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• Summary:

  • Context and justification

Cities are at the heart of economic opportunities that support global development efforts. In most countries, their contributions to national and global development are substantial compared to their rural counterparts. These contributions can be perceived in various ways, including factors expressed in econometric terms, such as GDP share and the level of investment attractiveness, which are crucial for improving employment possibilities and urban services. For example, according to Mazzanti et al. (2020), urban areas, covering less than 3% of the Earth’s surface and home to nearly 55% of the global population, generate more than 80% of global GDP. Moreover, the share of urban employment is increasing. For example, according to Xue et al. (2014) and Wu, X., et al. (2018), the share of urban employment in China increased from 26.3% in 1990 to 32.1% in 2000, to 47% in 2011, and to 80% in 2017. Furthermore, urban employment in Ethiopia rose from 11% in 1999 to 15% in 2013 (Yalew, 2020). Additionally, as the rate and level of urbanization increase, the role cities play in national and global development becomes more evident. Therefore, with an urbanization rate predicted at 4.63% per year (Kloosterboer, 2019), much is expected from Ethiopias urban economy and its capital, known to house 17% of the countrys urban population, as the country’s urban population is expected to triple by 2037 (World Bank, 2015; Spaliviero Cheru, 2017).

The Ethiopian government, therefore, needs to 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 determines how urban areas function and serve their inhabitants. Moreover, 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 justice and equity represents minimal quality of life and satisfaction. Hence, the optimal level of quality of life and satisfaction rests on ensuring spatial justice and equitable development. These accomplishments allow all members of the urban community to access their fair share of resources, services, and amenities and maintain the balance between wealthy and low-income families.

Spatial justice is at the core of equitable development, improving quality of life, healthy living conditions, and sustainable urban communities. Spatial justice is the 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 effective spatial planning, design, and management of available spaces and resources. One form of spatial justice in urban planning is spatial equity. Spatial equity strives to provide households living in different parts of urban centers with equitable development opportunities. However, it is common to encounter 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 the rich and the poor, this situation exacerbates spatial inequalities and poverty, harming 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, increased crime, loosening social ties, gentrification, urban sprawl, etc. Its also one of the possible repercussions of spatial injustice, representing a growing socio-economic disparity among city dwellers, especially between rich and poor households. For example, signs of spatial injustice and intra-urban spatial inequality are perceived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, challenging its development. The increasing spatial injustice and associated inequalities manifest in various ways, including the concentration of infrastructure, facilities, investments, employment opportunities, and housing units in some parts of the city and their dispersion 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 location decision of government-led social housing projects since 2004 in response to the growing housing needs in the city are some of these factors.

Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and measure the level of spatial injustice, associated inequality, and perceived poverty within the city related to informal settlements and social housing projects in the city. Based on indices of spatial justice and equity, the study will follow a comparative analysis approach at the sub-city level attempting 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 studied issue into two groups, with the sample size being calculated with a 95% confidence level. The studys results are expected to 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 objective of this study is to produce research findings that can be used to improve spatial justice and equity in social housing projects and to end the proliferation of informal settlements. The overall objective of this study is to produce research findings that can serve as policy inputs.

- Improve spatial justice and equity in social housing projects

- Reduce the proliferation of squatter settlements

- Promote justice and intra-urban spatial equality.

The specific goals of the study are to assess the level of injustice and spatial inequality in social housing projects and to explain how the outcomes of injustice in social housing and informal settlements contribute to overall spatial inequality within the city. In this regard, the study will attempt to identify factors related to social housing development projects that lead to intra-urban spatial inequality and to measure how each factor leads to spatial inequality and poverty. Consequently, the study will identify:

- Indicators of spatial justice

- Measure the level of injustice and spatial inequality

- Identify factors related to social housing projects, and

- Factors related 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 utilize a mixed research approach combining both qualitative and quantitative data. It follows a quasi-experimental design and focuses primarily on assessing the level of socio-spatial injustice in social housing projects in Addis Ababa and how they contribute to socio-spatial inequality and poverty within the city. In this regard, the Just City index will be used to measure and compare the spatial injustice level of equity in selected social housing projects. With this in mind, the design of the social housing project, land acquisition, planning and design, development, delivery, and usage will be evaluated to understand the factors contributing to overall socio-spatial injustice and inequality in the city. The main data used in this study are a combination of primary and secondary data relevant to this study. The primary data collection tools used in this study include document review, observation and spatial data mapping, semi-structured interviews, content analysis, and surveys. The key documents used for this study are relevant documents and official reports deliberately selected to present, describe, and narrate the characteristics of the social housing program from its inception to its utilization. Identifying and evaluating all steps 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 step of the analysis phase. Moreover, the processes and outcomes of informal settlements and their role in reinforcing socio-spatial inequalities within the city will be examined. Thus, based on the understanding gained from the distribution of social housing projects and informal settlements and their impacts, parts of the city will be classified based on a comparison of the opportunities and challenges attributed to social housing projects and informal settlements. Additionally, a classification method will be developed to categorize constraining factors for the purpose of identifying constraints and modeling. Finally, the contribution of constraining factors to overall socio-spatial inequality and poverty in the city will be assessed based on the principles of spatial justice and equity.