in Enemore.

I
~

Mosque

Amina bas only a first grade education and both her siblings are
uneducated. All of them are formally unemployed, but she, with the
assistance of her sister, earns 20 to 30 birr (equivalent to 0 .8 to 1.2 euro in
2016) per day from her informal vending business (gulit), selling
vegetables on the street adjacent to their compound. She also washes the
clothes of other people in the neighbourhood for 100 birr (4 euros) per

37
To protect the anonymity of informants, all names have either been changed or
informants are referred to using the names of the institutions for which they were
working at the time of the interview.
114 Chapter Three

month, but due to her eye problem she cannot do that on sunny days.
Although her brother's contribution to the fami ly is limited because of his
mental disability, their neighbours usuaUy give him some money and food
which is an addition to the family's income. Through these and similar
mechanisms, the household has an average income of around 600 birr (24
euros) per month. They pay 300 birr (12 euro) for rent on their shared
room and deposit 195 birr (7.8 euros) into the saving account of the 10/90
government housing scheme for the poorest citizens to which Amina was
able to register using her woreda-issued lD. The rest of the money is spent
on utilities, food, clothing and other expenses.

Amina has a strong family-like relationship with her neighbours,

especially with the family of her landlady. She says that she bas earned a
good reputation for being polite and sociable without meddling in other
people's business. Although she is not a member of any of the traditional
voluntary social associations in the neighbourhood, she has received a lot
of social and financial help from her neighbours.

Amina considers Dejach Wube to be a potentially profitable location for

the type of business she believes she could manage under the right
circumstances. lf she bad enough money and better health, she would like
to open a kiosk, a cafeteria, or a car rental business.

HOUSE COMPOUND
2
7.8 m single room, serves as sitting, A . Amina's home
dining, sleeping room, bathroom and e:. Neighbours
kitchen C. Laundry area
A. Mattress on the floor D. Clothes drying area
B. Cupboard/closet E. Grain/spice drying
C. Charcoal Stove F.. Sha red toilet
D. Multi-use space G. Greenery
H. Extension
Construction materials I. Main gate
• Wall: Chika (mud and straw
J. Amina's gulit (vending
plastering on wooden frame)
business)
• Roof: Corrugated Iron Sheet {CIS)
K. Amina's landlady's house
• Ceiling: Plastic sheet
• Floor: Earth
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal I 15

10
208

so \\t~
c
10-::Y
In addition to sharing the central courtyard spaces in their compounds, the
majority of people in Dejach Wu be also s hare basic domestic facilities like
kitchens and toilets, which makes it difficult for the neighbourhood
environment to support a healthy lifestyle. Only 27.6% of the households
use a private kitchen and even fewer, 18. J%, have private toilets. The
availability of infrastructure for liquid waste disposal is also very low. Of
the households, 81 % use storm drainage ditches along the access roads as
grey water sewer lines. By comparison, the solid waste disposal system
functions much better by involving micro and small-scale enterprises for
door-to-door solid-waste collection. Ninety per cent of the households use
this system, while the remainder dispos.e of their own solid waste in the
publjc trash bins closest to their homes.

Electricity is the main source of power for most households' energy needs.
Eighty-three per cent of households are independently connected to the
electric power grid, while the remaining households share an electric
power meter. Comparatively, a far fewer number of households, 47.1 %,
have their own direct access to tap water. Nearly 40% share and manage
common water points 38 in their compounds, whjfe the rest buy water from
their neighbours or from public water points (bono wuha) . 39

38
A common water point is tap water located within a compound and shared
among the households in the compound.
39
A public water point, commonly called bono wuha, is a public tap water access
point located in a public space. It is usually managed by the local community.
1I6 Chapter Three

Figure 16. Pictures showing some of the spatial features of Dejach Wube Sefer.
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 117

LIFE STORY: Girma

Girma was born in I 949 in Kelala, Wollo, Amhara National Regional

State, about 400 km north of Addis Ababa. When he was JO years old his
family moved to Jimma, roughly 350 km southwest of Addis Ababa,
where he completed his primary and secondary education. In 197 I, he left
Jimma to join a teachers' training college in Addis Ababa. After earning
his diploma, he went back to Wollo and worked as a school teacher until
1988, when he went to Bulgaria for a one-year training in political science.
After returning to Ethiopia, he continued to teach in his previous school
for one more year before he was transferred to another school in Addis
Ababa, where he served until 2007. After moving to Addis, he has
occasionally visited Kelala and Jimma to manage his family 's properties.

Girma met his wife, now 58, in a hotel when he was working in Wollo,
and they got married in 1974 without a formal wedding. Aft.er a year they
had their first child, a daughter, and two years later a son. They had their
second son in 1999. Now he and his wife and their two sons are living in
Dejach Wube Sefer with three granddaughters and two grandsons.

Since Girma moved to Addis Ababa from Wallo in 1990, he has been
living in his current dwelling which his sister had originally rented from
the Agency for Rental Housing Administration (Kiray Bethoch). But later
1I8 Chapter Three

his sister left for America. Since then, it has been impossible for him to
transfer the name on the tenancy agreement to his own. This situation has
created insecurity and instability for bis family. He remembers with
sadness the time when the Agency suddenly evicted them without prior
notice. He said,

"We were kicked out without even spare clothes and a place to crash.
Finally, we managed to stay at d!fferent relatives ' homes for two and half
months. One of our family members was abused at the place where she
stayed during that time. After that, she didn 't want to live with us
anymore, so she never came back to our house. My w!fe and 1 also
s~ffered because we were unable to access our medical pills and hospital
cards. So the condition of our health became critical. Meanwhile, we
appealed to the Agency. Fortunately, our situation and years ofour stay in
the house were considered, and we were allowed to return . ... "

However, his status as merely an inforrnal rather than official renter has
not changed. Although a flat on the fourth floor of one of the new
condominiums has been allocated to his family as part of their
redevelopment-imposed relocation, they have been unable to move there
because the physical presence of Girma' s sister is required to process the
transfer.

Girma likes their rented house at Dejach Wube, and considers it an

essential focal point for the family. He said,

"Our family gathers here for good and bad times. lt 's not very large, but
it's not too small either - just the right size. We have our own compound,
so we enjoy privacy. The living room is my .favourite space in the house
since I.find all my family sitting together in it. My second.favourite space
is the compound."

However, he is not entirely happy about the neighbotuhood. He said that it

has not seen any improvements for a long time. Some of the compounds,
including his own, are not accessible by car, and the smell of leaking
toilets pervades the streets.

Girma' s household is actively engaged in social and political

organisations. His wife has been a member of the Women' s League for the
past I 0 years. This means that she participates in different government-led
activities such as election campaigns and development endeavours.
Girma' s family also bad membership in three iddirs (traditional social
associations) until they were disbanded following the government's
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 119

decision to displace the community to d ifferent locations on the outskirts

of Addis Ababa. Despite their broader social involvements, the fami ly's
personal interactions with their Dejacb Wube neighbours have been
limited in scope.

-~ :.". :::'

/ .
j. I
ii

, ---r i
~:.../ [ - .
1 '
11·
SITE PLAN
( f • ...z~
<...... Parcel: 252.25 sq. m .
--./ !--~ - -
Girma is now a pensioner. He said that his family 's regular monthly
income, including the salaries of his two sons, comes to approximately
7,200 birr (equivalent to 288 euros in 2016). He also receives financial
assistance from his sister, now living in America. However, be thinks his
regular income is not sufficient to [pay for a housing unit in the
government-sponsored condominiums. He is also concerned that given his
current physical condition, Living on the fourth floor of a walk-up
apartment may be difficult.

GIRMA'S HOUSE
House: 137.44 sq. m
A. Vera nda
B. Bedroom
c. Foyer
D. Dining room
E. Living room
F. Kitchen Construction material s
G. Bathroom • Wa ll: Chika (mud and
H. Traditional straw plastering on
Kitchen wooden frame)
I. Toilet • Roof: Corrugated Iron
J. Service yard Sheet (CIS)
K. Front yard • Ceiling: ch ipboard
L. Entrance • Floor: Parquet and
M. Access road cement t iles
120 Chapter Three

Redevelopment and Participation

Urban redevelopment or renewal is a complex and controversial issue,
especially when it occurs in historic areas where the majority of the
existing residents are socially and economically vulnerable. Dejach Wube
Sefer falls into this category.

According to key informants from the Land Development and Urban

Renewal Agency, as well as the Urban Planning and Information Institute
(UPII) of Addis Ababa City Administration, intervention plans for Dejach
Wube were introduced in 2009 as part of the city government's initiative
for the improvement of dilapidated urban areas. But the renewal-focused
process, including the discussion forums with the residents and the
preparation of the final local development plan, was started in 2013. In
between, in 2011 a situation analysis of the area was carried out by Arada
Sub-city with technical assistance from UPll. The intention at that time
was to upgrade the area by building common toilets, widening roads, and
improving infrastructure. However, with the introduction of the Addis
Ababa Light Railway Transit (AALRT) station at Menelik ll Square, the
plan shifted from slum upgrading to complete urban renewal due to the
high economic value of the area after com pletion of the station. Therefore,
the existing settlement of Dejach Wube was not considered to be worth
upgrading when weighed against the area's future development
opportunities. This and other similar redevelopment interventions in the
city indicate an urban renewal approach focused primarily on standardised
economic values and rationales, with less attention to tangible and
intangible heritages. Consequently, according to informants, a senior
planner was assigned from UPII to Addis Ababa's development plan
revision office. He and a team of other professionals prepared an urban
renewal-oriented local redevelopment plan and urban design for Dejach
Wube.

The participation of the residents during the planning and design stages
was mainly carried out through selected stakeholders, including
representatives from women' s and youth associations, local iddirs
(traditional social associations), and religious institutions. According to
officials in the Addis Ababa City Administration, the selected group
representatives were asked during the initial planning stages to contribute
their ideas, which were incorporated into the planning. They were also
given opportunities to comment and suggest possible improvements on the
detailed final development plan. However, the abilities of the participants
to represent the interests of the entire community, and the validity of the
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 121

participation process have been questioned. According to some

professionals in the city administration., representatives that participated
during the planning process were selected by the woreda administration
based mainly on their previous involvement and their known inclination to
support the government's initiatives. The interviewed professionals felt
this may have been done in order to argue that the residents had been
involved in the planning process, and to downplay the concerns that were
expressed in public forums. These concerns were also reflected in some of
the interviews conducted in Dejach Wube.

Information given by residents and other key informants suggest that the
inhabitants of Dejach Wube had been well infonued since 2013 about the
upcoming urban renewal in their neighbourhood through posters,
loudspeaker announcements from the streets, house-to-house infonuative
visitations, formal letters, mass media, public discussion forums, and
informally through their neighbours. The parallel meetings conducted by the
government representatives at the Hager Fikir Theatre and the woreda
meeting hall with kebele house tenants and homeowners respectively were
mentioned by most residents as the first time they were formally introduced
to the government's renewal scheme for their neighbourhood. All the
households registered by the woreda as fonual owners or renters of a house
were invited to the meeting through letters from the woreda administration
office. Following the meetings, there were at least four public discussions
between the government officials and the inhabitants of Dejach Wube.

During the discussions, most residents agreed on the need for redevelopment
in the area, but they repeatedly requested to be resettled in their
neighbourhood or at least in its vicinity. They were also seriously
concerned about those who could not afford condominiums, and they
asked for the possibility to relocate to other kebele houses in the woreda or
other similar locations in the inner-city. Based on their responses in this
study, 18% of the interviewed households hoped to be relocated to kebele
houses because it was the only option they could afford. More than half
(58%) of the respondents in our interviews expressed their willingness to
be involved in redeveloping their neighbourhood because they were
convinced of its importance for the city. However, 56% felt that there were
not enough opportunities to express their opinions or influence the renewal
process. Even those that were willing to be resettled had conditions, the
most common being resettlement in Dejach Wube or in one of the inner-
city redevelopment sites and the opportunity to preserve social cohesion
with their present neighbours. Other conditions were affordable housing
which takes their financial situation into account; income generating
122 Chapter Three

opportumt1es during and after the renewal; relocation options to other

kebele housing in the inner-city; and some form of financial assistance for
the initial and subsequent housing payments. The residents reiterated some
of the issues raised during the meeting at Hager Fikir Theatre, including
their claim that the government had promised they could be resettled in
Dejach Wube Sefer or in the nearby Basha Walde Chilot redevelopment
project. However, the decision has been made by the government to
resettle them in the new condominium neighbourhoods on the outskirts of
Addis Ababa. Although those who cannot afford condominium housing
are being offered the possibility of relocation to other kebele houses,
finding enough vacant kebele housing units is becoming a challenge, since
their number is continually decreasing due to their demolition for urban
renewal. According to a professional at UPII of Addis Ababa City
Administration, there is already a shortage of kebele houses for relocatees
from other renewal sites in the city. For example, at the time of the
interview, 31 households displaced by the Basha Walde Chilot renewal
project were still waiting to be resettled in other kebele houses. He also
added that people with larger families have suffered the most, because
finding houses to accollllllodate a large number of fami ly members has
become very difficult.

Onsite or nearby relocation and the maintenance of existing socioeconomic

ties among inner-city residents do not seem to be priorities of the
contemporary urban redevelopment programme of Addis Ababa. ln the
case of Dejach Wube Sefer, the promise of resettling together as a
community in one of the redeveloped sites in the city core area, would
have meant for residents that they could have preserved the advantages of
their communal living by transferring its positive values to their new
neighbourhood. This hope and dream, however, has gradually vanished:

In the begiiming, the officials told us that they wouldn't let our social ties
be destroyed. But they didn' t tell us everything. We did not have the full
information. During the last meeting, we asked them where the relocation
site would be, but they said we would find out after we draw from the
lottery. But, after the lottery, we found the relocation sites to be different
places on the outskirts of Addis A' ba. Once we had that information, we
went to the Housing Agency at Sadist Kilo to report our complaints, but
they didn't allow us even to get into their office. We tried to present our
grievances in every other place that we hoped would change the fate of our
community by saving it from disintegration, but without any resuJt. By the
end, we were unable to maintain our un ified stand; and finally, we are
doing what they to ld us to do.
- A female resident of Dejach Wube
 Inner-City Dwellers and Their Places in the Context of Urban Renewal 123

Conclusion and Implications

The findings of this study show that the old inner-city of Addis Ababa has
been characterized by a high degree of social and economic interdependence
among its residents, which is supported and facilitated by the shared
spaces at dwelling, compound and settEement levels. The residents have
benefitted from the close proximity of their dwellings to valuable fonnal
and informal economic activities within and close to their communities.
This implies a strong linkage between key human settlement issues such
as: location of housing in the city, domestic and communal spaces, ways
of life, and livelihoods of people, especially the urban poor. Unlike the
standard spatial model promoted in the new condominium housing, in the
inner-city of Addis Ababa domestic and public places have been
characterized by multifunctionality as living, social and economic spaces.

The study also found that the conditions of Dejach Wube Sefer have
created an affordable shelter provision opportunity even for the poorest of
the poor in the city. However, the physical condition of the houses and
infrastn1cture of the neighbourhood are in need of significant improvement,
which is one rationale for the government-led urban renewal. ln this
regard, housing and inner-city redevelopment as strategic interventions
have been implemented with determination and speed to bring integrated
solutions that make manifest the ambitious physical as well as
socioeconornic transformation of Addis Ababa. Most of the people we
interviewed are convinced of the necessity of such intervention. However,
a significant number of respondents feel that the redevelopment process
has not involved their meaningful participation, has not been sufficiently
transparent, and has not accommodated their needs. In addition, resettlement
of the community to the same area or another location within the inner-
city, which was the option originally promised to the residents, bas now
been totally withdrawn. As a result, relocation of inner-city dwellers to
expansion areas has threatened especially the poorest of the poor whose
livelihoods are closely attached to the inner-city.

Despite the historical significance of Dejacb Wube Sefer, the findings of

this study indicate that the current urban renewal approach focuses
primarily on an instrumental economic logic without proper consideration
of the tangible and intangible heritage of places in the city as a potential
for future development. Careful examination of historic as well as
contemporary features of the study area reveals that some of the positive
socioeconomic and spatial qualities found in the old inner-city
neighbourhoods of Addis Ababa are worth maintaining by preserving,
124 Chapter Three

reviving, and transferring them to the core urban development principles

and concepts of the city. Accommodating communities living in intervention
areas as one of the main variables of urban redevelopment is, in itself, an
important tool for creating the necessary linkage as well as a smooth
transition between the present and the future. Resettling inner-city
communities into a context that supports them and helps them absorb the
shock generated by urban renewal would also minimise the risk of social
problems and development-induced injustices which are usually suffered
by the most vulnerable who are unable or unprepared to cope with the
rapid changes imposed upon them. One method for achieving a supportive
context is through onsite or nearby resettlement while preserving both
existing communities and the spatial features and linkages that are crucial
for their sUIVival. The implementation of such approaches could be
facilitated through the real participation of all stakeholders working
together without any form of coercion or artifice to build a more apposite
and sustainable path to urban development.

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Acknowledgments
The Authors would like to extend their gratitude to the following
individuals who assisted during the research: Abnet Gezahegn, Anteneh
MuJushoa, Ayele Bedada, Bethlehem Hindeya, Dereje Kebede, Endalk
Alemu, Mehari Enyew, Solomon Shihunegn, and Temesgen Abate.

Funding

The research on which this chapter is based was funded in part by the
Academy of Finland under grant number 265737.
Recomme nded Citation:

Chapter Tihree

(Soressa and Hassen 2018)

Soressa, Yonas Alemayehu, and Imam Mahmoud Hassen. 2018. "Inner-

City DweUers and Their Places in the Context of Addis Ababa's Urban
Renewal." In The Transformotion of Addis Ababa: A Multiform African
City, edited by Elias Yitbarek Alemayehu and Laura St:ark, 77-126.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Chapter Four

(Hassen and Soressa 2018)

Hassen, I mam Mahmoud, and Yonas Alemayehu Soressa. 2018.

"Experiences of the Poor in the Contemporary Urban Resettlement of
Addis Ababa." In The Transformation of Addis Ababa: A Multiform African
City, edited by Elias Yitbarek Alemayehu and Laura Stark, 127- 60.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.