Squatter settlement and informal urbanization: causes and consequences

Area of Science:

• Urban Planning and Development
• Sociology
• Economics

Background:

• Squatter settlements and informal urbanization are significant concerns in Addis Ababa, with a high proportion of the population residing in informal areas.
• These settlements often arise illegally on open spaces, farmlands, steep slopes, or river buffers due to rapid urbanization and increasing formal land values.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the primary causes and consequences of squatter settlements and informal urbanization in Addis Ababa.
• To analyze the socio-economic and physical characteristics of these settlements and their inhabitants.

Main Methods:

• Utilized physical observation, questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions to gather data.
• Employed a systematic sampling technique for questionnaires, focusing on four selected districts with a high incidence of new informal settlements (964 households in 2018).

Main Results:

• Key drivers identified include site-related pulling factors (49%), sloppy topography (31%), rural-to-urban migration (11%), and urban policy (5%).
• Major causes encompass rural migration, prohibitive formal land prices, lack of affordable housing (including the 10/90 condominium scheme), land speculation, and the establishment of religious institutions.
• Consequences include unplanned construction, high infrastructure costs, fragmented land use planning, and difficulties in service provision.

Conclusions:

• The current affordable housing policy, while intended for the poor, inadvertently benefits higher-income groups due to down payment requirements, marginalizing the urban poor.
• There is a critical need for increased investment in affordable housing initiatives specifically targeting the urban poor to mitigate informal settlement growth and uphold the right to housing.