The Policy Paradox of Metropolitan Compact Development: The Historical and Socio-Cultural Dimensions in Addis Ababa’s Modernization
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Date
2024-07-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The critiques of metropolitan modernization sideline the nexus of the global and national policy constraint for adapting socio-culturally sustainable and land
scapebased models in the context of capital city planning. Addis Ababa’s context is relevant due to its exemplary historical and contemporary cases: The earlier modernization endeavors fulfilled against the medieval model foundation of the traditional settlement have still continued devoid of a strong moral basis. This doctoral essay aims to argue that the Compact City policy intensified in the last two decades will have dire socio-cultural implications, owing to the city’s radical imagebuilding historical legacy as well as the global pressure. The criticism necessitated to meet three objectives: the first was to elaborate how the medieval traditions by which the city was formed resisted the early modernization trends (Westernization, capitalistic); whereas the second characterized the post-War architectural marvels from the international historical perspective. The third examined the current policy implications in relation to the previous two. For this purpose, a flexible multi-method and multiple case-studies research design was employed to generate the relevant data from primary and secondary sources, including historical documents, city plans, accessible (authoritative) evaluation reports, and site observations. The analogical induction between the main concern of the contemporarily adapted model of sustainability and the motives of the historical modernization policy infer the The Policy Paradox of Metropolitan Compact Development IV problematic position of the diplomatic, capital city, as pressured to ambitiously look modern. In conclusion, such radical urban transformation drives (i.e. city image building obsession devoid of the optimal development rate) will undermine the local community, urban heritage conservation-based development as well as institutional resilience (capacity building). The insight is significant for the debate on the Sub Saharan political economy of metropolitan modernity, suggesting the real intentions of the preference to certain types of ‘sustainability’ strategies, in addition to the predicaments of globalization (late capitalism) for equitable urban transition.
Key: Metropolitan Modernization Sustainability, Historical-Institutional Challenges, Socio-Cultural Challenges, Addis Ababa City Plans, Urban Sustainability Models, Compact City Policy, Equitable Urban Transition