Managing the Challenges of the Built Environment Development Process In Ethiopian Urbanization: The Environmental Responsiveness Failure of the Management System in the Addis Ababa and Sebeta Urban Region.
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Date
2023-03-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The built environment has become not only a major component of the physical environment but also one that has opportunities and challenges for the other components like the natural and working landscapes especially since the industrial revolution, which triggered rapid urbanization of the world and growth of urban centers. The literature review indicated that the main challenges were depletion and pollution of the landscapes that unless managed the built environment development process can fail to be responsive to the challenges. This research aims at studying the challenges of depletion of the natural and working landscapes in the context of rapid built environment development process, an emerging management of the process, and public ownership of land. The general objective of the research is investigating why the management of the Built Environment Development Process's responsiveness to its challenges for the natural and working landscapes in Ethiopia appears to have gaps and how the gaps can be reduced by taking Sebeta town, one of the emerging towns surrounding Addis Ababa, as a case. Both quantitative and qualitative methods including interview, focus group discussion, document review, and observation were used for the research. In addition, land use/land cover analysis based on time series satellite imageries; Participatory Geographical Information System (PGIS) were used as analysis methods. The result indicates that the built environment development process (BEDP) in the study region has significant gaps of responsiveness to the natural and working landscapes: it has led to the loss of 3,956.26ha of the landscapes from 2005 to 2018. In this process, the most affected areas include fertile agricultural lands, environmentally fragile zones including forested mountains, spaces providing cultural iv and spiritual opportunities, and riverbanks. The driver for the BEDP responsiveness gaps on the natural and working landscapes is the failure management system: (i) Its in existence that has led to spontaneous BEDP .(ii) Its inadequacy in terms of gaps in urban plans and their implementation. (iii) Limited availability of national and regional land use plans, and (iv) Gaps in the implementation of the public ownership of land policy that has not contributed as much as is expected.
Keywords: Built Environment; Environmental Responsiveness; Emerging Towns; Green Field Development; Natural and Working Landscapes; Urban Management Failures