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Paper short abstract

This study examines five informal settlements in Addis Ababa, highlighting how residents use local knowledge and collective action to meet basic needs amid displacement and housing shortages. It calls for planning approaches rooted in community realities and grassroots agency.

Paper long abstract

Addis Ababa has been facing challenges related to rural-urban migration and displacement driven by conflict and climate change. These pressures have contributed to a shortage of affordable formal housing, leading many citizens to seek informal alternatives. As a result, large parts of the city remain unplanned.

While dominant development narratives often frame informal settlements solely as indicators of poverty, this study also evaluates their strengths, including adaptability, spatial organisation, and community cohesion. The neglect of these qualities often leads to top-down interventions that disrupt existing social structures.

This research is based on work conducted in five informal settlements in Addis Ababa. It draws from lived experience and professional engagement with UNICEF, incorporating workshops, semi-structured interviews, mapping, observation, and a questionnaire completed by 30 residents. The findings are analysed using an evaluation matrix, focusing on how these settlements enable residents to meet basic needs and maintain a sense of stability and dignity under constrained conditions.

Rather than viewing these areas as temporary or disorganised, the study highlights how residents build and maintain spatial systems through local knowledge, negotiation, and collective action. These settlements represent not only responses to exclusion but also active efforts to create viable urban lives via grassroots agency.

The paper calls for a shift in planning paradigm that begins with the realities of informal communities and works in partnership with them. The evaluation matrix offers a practical tool for identifying development priorities defined by residents themselves, with broader relevance for rapidly urbanising cities in the Global South.