Ethiopian urban land allocation policy and its contribution to urban densification

Urban densification is considered as the best tool for efficient urban land utilization, containment, and minimizing urban development costs. It is also a widely accepted approach to mitigate shortages of urban land and urban sprawl. With this in mind, Ethiopia has adopted a standard-based urban land allocation policy. The policy relies on population size during the urban planning process to address issues related to sustainable urban development by increasing the densities of its urban areas. However, the impact of the existing urban land allocation policy on urban densification has not been investigated adequately. Thus, this study examines the contribution of existing urban land allocation policies to urban densification in Ethiopia. A mixed research approach was employed to achieve the objective of the study. The study revealed that the policy gives more attention to the immediate and tangible conditions than the efficient use of land resources. Therefore, it allocated an average of 223 square meters of land to each person for urban development. The study implies that the country's urban land allocation policy is ineffective in achieving the intended outcome of urban densification. Instead, coupled with uncontrolled urban population growth, it has been exacerbating the rapid horizontal expansion of urban areas. With the current trend of horizontal expansion of urban areas, the country's land resources is expected to be converted into a built-up environment within the next 127 years unless the policy is radically changed. Thus, this paper calls for revisiting the existing urban land allocation strategy of the country in a way that responds towards efficient urban land allocation and sustainable urban development.