How Has a Local Settlement Urbanized in Mekelle, Ethiopia? Case of Ïnda Mesqel’s Development as One of the Aspects of Urbanization Process

Abstract

Urban expansion has often caused the absorption of traditional settlements into urban areas. By tracing the case of one specific settlement in Mekelle named Ïnda Mesqel, this paper explores how a settlement has been transformed in accordance with population and building increases by analyzing the spatial and building aspects with respect to different scales : settlements, parcels (a block of land held by the same land-right holder(s)), buildings and residents. A field survey in 2014 clarified that the recent increase of land-right holders, residents, parcels and buildings in the Ïnda Mesqel is spatially accompanied by continual land segmentalization and subsequent reformation process. Newly emerged parcels are formed by the application of a traditional domestic layout. However, the appearance of parcels varies because they are highly affected by land tenure systems of different periods, the statuses of land inheritance, existing buildings, the potential of the site, and more personal economic and familial issues of the landright holders. In the case of the targeted settlement, existing landright holders are likely to erect new buildings for renters or their relatives despite insufficient funds. Therefore, the newly built houses often resulted in less desirable buildings. These results show that settlement urbanization is, at least on one hand, developed by the landright-holders’ continual individual actions, which are directed by their situation-oriented attitude that is influenced by varied local contexts. The comparative analysis with central Mekelle, whose urbanization has been also developed by the land-right-holders’ continual individual actions since the end of xixth century, clarifies that different spatial and building appearances have been formed by the different concrete actions stemming from the different historical and familial contexts of each place.