Elias YitbarekMintesinot WoldeamanuelMelaku Eticha2026-09-252026-09-252026-06-01https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/9038Rapid urbanization, coupled with shortage of affordable formal housing, has contributed to the growth and persistence of informal settlements. Through time, these informal settlements have become part and parcel of the overall social and spatial fabrics of the given city, despite political changes, institutional restructuring, and land governance challenges. In this connection the aim of this research is mainly to identify the extent of informal settlements in the city of Addis Ababa, particularly after the restructuring of its boundary with Shaggar city. Secondly it tries to evaluate the regularization process of informal settlements ranging from registry to titling through investigation of spatial, legal and institutional setup. The study also interrogates the spatial layout, available regulations and identifies the actors involved at each stage of the regularization process. Thirdly, it examines implementation of the regularization process in relation to urban land use planning. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in undertaking the research. The study also reviewed the existing literature including policies, legal frameworks, regularization base maps, cadaster plans and available urban plan documents collected from different sources including city sectoral offices. Field observations and interviews were made with key experts in the field as well as with low income community groups. Furthermore, observations were also made in pertinent offices on archived daily records and desk services so as to better understand the extent and context of the regularization processes of informal settlements. Data were analyzed by ArcGIS 10.8 software to identify the location of informal settlements by overlying the collected data and verifying this with field observation at selected areas using recent satellite images. It is observed that the existing data are fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult to access or retrieve. The study results have shown that about 50 percent of settlements are informal. Moreover, findings related to regularization process show that the process is considerably slow and inefficient, often requiring residents to make multiple follow-up visits (on average up two years) and remains a challenging task to get title deeds because of spatial or land use plan mismatches, legislative gaps and fragmented institutional setup. Findings regarding institutions also revealed unclear roles and responsibilities of actors as well as an extended bureaucracy. Findings on legal aspects indicate inconsistency in the implementation of legal provisions resulting in inefficient execution. The findings related to spatial planning indicate that discrepancies often exist between approved urban plan framework and the actual layout of regularized informal settlements. Unlike the widely accepted categorization of top-down or bottom-up intervention on informal settlements, the case of Addis Ababa indicates a more complex scenario that does not fully align with either model. The city‟s regularization implementation appears to reflect a middle planning approach that neither regularize nor negates the totality of informal settlements. Therefore, appropriate reforms regarding spatial planning, institutional restructuring and legal amendment are required within a framework of proactive urban planning in order to enhance the effectiveness of the implementation of the regularization process. Moreover, well-organized digital data enhances the overall informal settlement planning, efficiencies and thus smoothens the decision-making processes. Addressing these issues innovatively and holistically fosters inclusive and sustainable urban development that balances growth with social equityenInformal SettlementsExtentRegularization ProcessTitlingUrban PlanningDissertation