Cities of Change Addis Ababa: Transformation Strategies for Urban Territories in the 21st Century - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3034600909 ISBN 13: 9783034600903

Publisher: Birkhäuser Architecture, 2009

Synopsis

This manual analyzes contemporary urban phenomena in economic growth regions using the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa as an example, and presents a catalogue of sustainable strategies for city planning practice in the Second and Third Worlds.

About this title

About the Author

Marc Angélil is a professor of architecture and design in the Architecture Department of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich). His work is focused on the sustainable development of urban territories.

Dirk Hebel is an assistant professor at the chair held by Marc Angélil and directs the Master of Advanced Studies Program in Urban Design at the Institute for Urban Design at the ETH Zürich.

From the Back Cover

The Urban Laboratory – Addis Ababa is a research initiative launched by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich in collaboration with Addis Ababa University (AAU) and the Ethiopian Engineering Capacity Building Program (ECBP). The laboratory sets as its objective the development of sustainable strategies for urban environments. Rather than upholding an a priori vision of an ideal city, the publication "Cities of Change: Addis Ababa" acknowledges the heterogeneous and at times messy conditions of urban territories, and makes a case for their transformation over time. One of the key aspects of the work encompasses scenario planning: designing processes for potential ‘futures’ according to varying constraints. Urban design as a discipline is reframed in view of an understanding of the city as a dynamic system, one delineated by stocks and flows of resources – with specific attention given to fluxes of people, energy, water, material, capital, space, and information. Emphasizing the specific case of Addis Ababa, the research brings to the forefront general questions of method and procedure that can be transferred to other ‘cities of change,’ whether in the developing or the developed world.

The research was undertaken at ETH Zurich’s Department of Architecture in the context of the Master of Advanced Studies Program in Urban Design, led by Marc Angélil and Dirk Hebel. Both have taught architectural and urban design at universities in Europe and the United States. Their research focuses on contemporary developments of large metropolitan regions. Over the last three years, their interest has centered on Ethiopia, one of the fastest growing nations in the world. The publication "Cities of Change: Addis Ababa" documents the research and exposes its findings to critical observations by invited authors.

Edition details

• Publisher: Birkhäuser Architecture
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3034600909
• ISBN 13: 9783034600903
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Angélil Marc, Hebel Dirk