AbstractsOther

Over the past two decades a body of scholarship on the Global South has begun to present new ways to conceptualize African cities and their spatio-temporal specificity. Despite this, the city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia is moving towards the reestablishment of its faded glory through means of aspatial modernization. The city’s aspirations for distinction and visibility can be seen as responses to the variable scales of contemporary urban systems. As ‘place’ is arguably no longer a singular concept, cities are rooted in relational networks rather than in ‘place’ alone. ‘Locality’ thus extends beyond the physical site to include linkages with a network of places around the world. Using an art-based research methodology, this research contributes to the discourse of urban development in the Global South generally, and Addis Ababa specifically. Findings are juxtaposed through documentation that includes theoretical essays, reportage, survey-informed graphics, interviews, and excerpts from a short film series and an existing plan for the Megenegna area. Potentials and challenges of place-based conceptions of urbanism are discussed, linking to the legacy of the 1960s mechanical and social paradigms. The insitutional role of UN-Habitat in the global collective supports is discussed for potential to supports existing resources and demographics for improved mobility and accessibility.