Managing Ethiopian Cities In An Era Of Rapid Urbanisation

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: A, Ethiopian Civil Service University (College of Urban Development and Engineering), course: URBANIZATION AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT, language: English, abstract: The paper presents the application of tools of urban management to promote sustainable urban development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The city of Addis Ababa was founded in 1886. Addis Ababa is located at the southern foot of Mount Entoto, in the Entoto Mountains, at an elevation of about 8000 feet above sea level, on a plateau that is crossed by numerous streams and surrounded by hills and mountains, in the geographic center of the country. According to New World of Encyclopedia the city possesses a complex mix of highland climate zones. In addition, the physical structure of the city seems not well planned, and many settlements in many parts of the city are haphazard. With this regard Tolon stated that today’s high-rise apartment and office blocks dot the fronts of the main streets in Addis Ababa, giving a rather misleading impression of a well-built, spacious city. Together with a mixed or apparently well-integrated residential structure, these impressive roadside buildings often effectively mask the predominantly low standards of most housing units and residential neighborhoods.

Since 1978, when China embarked on a new period of economic reforms and introduced open door policies, it has experienced a great urban transformation. The role of transport has proved indispensable in this unprecedented rapid urbanisation and economic growth. As the first research-focused book dedicated to this important topic, the Handbook on Transport and Urban Transformation in China offers new insight into the various opportunities and challenges brought by fast-paced motorization and urban development, and explores them in broad spatial-economic, environmental, social, and institutional dimensions.

The 1990s were marked by democratic reforms throughout Africa, which went in tandem with decentralization reforms. The chapters of the volume all highlight the gradual changes that have taken place since. Long-term structural uncodified factors – be it societal, economic, geographic, demographic – seem to have interacted with the constitutional clauses introduced during the reforms. Some chapters look at how decentralization slowly gave way to recentralization because none of the new subnational entities were politically and economically strong enough to balance off the center; some look at how inherent deficiencies in infrastructure and personnel at the subnational level brought the central government back in; some look at how different subnational units ended up working differently due to differences in demographic and social factors; some look at how uncodified factors came to determine how national politics functioned; some look at how decentralization created new conflicts between ethnic groups competing for the control of the new entities; some look at how decentralization blew new life into traditional authorities. This book was original published as a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

This book presents the results of the "African Urban Management" project designed to study comparatively governmental responses to the gap between the realities of official plans and perspectives and the mushrooming world of the urban poor in African cities.

"This book describes China's growing range of activities in Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan region. The three most important instruments China has at its disposal in Africa are development aid, investments and trade policy. The Chinese government, which believes the Western development aid model has failed, is looking for new forms of aid and development in Africa. China's economic success can partly be ascribed to the huge availability of cheap labour, which is primarily employed in export-oriented industries. China is looking for the required raw materials in Africa, and for new marketplaces. Investments are being made on a large scale in Africa by Chinese state-controlled firms and private companies, particularly in the oil-producing countries (Angola, Nigeria and Sudan) and countries rich in minerals (Zambia). Third, the trade policy China is conducting is analysed in China and compared with that of Europe and the United States. In case studies the specific situation in several African countries is examined. In Zambia the mining industry, construction and agriculture are described. One case study of Sudan deals with the political presence of China in Sudan and the extent to which Chinese arms suppliers contributed to the current crisis in Darfur. The possibility of Chinese diplomacy offering a solution in that conflict is discussed. The conclusion considers whether social responsibility can be expected of the Chinese government and companies and if this is desirable, and to what extent the Chinese model in Africa can act as an example - or not - for the West"--Publisher's description.

"Prepared by Matthew French and Katherine Hegab"--Acknowledgements.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Physical Geography, Geomorphology, Environmental Studies, grade: A, Ethiopian Civil Service University (College of Urban Development and Engineering), course: Research, language: English, abstract: The general objective of this senior essay is to assess the impact that urbanization has brought to the environment in Yeka sub city. The research is descriptive in its very nature. Besides, both quantitative and qualitative research approach is used. Simple random sampling technique particularly lottery method is used to select samples from the total population. Both primary and secondary data sources have been employed, and questionnaire, interview and observation are employed to collect the required data. Furthermore, quantitative (i.e. descriptive statistics specially frequency distribution and percentage) and qualitative (i.e., verbal analysis or narration) data analysis methods have been launched to analyze the collected data. Data are mainly presented in tabular, pictorial and textual form. Continuous population growth in Yeka sub city resulted in the encroachment of forest land mostly through informal way and this resulted in the minimization of forest cover and the alteration of land use from natural forest into human-made residential and other built-up areas on a continuous manner. Besides the formal settlement, made by the legal allotment of land, the informal settlement is very high and even difficult to control. This indicates the high magnitude of urbanization in the sub city. The main causes for the continuous urban population growth or urbanization are influx of people into the city of Addis Ababa, ever-increasing natural birth rate and reduced mortality rate. The impact that urbanization has on the environment encompass deforestation, land slide and soil degradation, excessive waste generation and water and land pollution, and air pollution. Protecting agricultural and forest land as well as public open spaces from human settlement, containing the growth of the sub city within limited square with the help of policy instrument that earmark regulatory environment, restrict the geographic or spatial growth of the city, facilitate the management of urban growth and protect/preserve public open spaces and forest lands, reducing the influx of people through the creation of equal development opportunities for all rural and urban centers and implementing family planning is compulsory, and controlling informal settlement with a very strict regulatory environment is decisively needed.