Since the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944, housing has often been part of the foreign aid agenda of international agencies and non-governmental organizations. Housing concepts included in the development aid “packages” were often used to introduce new political ideas and economic paradigms that would dramatically affect the livelihoods of the society at large, and of urban communities in particular. The city of Addis Ababa exemplified these circumstances, especially throughout the cold-war period, during which this phenomenon was particularly striking. This theme is precisely the focus of the article “Housing Innovation and the Global Foreign Aid Agenda in Addis Ababa (1964-1993)”, which was published in the italian magazine Rassegna di Architettura e Urbanistica, in 2021. Written by members of the Addis Ababa Living Lab Consortium – coordinator Nelson Mota and PHD candidate Brook Teklehaimanot Haileselassie – the article reviews three cases of housing settlements built in Addis Ababa from the mid1960s to the early 1990s, which were developed under the auspices of the foreign aid agenda. Spanning two completely different political systems, from the last decade of the rule of emperor to the whole duration of the Derg regime, this article discusses the complex balance between individual homeownership and collective welfare as central aspects of housing programs and housing design that aimed at emancipating communities of urban poor in Addis Ababa.
