WOLLEGA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING

ASSIGNMENT Ethiopian Policies on Urban Reality

NAME ID.NO.
Eyob Ketema ……………………………………..WU-1000905

SUMMITED TO INS. NAOL D.

NEKEMTE ETHIOPIA
AUGUST 31, 2021GC.

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Challenges of urban development policy in developed countries
The expansion of the latest approaches in urban development policy has been induced by a
set of motives. Among the most important is the strong dominance of neoliberal political
thinking leading to a changing perception of the role of the public sector in development and
collective consumption. Such development has been accompanied by the strengthening role
of the financial sector in society. Also important has been an increasing awareness of the
crucial role of cities in economic development. On the other hand, the traditional pillar of
urban development policy – public consumption and its upgrading – is still important as well,
even though it can be regarded as a more routine part of urban policy-making nowadays.
Economic development-oriented and environmental approaches also transform into more
elaborate forms. As a response to societal development, there has emerged a set of new
approaches representing influential conceptual innovations. Their understanding and
reasonable application substantially influences the processes and outcomes of urban
development policy. In the case of large metropolises, their successful application can
significantly enhance development in their regions and, in the case of capital cities of smaller
countries, even the growth of the whole country. They reflect the processes of globalisation,
as well as transfers of policies and concepts across the urban world (e.g. Clarke 2012.)

Governance
The diffusion of the concept of governance (e.g. as urban governance) has influenced
considerably recent urban development policy. It reflects the realisation that urban
development and the functioning of cities is not the exclusive agenda of local governments.
Decision-making in this field is now based on wide-scale interactions of many actors
representing various sectors and institutions. The most visible shift towards governance can
be observed in the rising number and multiple forms of inter-sectoral ‘partnerships’. The
larger number of directly involved actors reinforces total opportunities and capacities for
urban development. Governance in its well-designed practices is more open to various forms
of participatory democracy, with more respected positions for citizens’ associations,
community-based organisations, as well as individual citizens/voters. In Bratislava
governance structures are still under formation, expanding over the last decade. This

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development is not without controversies (e.g. asymmetries in treating particular actors) and a
search for suitable arrangements. We can observe progress in such fields as service delivery,
strategic planning, and participatory budgeting.

City regions
The spatial dimension of the urban development policy is also changing significantly. In the
times of large urbanised areas, the perception of a city within its administrative borders is an
anachronism. The spread of urbanised areas and their role in social and economic
development has led to a general shift in favour of concepts linking a city and its region, or
the formation of metropolitan areas. An expansion of this approach has a solid base in the
decades of debates on metropolitan government (e.g. Barlow 1991; Van den Berg et al.
2004). There prevails now a more pragmatic and integrative thinking linking together the
urban core and its hinterland, based e.g. on the usefulness of bridging workplaces and
housing (e.g. Savitch, Vogel 2000). Into the forefront of scientific debates joining ‘city
regions’ and ‘city regionalism’ came terms like ‘re-scaling’, or ‘re-territorialisation’ (see for
example Brenner 2004; Jonas 2012; Jonas, Ward 2007; Tosics 2007). In this ‘package’ of
conceptual innovations, the city region perspective is among the most accepted. It has
influenced not only global cities, but cities in general. Many city-region activities have
emerged around the world, with various institutional and spatial frameworks. There have also
been attempts to adjust this relation in a formal way by establishing formal administratively
consolidated urban areas uniting cities and their hinterlands, but they have been less common.
It is generally recognised that city regions concern distributive and urban development
policies, as well as inter-urban competitiveness.

Financialisation
Financialisation has penetrated deeply into the sphere of the public sector and public policy
during the last few decades (see e.g. Leitner 1994; Jessop 1998; Weber 2010). Current urban
development also needs very sophisticated financing schemes and tools, a combination of
various resources. As a primary factor of this development we can consider the scarcity of
resources in the local public sector if compared against its tasks, or ambitions. The generally
increasing impact of the financial sector and its innovativeness cannot be ignored either. An
increased interdependence between the financial sector and cities influenced activities in the

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public and private sectors in cities before and during the global financial crisis. Due to very
diverse national and local conditions, as well as to related decision-making outcomes,
financialisation is also typified by a wide variety of approaches and impacts in cities. These
factors because an intensifying interest in urban finance and financialisation research (see e.g.
Kamal-Chaoui, Sanchez-Reaza 2012). We can find studies paying attention to the ever-wider
use of innovative tools in municipal finance, in many cases accompanied by huge losses (e.g.
Hendriks, Sideway 2013), or local budget cuts with a reduction of public services (e.g.
Meegan et al. 2014). Other authors focus on real-estate aspects, mortgages and housing (e.g.
Coq-Huelva 2013). There are frequent debates on the interconnected nature of current urban
policy, capitalism and neoliberalism (e.g. Krätke 2014).

Financial issues have moved into the forefront of the local agenda in many ECE cities. They
were influenced by a specific, less generous financial framework of the post-socialist
transition, but they were also incorporated into pre-crisis economic growth processes. On the
other hand, cities had to cope with the crisis and post-crisis financial hard times.

Financialisation in the framework of an urban development policy can have specific features
there. As far as Bratislava is concerned, we document various aspects of financialisation in
the case of the changing situation in local finance (such as extensive borrowing and reduced
development budgets), housing market development (the most sensitive issue for
households), as well as urban development financialisation by means of big physical
development projects that emerged after the turn of the century (with the important role of
private resources). It has to be mentioned that financial aspects have always been very
important in urban development policy from a local-government perspective. However, there
prevailed more traditional principles and procedures of public finance (e.g. as local
budgeting).

Cities also intervened to various extent in spheres linked with the current perception of
financialisation, for example in public housing. At the same time, urban local governments
were an accustomed object of the financial sector‘s interest. For a long time cities preferred
more simple financial tools (such as credits or municipal bonds) used in public services and
public infrastructure development. The growing variability and complexity of urban life, new
powers, and more ambitious urban policies have made it necessary to update approaches and
use more sophisticated financial tools. It also requires more professional staff dealing with
local finance in cities.

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Conclusions
All the mentioned challenges – governance, city region and financialisation – are
interconnected and important for the development of any city and its region. Lack of progress
in any of those fields can diminish advances in the others. Despite many signs of progress, a
more significant shift in urban development policy in Bratislava requires more resolute
activities in all these fields. The existing shortcomings or contradictions reduce the
development potential of the city and its region. This is an important message, taking into
account Bratislava’s key role in the social and economic development of Slovakia. There are
also signs that the existing mixture of policy approaches is less well-prepared and lags behind
those in cities in other ECE states. It is probably influenced by the nature of the Slovak urban
system (with a smaller number of large cities in Slovakia), less intensive competition among
urban regions, and a less complex perception of urban development policy which persists in
Slovakia.

We can also conclude that the urban dimension of development was underestimated in
Slovakia in a long-term view, e.g. in comparison with sectoral approaches, or regional policy.
The progress of urban development policy in the Bratislava city region suffers from a lack of
true leadership and the culture of cooperation. There is a set of important and partly
competing actors (e.g. city government, regional self-government, the central state, and
dynamically growing suburban centres) active in the region and representing diverse
interests. Bratislava city self-government, as an institution with the greatest capacities, should
probably take over the role of the real leader in developing its ‘own’ region. Too strict a focus
on its own territory is short-sighted; more initiatives outside its border could be useful. The
Bratislava self-governing region should be more active in bridging the interests of Bratislava
and its hinterland. It should attract the rest of the communes and other potential partners to
mutually rewarding cooperation. Multi-level and horizontal aspects of governance should be
taken into account, as well as the incorporation of partners from outside the public sector.

All public administration actors in the Bratislava city region should overcome its prevailing
focus on its own territory and its own powers, and should adopt a more extensive, flexible
and cooperative perspective. Although the issue of the city region has already been debated, it

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is without good visible outcomes. A blurred spatial perception and partial interests seriously
limit any ideas on the Bratislava city region and its development. There should be a vital
institutional environment working in the city region, with many multi-tasking and single-
purpose bodies. It is a question to what extent the existing formal administrative and spatial
arrangements are too complicated and should be modified. Although it is highly unlikely,
there are more options, e.g. enlarging the Bratislava territory, enlarging the Bratislava self-
governing region, upgrading Bratislava into the position of a self-governing region, etc.
However, more soft forms of cooperation and joint collaborative planning are available more
quickly than waiting for new legislation and it subsequent adaptation. The case study of
Bratislava confirms that any progress in urban development policy also needs a more active
involvement of the central state, the EU and the private sector.

Challenges of urban development policy in developing countries

In the developing world, cities will compete among themselves, regardless of size and
hierarchy, to become regional centres in attracting FDI and high tech industries. This trend is
likely to spread from East Asia to cities in South America, South Asia and Africa (rapidly
catching up). Cities will be looking for high-quality investments and at FDI as a way to
upgrade the skills of their populations. To be successful they need to do three sets of actions:
improve business environments and city management, develop adequate infrastructure which
may include “super-infrastructure”, and market the city’s image through “visible” projects
and business facilitation.

Developing countries in the twenty-first century is experiencing rapid urbanization

with a high concentration of people in the urban areas while the population of
people in the rural areas is decreasing due to the rise in rural-urban push which has
adverse consequences on the economic and political development of developing
countries, in particular African cities. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze the
trends and nature of urbanization in Africa from the pre-colonial era to the
contemporary period of globalization in order to ascertain the implications of rapid
urbanization on the processes of democratic transitions, on the vagaries of food
sufficiency and crisis as well as its multiplier effects on the escalating rate of poverty
and insurgency in the cities. These problems stem from the lack of good
governance, high rate of corruption and the misappropriation of state resources

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through diverse economic liberalizing reforms and development strategies. Thus,
this study affirms that urbanization is a process that requires objective
management and institutional role differentiations and performance to create the
organizational synergy, moderation and frugality necessary for the equitable
distribution of the common wealth for the greatest good of all peoples not only in
the urban areas but also in the rural areas which invariably will bring about political
and economic development in African cities, and reduce the high incidences of
poverty, insurgency and food crisis.

This analysis of urban growth reveals some basic differences in urbanization patterns of the
developing countries:
* Group I: Heavily urbanized countries of more than 75 percent, with high historical
population concentrations, usually including megacities, but declining rates of urban growth.
Most growth is attributable to natural increase rather than migration. This type of urban
growth is typical in large Latin American countries.
* Group II: Recently urbanizing countries, with about half of the population living in urban
areas. Population pressures in rural areas will continue to push households to urban areas, but
growth rates have peaked and are beginning to decline. This pattern is typical in North
African and some Asian countries.
* Group III: Primarily rural but rapidly urbanizing countries, experiencing very high urban
growth, both in capital cities and secondary towns. Migration continues to be a major source
of urban demographic growth, although male migration has been replaced by household
migration, leading to a shift toward natural increase as the major fuel of growth. This is
typical in many African countries.
* Group IV: Large, mostly rural, heavily populated countries with severe pressures on the
land. Population size and high growth rates have led to major urban concentrations as well as
many secondary cities and towns. Urban growth rates have stabilized at high levels and are
projected to continue for the next decade. Large Asian countries fall into this category.

Urbanisation in developing countries is sometimes caused by the push from rural areas due to
significant changes taking place in the mode of production in agriculture, whereby a
proportion of the rural population is compelled to seek a living outside agriculture. Even with
variations in their approach and emphasis resulting from the context and cities examined,
most studies recognise the role of migration of the rural poor in search of work and their
frequently joining the lower circuits of the labour market and subsequent living in ‘slums’:
congested and degraded spaces within cities.

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