Abstract
Urban development is occurring in many Sub-Saharan Africa cities and rapid urbanization is underway in the East African city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In an effort to address urban poverty and increase homeownership opportunities for low and middle-income residents, the City Administration of Addis Ababa initiated a large-scale housing development project in 2005. The project has resulted in the completion of 175,000 units within the city with 132,000 more under construction. To understand the impacts of both rapid growth and the housing program’s impact on the city’s urban form, we compared the type and distribution of land uses in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between 2006 with 2016 using hand-digitized, ortho-rectified satellite images in Geographic Information Systems (GISs). While residential density has increased, overall density has decreased from 109 people/ha to 98 people/ha. We found that between 2006 and 2016, land occupied by residential housing increased from 33% to 39% and the proportion of informal housing decreased from 57% to 38%. Reflecting the country’s economic prosperity, there was a dramatic increase in the presence of single family housing, particularly on the city’s western side. In 2006, only 1% of residential areas were occupied by high-rise condominiums (4 floors or greater) and this increased to 11% by 2016. The majority of the new, higher density residential developments are located near the eastern edges of the city and this outlying location has significant implications for residents, infrastructure construction, and future development.
Highlights
While many recent articles begin by recounting the fact that over 12 of the world’s people reside in cities, the increase in the absolute number of people living in cities is the more dramatic statistic
The majority of future growth is expected to occur in cities in Asia and Africa
The authors who hand-digitized the maps lived in Addis Ababa and were able to visit areas of confusion during this extensive process
Summary
While many recent articles begin by recounting the fact that over 12 of the world’s people reside in cities, the increase in the absolute number of people living in cities is the more dramatic statistic. In 1900, 220 million people lived in cities. By 2000, this number had increased ten-fold to 2.84 billion [1]. The majority of future growth is expected to occur in cities in Asia and Africa. The United Nations states that by 2030, seven of every ten urban residents will be living in either Asia or Africa [2]. The African urban transition will have profound and long-lasting impacts on the lives of a large percentage of the world’s population
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