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Sustainable Infrastructure and Water Strategies for a Resilient Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

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Design for Health (UIA 2023)

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development Goals Series ((SDGS))

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Abstract

The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, is one of the fastest-growing cities today, experiencing rapid urbanization over the past few decades. The city’s population has almost doubled from 2.7 million in 2007 to around 4 million today. With such unprecedented growth, sustainable development in the city has been compromised as existing infrastructures struggle to keep up, leaving much of the urban population with a lack of access to basic public services. With that, the network of rivers that run through Addis Ababa has deteriorated as modernization has increased pollution and the overall degradation of river ecologies. Coupled with the rising threat of climate change, inhabitants who live along those rivers increasingly suffer from flooding and other issues related to worsening weather patterns. This paper details the outcomes of the “Addis Ababa River City” research project, which seeks to resolve some of the most urgent urban issues that the city currently faces due to rapid growth. Within it, urban issues are analyzed, and holistic solutions are proposed to create a more resilient city and to improve the relationship that Addis Ababa has with its rivers. The interventions introduced in this paper serve as examples of what can be done to improve infrastructures throughout the city, applying ecological engineering with hybrid infrastructures that work in tandem to enhance sociocultural programs and reinforce the natural dynamics of the city’s rivers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Yu Fang, et al., “Globally universal fractal pattern of human settlements in river networks,” Earth's Future 6, (2018): 1134– 1145. Jordan, Jan M., “The Uses of River Water and Impacts,” in Fresh Surface Water, vol III, ed. James C. I. Dooge (UNESCO-EOLSS: Paris, 2009). Adeloye, Adebayo, “Rivers and Human Development,” in Fresh Surface Water, vol III, ed. James C. I. Dooge (UNESCO-EOLSS: Paris 2009).

  2. 2.

    Tewodros Tigabu, and Girma Semu, Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Urban Profile (Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Human Settlements Programme 2008). Grimm, N. B, et al., “Global Change and the Ecology of Cities.” Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 319, no. 5864 (2008): 756–760.

  3. 3.

    Martin Richardson, and Mikhail Soloviev, “The Urban River Syndrome: Achieving Sustainability against a Backdrop of Accelerating Change,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 12 (2021): 6406.

  4. 4.

    Central Statistical Agency, Projected Population of Ethiopia—2011 (Addis Ababa: Central Statistical Agency 2019), https://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/population-projection/; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, The World’s Cities in 2018: Data Booklet, ST/ESA/SER.A/417 (New York: United Nations 2018), 10, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3799524?ln=en; Elias Yitbarek Alemayehu, Imam Mahmoud Hassen, Yonas Alemayehu Soressa, and Laura Stark, “New Perspectives on Urban Transformation in Addis Ababa,” in The Transformation of Addis Ababa: A Multiform African City, ed. Elias Yitbarek Aemayehu and Laura Stark (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2018), 2.

  5. 5.

    UN-Habitat, The State of Addis Ababa 2017: The Addis Ababa We Want (Nairobi: UN-Habitat 2017), 73–74.

  6. 6.

    Ruben Garcia Rubio and Taylor J. Scott, “Resilient Urban Ecologies: Adaptive Sustainable Infrastructures for Addis Ababa,” The Plan Journal, vol. 5, no. 2 (December 2020): 473–94. Ruben Garcia Rubio, and Sonsoles Vela, “Rivers for Urban Regeneration. The Case of the Kebana River in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia),” in Global Village, Shelter for Resilient Living, Conference Proceedings, edited by Tatjana Mrđenović (Belgrade, Serbia: Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade), 144.

  7. 7.

    Paolo Billi, Yonas Tadesse Alemu, and Rossano Ciampalini, “Increased frequency of Flash Floods in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia: Change in Rainfall Intensity or Human Impact?,” Natural Hazards 76, no. 2 (March 2015): 1373–94; Bisrat Kifle Arsiso, Gizaw Mengistu Tsidu, Gerrit Hendrik Stoffberg, and Tsegaye Tadesse, “Influence of Urbanization-Driven Land Use/Cover Change on Climate: The Case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 105 (2018): 212–23.

  8. 8.

    UN-Habitat, The State of Addis Ababa 2017, 73.

  9. 9.

    The “Addis Ababa River City” is an academic, independent, multidisciplinary, and long-term research project lead by the Assistant Professor Dr. Ruben Garcia-Rubio, which is part of the Saul A. Mintz Global Research Studios, within the Tulane School of Architecture (Tulane University—New Orleans LA, USA).

  10. 10.

    Ruben Garcia Rubio, and Taylor J. Scott. “Resilient Urban Ecologies: Adaptive Sustainable Infrastructures for Addis Ababa,” 477–83.

  11. 11.

    Clelie Nallet, “The Challenge of Urban Mobility: A Case Study of Addis Ababa Light Rail, Ethiopia,” Institut Français des Relations Internationals—Notes de l’Ifri, February 2018, https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/notes-de-lifri/challenge-urban-mobility-case-study-addis-ababa-light-rail-ethiopia.

  12. 12.

    The World Bank,Transport Systems Improvement Project (Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group), http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/490361467992052159/Ethiopia-Transport-Systems-Improvement-Project.

  13. 13.

    UN-Habitat, The State of Addis Ababa 2017: The Addis Ababa We Want (Nairobi: UN-Habitat, 2017), 73. Ruben Garcia Rubio, and Taylor J. Scott. “Resilient Urban Ecologies: Adaptive Sustainable Infrastructures for Addis Ababa,” 473–76.

  14. 14.

    Raffaele De Risi, et al., “From Flood Risk Mapping Toward Reducing Vulnerability: The Case of Addis Ababa,” Natural Hazards 100, no.1 (December 2019): 387–415.

  15. 15.

    Ruben Garcia Rubio, Ryan Green, and Sonsoles Vela, “Nature-Based and Hybrid Infrastructures to Build Resilient Cities through the Rivers: Two Case Studies in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia),” in Proceedings of the ARCC-EAAE 2022 International Conference—Resilient City: Physical, Social, and Economic Perspectives, edited by Chris Jarrett, and Adil Sharag-Eldin (Architectural Research Centers Consortium), 82–83.

  16. 16.

    Tamiru Alemayehu, “The Impact of Uncontrolled Waste Disposal on Surface Water Quality in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” Ethiopian Journal of Science 24, no. 1 (2001): 93–104.

  17. 17.

    International Development Association, Ethiopia—Second Ethiopia Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group, 2017), 1–5.

  18. 18.

    Ibid.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Ibid.

  21. 21.

    Ruben Garcia Rubio, and Taylor J. Scott, “Designing for Sustainable and Resilient Neighborhoods: The Case of Peacock Park in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia),” in 2020 AIA/ACSA Intersections Research Virtual Conference: Carbon, edited by Corey T. Griffin and Erica Cochran Hameen (Washington: ACSA Press), 82–89.

  22. 22.

    Tekle Bekele Tekle, “Management of Informal Traders in Public Spaces: A Case Study of Megenagna Square, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia” (Research Project—Master of Urban Management, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, 2021), 12.

  23. 23.

    “Turning Soils into Sponges. How Farmers Can Fight Floods and Droughts,” Union of Concerned Scientists, August 7, 2017, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/turning-soils-sponges.

  24. 24.

    “Establishment and Restoration of Riparian Buffers,” Climate ADAPT—European Environment Agency, September 3, 2016, https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/metadata/adaptation-options/establishment-and-restoration-of-riparian-buffer-s.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tulane University, New Orleans, USA

    Ruben Garcia Rubio & Sonsoles Vela Navarro

  2. Tulane School of Architecture, New Orleans, USA

    Alec Paulson

Authors
  1. Ruben Garcia Rubio
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  2. Alec Paulson
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  3. Sonsoles Vela Navarro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruben Garcia Rubio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Resource Center, Karachi, Pakistan

    Arif Hasan

  2. MASS Design Group, Kigali, Rwanda

    Christian Benimana

  3. CITA—Centre for Information Technology and Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy—Architecture, Design, Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen

  4. CITA—Centre for Information Technology and Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy—Architecture, Design, Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Martin Tamke

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Garcia Rubio, R., Paulson, A., Vela Navarro, S. (2023). Sustainable Infrastructure and Water Strategies for a Resilient Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). In: Hasan, A., Benimana, C., Ramsgaard Thomsen, M., Tamke, M. (eds) Design for Health. UIA 2023. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36316-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36316-0_3

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