-Summary:

• Background and rationale:

Cities are at the heart of the economic opportunities that underpin global development efforts. In most countries, their contributions to national and global development are considerable compared to their rural counterparts. These contributions can be seen in a variety of ways, including factors expressed in terms of econometric expressions, such as share of GDP and level of investment attraction, which are key to improving urban employment opportunities and services. For example, according to (Mazzanti, et al., 2020), urban areas, which cover less than 3% of the earth's surface and are home to almost 55% of the world's population, generate more than 80% of global GDP. What's more, the share of urban employment is on the rise. For example, according to (Xue, et al., 2014; Wu, X., et al., 2018), the share of urban employment in China rose from 26.3% in 1990 to 32.1% in 2000, 47% in 2011 and 80% in 2017. In addition, urban employment in Ethiopia rose from 11% in 1999 to 15% in 2013 (Yalew, 2020). Furthermore, as the rate and level of urbanization increases, the role that cities play in national and global development becomes more evident. Consequently, with a projected urbanization rate of 4.63% per year (Kloosterboer, 2019), much is expected of Ethiopia's urban economy and its capital city known to house 17% of the country's urban population, as the country's urban population is expected to triple by 2037 (World Bank, 2015; Spaliviero & Cheru, 2017).
The Ethiopian government must therefore strive to improve the performance of urban centers while increasing the level and rate of urbanization. The performance of urban areas depends on the quality of urban planning, management and governance, which determine how well urban areas function and serve their inhabitants. In addition, the level of quality of life and associated satisfaction in cities depends on the degree of justice and equity in urban operations and services. A lower level of urban spatial justice and equity represents minimal quality of life and satisfaction. Thus, the optimum level of quality of life and satisfaction is based on ensuring spatial justice and equitable development. These achievements enable all members of the urban community to access their fair share of resources, services and facilities, and maintain the balance between affluent and low-income families.
Spatial justice is at the heart of equitable development, improved quality of life, healthy living conditions and sustainable urban communities. Spatial justice is fair and equitable access to socially valued resources and opportunities, including public goods, basic services, cultural assets, economic opportunities and healthy environments, through fair, inclusive and efficient spatial planning, design and management of available spaces and resources. One form of spatial justice in the urban planning process is spatial equity. Spatial equity strives to provide households living in different parts of urban centers with equitable development opportunities. However, it is not uncommon to encounter urban planning interventions or inactions that, knowingly or unknowingly, favor people living in certain parts of urban centers over others. By increasing the accumulation of vulnerabilities, segregation and the gap between rich and poor, this situation increases spatial inequalities and poverty, undermining efforts to ensure equitable development in urban centers.
Intra-urban spatial inequality is one of the main factors contributing to social ills in urban areas, including poverty, rising crime, loosening of social ties, gentrification, urban sprawl and so on. It's also one of the possible repercussions of spatial injustice, and represents a growing socio-economic disparity between city dwellers, particularly between rich and poor households. For example, signs of spatial injustice and intra-urban spatial inequality can be seen in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, calling its development into question. Growing spatial injustice and associated inequalities manifest themselves in a variety of ways, including the concentration of infrastructure, facilities, investment, employment opportunities and housing units in certain parts of the city, and the dispersion of these same elements in other areas. Although various factors can be attributed to the growing spatial injustice and inequality within the city, the proliferation of informal settlements within the city and the decision to locate social housing projects carried out by the government since 2004 in response to the city's growing housing needs are some of these factors.
This study therefore aims to assess and measure the level of spatial injustice, associated inequality and perceived poverty within the city associated with informal settlements and social housing projects in the city. Based on spatial justice and equity indices, the study will follow a comparative analysis approach at sub-city level that attempts to compare the distribution of social housing projects and associated development opportunities, as well as informal settlements and related vulnerabilities. It will use a cluster sampling method to select households that can provide the necessary information on the issue under study into two groups, with the sample size calculated at a 95% confidence level. The results of the study should help identify areas of intervention to promote spatial justice and equitable development in urban centers, and reduce overall spatial inequality and perceived poverty in cities suffering from similar types of challenges.

• Objective:

The overall aim of this study is to produce research results that can be used to improve the spatial justice and equity of social housing projects, and to halt the proliferation of informal settlements. The overall aim of this study is to produce research results that can be used as policy inputs.
- Improving spatial justice and equity in social housing projects
- Reducing the proliferation of squatter settlements
- promote intra-urban spatial justice and equality.
The specific objectives of the study are to assess the level of injustice and spatial inequality of social housing projects and to explain how the results of injustice in social housing and informal settlements contribute to overall spatial inequality within the city. In this respect, the study will attempt to identify the factors related to social housing development projects that lead to intra-urban spatial inequality and measure how each factor gives rise to spatial inequality and poverty. Accordingly, the study will identify
- Spatial justice indicators
- Measuring spatial injustice and inequality
- Identify factors related to social housing projects and
- factors linked to informal settlements leading to
- intra-urban spatial injustice and inequality, and
- measure how each factor gives rise to spatial injustice and inequality

• Main methods:

This study will use a mixed research approach combining qualitative and quantitative data. It follows a quasi-experimental design and focuses primarily on assessing the level of socio-spatial injustice of social housing projects in Addis Ababa and how they contribute to socio-spatial inequality and poverty within the city. In this respect, the Just City index will be used to measure and compare the level of spatial inequity of selected social housing projects. With this in mind, the social housing project's conception, land acquisition, planning and design, development, delivery and use will be assessed in order to understand the factors contributing to overall socio-spatial injustice and inequality in the city. The main data used in this study are a mixture of primary and secondary data relevant to this study. The main data collection tools used in this study are document review, spatial data observation and mapping, semi-structured interviews, content analysis and surveys. The main documents used for this study are relevant documents and official reports purposely selected to present, describe and narrate the characteristics of the social housing program from its inception to its use. The identification and assessment of all the stages involved in the production and provision of social housing, and the factors that may contribute to socio-spatial injustice and inequality, will constitute the first stage of the analysis phase. In addition, the processes and outcomes of informal settlements and their role in reinforcing socio-spatial inequalities within the city will be investigated. Thus, on the basis of the understanding gained from the distribution of social housing projects and informal settlements and their impacts, parts of the city are classified on the basis of a comparison of the opportunities and challenges attributed to social housing projects and informal settlements. In addition, a classification method will be developed to categorize constraint factors for constraint identification and modeling purposes. Finally, the contribution of constraint factors to overall socio-spatial inequality and poverty in the city will be assessed on the basis of the principles of spatial justice and equity. Accordingly, the study