Abel Assefa

The ongoing post-state-led-demolition auction in #AddisAbeba uncovered interesting insights. It's frustrating to see how low-income communities in the capital are being systematically displaced to the outskirts, making way for 'wealthy individuals' to auction off the places they have called #home for generations, all in the name of #development! Out of the total plots being auctioned in the city (243), 22 of them, making up 32% (>1/3) of the total auctioned area, are found in #Arada, the historic hub of Addis Abeba with highest-priced plots according to @TheUrbanCenter. The staggering numbers and comparisons illustrated in the quoted infographic underpins how the rate of mass #demolition endangered the very heart of the African diplomatic capital by relentlessly imposing a long-lasting infrastructural and socio-economic crisis on lower-income and easily vulnerable urbanites. The city's increasing building density has also indicated that the already failing water and electricity infrastructures are insufficient to support the upcoming overambitious and aggressive #verticalurbanism, let alone its illicit #economycycle. An ironic juncture of time that is potentially dwarfing the genetic essence of Addis Abeba from 'the city of all' to 'the city of some'!