Productive Architecture: Architectural Solution for Decentralized Solid Waste management in the case of Addis Ababa
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Date
2020-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
According to a recent United Nations (UN) report, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, has a
population of 4,794,000. Addis Ababa is home to 25% of Ethiopia’s urban population and is one
of the fastest growing cities in Africa. The rate of human consumption is rapidly transforming
our planet’s biomass into human-made mass, which includes more trash, and Addis Ababa is
estimated to generate 2 million tons of trash a year. Each person generates about 0.45 kg of waste
per day.
Addis Ababa’s waste managment currently exists as a linear process: trash flows from high density cities to sprawling landscapes of waste, which is Koshe. However, as cities grow and
become more dense, critical systems of waste infrastructure must be re-evaluated. Instead of
today’s isolated and linear processes, urban and waste ecologies can become an interconnected
and cyclical system. Current practices call for industrial processes to be pushed to the periphery
of cities, thereby severing the relationship between the urban environment inhabited by humans
and the one that is required to support the way humans live. If architects and designers become
engaged in the conversation of waste management and other industrial processes that support the
demands generated by cities, they can begin to repair the physical and mental separation of waste
and public activity, while also introducing cultural, economic, and environmental value in waste
infrastructure. This thesis was designed to be a provocative approach to contemplating waste and
waste management.
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Keywords
Waste Infrastructure,, Public Engagement,, Urban Design,, Waste-To-Energy,, Sustainable Cities,, Productive Architecture