Assessing Urban Design Practices and the Implementation Challenges of Urban Design Megaprojects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2026-02-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Urban design megaprojects in rapidly urbanizing cities often face urban design practice challenges that undermine their effectiveness, legitimacy, and social sustainability. In Addis Ababa, recent government led urban design megaprojects initiated in 2019, particularly the Shegern Maswab initiative, have raised concerns regarding prevailing urban design practices and implementation processes. This study assesses urban design practices and the implementation challenges of selected urban design megaprojects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Using a case study method, the research integrates document review, semi-structured stakeholder interviews, field observations, survey data to capturing resident perceptions and outcomes of urban design interventions. The findings reveal systemic procedural weaknesses, including the commencement of construction prior to the completion of design documentation, politically driven time pressures, frequent on-site design modifications, and deviations from approved specifications and the Structural Plan, which collectively undermine spatial coherence, construction quality, and regulatory compliance. Public participation is largely symbolic and consultative, limiting stakeholder influence and resulting in persistent misalignment between design intentions and local needs. Additional challenges include weak inter agency coordination, unclear project parameters, limited involvement of design professionals, regulatory gaps, political intervention to the professions, and the uncritical adoption of foreign design models without adequate contextual adaptation. In some cases, these processes have contributed to resident displacement, and the erosion of place based social networks. While strong political commitment and centralized supervision have ensured project delivery on time, the study concludes that current urban design practices require substantial recalibration. Strengthening participatory governance, improving regulatory compliance, and enhancing professional engagement either through the development of a holistic locally grounded urban design practice manual or, at a minimum, through stricter adherence to existing planning and design regulations are essential to achieving socially inclusive, coherent, and sustainable urban megaprojects in Addis Ababa.
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Government Initiated Megaprojects, Implementation Challenges, Public Participation, Urban Beautification Projects, Urban Design Practices, Urban Design Process