The status of historic buildings in addis ababa and their Contribution to the urban development
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Date
2011-07
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Addis Ababauniversity
Abstract
Historic buildings have a lot of contribution for the development of a city: The primary
contribution of these historic buildings shows cities’ pasts, continuity of change through time,
periods of ascendancy of remarkable events, or ruptures in the urban fabric as a result of
conflict or transformation. It has also contribution for the present generations to understand
their place in history and to better cope with the constant mutations in society. On the other
hand, income generated from tourists and Architectural values are secondary contribution of the
historic buildings. This study consequently attempts to assess the status of historic buildings and
their contribution to the development of the capital city Ethiopia with five specific objectives.
To attain the objectives, the study employed percentage distribution followed by simple random
sampling and selected 35 historic buildings found in 10 sub-cites of Addis Ababa, unfortunately,
up on the process of sampling it has been discovered that one of the sample historic buildings is
found demolished therefore, only 34 historic buildings are taken for the analysis. For the tour
operators simple random sampling was employed and 19 tour operators were selected. The data
obtained from in-depth interview and personal observation was analyzed qualitatively and the
data from the survey was analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
Accordingly, Different issues like awareness of responsible owners, tour operators and heritage
experts in each sub-cites, economic contribution, maintenance and future prospects of historic
buildings were analyzed and the findings showed that the majority of responsible owners are not
aware of rules and regulations that they should follow during the maintenance. As the result,
most of the buildings are not well maintained .Moreover, none of the responsible owners who
tried to maintain the building did not get financial support and there is no maintenance they
know done by AACTB, those who don’t have the finance to maintain the buildings face different
problems in addition to this, none of the sub –cites tried to aware the responsible owners about
how to maintain these buildings. Moreover, these sub-city experts didn’t get any awareness from
the responsible authorities. The study result also indicates that, only few historic buildings are
known by the tour operators which imply less contribution to the development of the city. With
regard to future prospect of the buildings, there is lack of coordination between planning
institutions, Addis Ababa Culture and Tourism Bureau and the sub-cities. As a result the
development activities and heritage conservation are not going with the same pace.
To conclude, the study recommended adopting a general policy, hiring professional expertise,
conducting frequent technical studies and researches would help the historical buildings to get
protection from the concerned bodies and also preparing different fund raising programs like
music concerts and exhibitions to promote and to gain money for the conservation of the
buildings, beside designing current constructions in a way architecturally reflecting old
historical buildings believed will help the next generation understand how unique these historic
buildings are
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Urban development