Integrating urban and industrial development in Ethiopia

University crest
Selamawit Wondimu
PhD student
Environment, infrastructure and sustainability, Planning, people and place
Selamawit's research looks at the disjointed nature of processes of state-led industrialization and rapid Urbanization in Ethiopia.

Supervised by Dr Tom Goodfellow and Dr Melanie Lombard. 

My research studies the disjointed nature of processes of state-led industrialization and rapid Urbanization in Ethiopia. Looking at the institutional, political and ideological environment into which industrial parks development policy came in, the study aims to understand the factors that inhibited policy integration and organizational coordination that could have enhanced synergetic effects between the two interactive processes of rapid change.

The unique political-administrative structure and institutional mechanisms used to enforce the heavily ideologically driven rapid industrialization effort during a highly politically unstable period sets the stage for the sudden landing of the massive industrial infrastructure project in a city that is neither prepared or able to deal with its ripple effects.

By looking at the interactions (and lack thereof) of the various planning processes at various scales in the urban-industrial interface, The study highlights the various gaps and overlaps that emerged and their effect on both economic efficiency and liveability in industrial cities. Finally the study highlights how this has affected physical and economic integration within Hawassa and with its hinterlands.

Prior to joining USP as a PhD student in 2018, I worked on the DFID funded BRACED resilience building program in Ethiopia as Head of Innovation and Program development and as a senior Analyst on the industrial parks development at the Institute for Global Change. I also worked in a lecturer at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) and consequently support work on urban policy in two multilateral agencies.

My interests ranges across Urban studies and Planning, Development Studies and African Studies with interdisciplinary studies of the ongoing rapid transformation in African cities. This interdisciplinary is reflected in my own background having done a BSc in Architecture and Urban planning at EIABC, Addis Ababa University, an MSc in Sustainable Development at the University of Exeter and an MSc in Human settlements at the University of Leuven.