What are Design Principles?

Design principles are widely applicable laws, guidelines, biases and design considerations which
designers apply with discretion. Professionals from many disciplines—e.g., behavioral science, sociology,
physics and ergonomics—provided the foundation for design principles via their accumulated knowledge
and experience.

What are Design Guidelines?

Design guidelines are sets of recommendations on how to apply design principles to provide a
positive user experience. Designers use such guidelines to judge how to adopt principles such as
intuitiveness, learnability, efficiency and consistency so they can create compelling designs and
meet and exceed user needs.

Five urbanisation challenges in Addis Ababa

By Adrian Young on 30 September 2014 Urban design, Urban Development | Addis Ababa

I was recently quizzed on what I consider to be the key urbanisation issues in Addis Ababa based on my experience living in
the city over the last year.

So here is a quick overview of five urbanisation challenges facing the city from my own perspective

1. Sustainability of buildings and infrastructure

Addis Ababa is currently undergoing a massive construction boom. Unfortunately, the design and construction of many
buildings and infrastructure is of a low quality, with insufficient attention being paid to issues of environmental performance
and life-cycle analysis. Understandably, the government is facing pressure to meet rapidly growing demands for housing
and infrastructure and to raise living standards. However, the current short-term focus on meeting immediate needs rather
than considering longer-term issues of sustainability is likely to prove very costly in the long-term, due to the high cost and
complexity of retrofitting and rebuilding infrastructure.

2. Urban planning and integration

The rapid growth of Addis Ababa is not being managed effectively by appropriate urban planning mechanisms.
Consequently, urban development activities are not well-regulated and there is a lack of integration of new urban
developments in transport, housing, commercial buildings, and utility services. For example, large multi-story buildings are
constructed with no parking facilities on major roads where parking is also banned. Furthermore, there is a lack of
consideration given to the effects of urban development on the existing character of locations and the emergence (and
destruction) of precincts. Not to mention my personal bug-bear, the virtual absence of any consideration for pedestrians in
urban design and construction management.

3. The informal sector

The informal sector plays an important role in generating employment opportunities for youth and recent urban migrants, as
well as supporting the provision of goods and services to city residents. In particular, the flexibility and adaptability of the
informal sector helps to mitigate the effects of disruptions caused by major urban development activities. However, the
informal sector is not well-understood or appreciated by city officials and faces constant marginalization and subordination
through poorly considered regulations and lack of genuine engagement.

4. Environmental management

Probably the one aspect that affects most people in the city is the lack of reliable and secure access to potable water,
sanitation, and waste management services. This results in numerous public health issues for city residents, particularly the
poor. In addition, heavy rainfall causes minor flooding, erosion of unsealed roads, overflow of sewerage systems, and
disruptions to energy supplies, due to inadequate drainage and lack of green spaces to absorb excess runoff.

5. Investment in human capital

Investment in human capital is a critical component of sustained economic growth and development in cities and regions.
However, due to underinvestment and severe capacity constraints the quality of education, health and other social services
remains poor in Addis Ababa. Consequently, social development indicators and access to secure employment and
economic opportunities remain low for many residents of the city. Moreover, the city is heavily reliant on technical support
from foreign professionals across many key sectors and industries.

Other notable urbanisation issues include a poorly functioning urban land market, encroachment on productive agricultural
lands from urban growth, and lack of modern banking facilities.

Well, t

RESILIENCE ETHIOPIA

EXPLORING HOUSING
SOLUTIONS FOR ADDIS ABABA
10 December 2014

Inner-city slum redevelopment in Addis Ababa is a hot agenda. It

is caught between the urge to satisfy the ever increasing housing
demand by the growing urban population and the threat of loss of
livelihood by low income families living in the inner cities. City
government authorities try to justify, that the existing housing
schemes, which mainly involve the clearing of dilapidated mud
and wood houses and replacing them with four and more storey
condominium housing units, are the cheapest and fastest way to
accommodate the backlog and ever increasing demand of houses
in the city. Cordaid explores alternative inner-city re-development
approaches and housing solutions that accommodate the holistic
needs of the low income slum-dwellers. So far, we have initiated
an integrated inner-city re-development plan for a slum
neighborhood in Lideta.

Current Housing Situation

Addis Ababa is suffering from housing backlog created during the last military regime
and the first decade of the existing one. This situation justifies an aggressive low cost
house production in the city.

Land is a key issue in housing projects, and rural and urban land is public (government)
property, due to the legacy of the past dictatorial socialist oriented military regime that
nationalized land and extra houses in urban areas. This facilitated availing land for
housing projects gets more expensive by leasing at high prices the prime land gained,
due to densification and re-location of residents in the re-developed inner cities. The re-
located residents that occupied the land in inner cities lived in the heavily subsidized
rented houses from the government, which were nationalized as extra houses from
original owners.

To build the condominium houses for those relocated from inner cities; city expansion
land is taken at lesser than market price compensation payment from the poor farmers
in the peripheral areas. 

The housing project on one hand affected the livelihood and wellbeing of the relocated
poor slum dweller families that depended on the non-formal economy connected to the
inner cities and the social capital that cushioned shocks. Even for those who are
employed, the transport costs are digging hard in to the already small wage income.

On the other hand, the poor farming families in the peripheral areas are affected as a
result of mostly hasty decisions and small compensations. They were not prepared for it
and don’t have the necessary skills for city life. Compensation money is also poorly
invested or consumed in most of the cases. As a result, families broke; children were
affected and ended up in the slums.

Authorities argue that the construction boom, both in the inner cities  and at the
outskirts of Addis Ababa, created huge unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. These jobs
accommodate a significant number of individuals whose livelihood is disrupted as a
result of dislocation from the inner cities and the city expansion areas. This is of course
true for the younger, mainly male unskilled and semi-skilled family members. The
women and elderly in the informal sector in the inner cities and expansion areas are
believed to be the ones affected most. It is very difficult for these social groups to adapt
to the new livelihood opportunities claimed to be created in the construction and service
industries. The women, due to their responsibilities at home and skill constraints,
cannot travel long distances, where new opportunities have been created.

 The need – exploring alternative inner-city re-development

It is therefore important to explore alternative inner-city re-development approaches
and housing solutions that accommodate the holistic needs of slum-dwellers and those,
who primarily aspire to live in a better environment and houses in the inner cities.

By convening all stakeholders, including slum dwellers and their engagement, it is

possible to come up with win-win strategies of inner-city slums re-development
including land use and neighborhood (housing and related infrastructure) planning,
financing and management mechanisms.
 Cordaid’s involvement
Cordaid Urban Matters understands that the current context in Addis Ababa, with
regard to urban development policies and practices, justifies an effort to explore and
suggest win-win strategies that are friendlier to low income slum dwellers.

Understanding the context particularly facilitates the identification of the existing good
practices by the government and non-state partners; and the mobilization of the
involvement of all stakeholders, particularly knowledge institutions. This will enhance
the robustness of the strategies in terms of acceptability, sustainability, replication and
will of investors (slum dwellers, government, bi-lateral and multi-lateral organizations,
private developers, finance institutions, NGOs, CBOs etc.).

Cognizant of this, Cordaid Urban Matters initiated an integrated inner-city re-

development and housing plan for a slum neighborhood in Woreda 01 of Lideta sub-city
in Addis Ababa. The slum neighborhood of Woreda 01 was targeted based on the
assessment conducted by experts from the Institute for Housing Studies in
Rotterdam (IHS) in 2011 to avoid an overlap with the current government plan.
Furthermore, IHS identified a required community and local government with a positive
attitude and readiness for the integrated urban development approach.

Following the targets, a neighborhood mapping with experts from the International

Institute of Rural  Reconstruction (IIRR) was conducted to understand the priorities of
the local community, in which housing emerged as issue followed by environment,
sanitation and youth & unemployment.

We believe that this initiative greatly contributes to the current effort of the Addis Ababa
city government to solve the severe housing problem, particularly by addressing the low
income in a sustainable manner by facilitating their engagement and saving their
livelihoods and social capital.

 Developments
Cordaid incorporated the expertise of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building
Constriction and City Development (EiABC), a key stakeholder, in the study “Integrated
Inner-city Redevelopment Plan in Woreda-01 of Lideta Sub-city of Addis Ababa”. The
study constitutes neighborhood reading (diachronic and synchronic analysis), case
studies (past practices by different parties) and a proposal of a Local Development Plan.

With the aim to secure technical feedback, this first phase report was presented to urban
development professionals and officials from the Federal Ministry of Urban
Development, Housing and Construction, the Addis Ababa City Government and NGOs.
In addition to useful comments, the participants appreciated and promised to support
the initiative in their areas of specialty and mandate.
The second and final phase of the program development will resume following the
approval of the first phase by authorities. The second phase constitutes detailed
consultations with policy makers and the slum dwellers, refining the land use and
developing neighborhood design (preliminary residential housing typologies,
decentralized sanitation design options, adoption of sport facility design, cost estimation
etc.), refining financing strategies and management, proposal writing, presentation to
local and international stakeholders for funding.

Cordaid welcomes interested local and international actors to join this initiative of
inclusive slum re-development and urban planning initiatives in Addis Ababa and other
cities in developing countries.

 Contact
If you want to join our housing initiative or just want more information on this project,
please contact Teshome Shibru, Programme Manager Ethiopia.

These days, it’s easy to feel that good design is a luxury produced mostly for the enjoyment
of the super-rich. But that’s not the whole picture. In recent years, architects and designers
like Shigeru Ban and Nille Juul-Sørensen, along with organizations like the recently
shuttered Architecture for Humanity, have increasingly pushed for a more humanitarian
approach to design. Today, plenty of like-minded and largely unrecognized creative people
are not designing for the wealthy, but for the poor.

Arturo Vittori, founder of the Italian firm Architecture and Vision, is answering the call by
tackling a single need. In 2012, he and a team of fellow designers visited Ethiopian villages
in the country’s mountainous northeastern region. They noticed women were having to
walk for miles just to draw contaminated water from shallow, dirty ponds. According to the
World Health Organization, 34% of Ethiopia’s rural population lacks access to clean
drinking water, one of the reasons that 54,000 children die each year from diarrhea.
 A Warka tree (image courtesy of Architecture
and Vision)

Vittori’s team responded to the problem by developing Warka Water, an alternative water

source named for the Ethiopian fig tree that serves as a central gathering place in many
villages. The 33-foot-tall collection tower harvests up to 26.4 gallons of rain, fog, and dew
every day and can hold up to 264 gallons of water. It’s ideal for high plateaus where
conventional pipelines often don’t reach and where wells can be difficult to drill. So far,
they’ve built nine water towers (one in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa), and are
currently raising funds on Kickstarter to construct and test 10 new prototypes.

From a Western perspective, Warka Water is architecturally stunning. The tower’s outer,
triangular frame is woven from split bamboo following local basket weaving traditions.
Inside hangs a water-collecting plastic mesh inspired by lotus flower leaves, spider web
threads, cacti, and the Namib beetle’s shell — all which have developed their own ways to
draw water from thin air. Seen from a distance, the structure’s overall shape mimics the
geometry of the termite mounds found throughout northern Ethiopia. A fabric overhang
also provides shade, much like the branches of the Warka tree, under which people can
meet.

But as beautiful as it is, it’s the possibility of what Warka Water could accomplish once
large scale production is reached (planned for 2019) that really matters. The water it
collects from the atmosphere in rural regions will likely comply with WHO standards for
drinking water purity, meaning a lot fewer kids will get sick. The towers could also
invigorate the local economy. They’re relatively cheap to produce —about $1,000 in
Ethiopia — and easy for villagers to build and maintain themselves, as construction doesn’t
require the use of power tools or scaffolding. Vittori and his colleagues plan to offer
training courses to village inhabitants, teaching them how to construct, use, and care for the
towers.

“It’s about answering a need,” the architect told Hyperallergic via email, when we asked
why he was so interested in designing for the poor. “I believe we all should do something
to make our planet a better place for all of us and not thinking only to our immediate
interests.”
hat’s my point of view based on my personal experiences. Any feedback or comments are most welcome.

Takeaway 1: Planning - The involvement of the community in a variety of forms plays a central
role in the effective functioning of communal latrines. For example, to encourage ownership, the
beneficiary communities need to make some monetary or in-kind commitment. Understanding
the importance of community ownership, AAWSA went a step further and followed a demand
responsive approach, by transferring the management of the communal latrines to the
beneficiary communities. AAWSA also found that the ratio of users-to-toilet stalls supports
social cohesion: when the initiative was first launched, their communal latrine model was
designed to accommodate 3-5 households per toilet stall; as the initiative evolved, however, and
AAWSA gained more experience, they found that the optimal ratio for promoting the sustainable
use of the shared facilities was  one household per toilet stall, even though the facilities continue
to discharge to a pit or single shared septic tank.
 
Takeaway 2: Identification - Local staff, e.g. health extension workers, play a critical role in
ensuring the success of shared sanitation facilities. Under AAWSA’s program, health extension
workers help in determining which households qualify for communal toilets. Health extension
workers enable better targeting of households who need the access the most, and they have
been able to advocate – on an ongoing basis – against open defecation and, instead,
encourage households to use local latrines.
 
Takeaway 3: Design - Public facilities should be designed to be friendly to vulnerable groups,
such as the elderly or disabled. Under the program initially, the shared facilities were not
designed to be accessible for people with disabilities. However, a member of one of the first
public toilet management teams, who herself had limited physical mobility, came forward and
proposed adding ramps to the facilities and including additional space in the stalls, which would
improve access and allow for a caretaker to assist in bathing and using the toilet. Such design
features are now standard for AAWSA’s shared sanitation facilities.
 
Mr. Tadege Azeze, a 62 year old man with physical limitations
affecting his mobility at a young age, established a public toilet and
shower management association in 2004, named Yenegew Sew.
Cognizant of the issues faced by vulnerable groups, he became the
chairperson of the association overseeing 24 public sanitation
facilities and 121 staff members in the city.
 Piasa public toilet
facility
Photo: Amanuel WoldetsadikThe association received the toilets on a
lease from the city administration and invested in them, by renovating
and rehabilitating them through the use of World Bank funds. The
facilities provide affordable toilet and shower services to underserved
communities including the homeless, from early morning to late at
night. According to Mr. Tadege, the key to success is the cross-
subsidy arrangement whereby the funds generated by more profitable
facilities help offset those with less revenue. This arrangement has
enabled those facilities with access to a sewer network to share their
advantage of not having desludging costs with those that use vacuum
trucks for desludging. The association also offers complementary
services to increase its revenue base through the sale of toilet paper
and soap for customers. The association has ensured a sustainable
source of income for 121 families. As a result of their great work,
Yenegew Sew has demonstrated itself to be one of the most effective
and efficient public sanitation service provider associations of Addis.
Takeaway 4: Implementation - To draw more customers to the public sanitation facilities,
AAWSA has included additional services, such as shower facilities, clothes washing stations,
small shops and cafés, thus making them more financially viable. As space in the city’s dense
areas is extremely valuable, leading to economic activities being often prioritized over
sanitation, AAWSA has learned the importance of combining the facilities with income-
generating activities in order to attract more users but also to improve their viability. Likewise,
they have learned that the location of the shared sanitation facilities can further promote their
use: the clustering of public toilets matters, since those located near market places and
connected to the sewer network can subsidize the less optimally located public toilets.
  In Bole Woreda 6, a neighborhood of Addis, Worknish Meneri, a widowed HIV-positive mother
of 5 children in her 50s, joined a cooperative union to create supplemental income by collecting
usage fees for the showers and toilets. While she was happy to have the opportunity, the limited
revenue and high maintenance costs make it an unsustainable microenterprise, further
evidenced by the high dropout rate of members of the cooperative. Ms. Meneri has
consequently inquired about the possibility of adding food vendor services at the sanitation
facilities, which is currently not allowed under current regulations due to health safety concerns.
Finding creative ways to minimize operations costs will be critical to the viability of the public
sanitation facility.  
 
In Bole Woreda 6, a neighborhood of Addis, Worknish Meneri, a
widowed HIV-positive mother of 5 children in her 50s, joined a
cooperative union to create supplemental income by collecting usage
fees for the showers and toilets. While she was happy to have the
opportunity, the limited revenue and high maintenance costs make it
an unsustainable microenterprise, further evidenced by the high
dropout rate of members of the cooperative. Ms. Meneri has
consequently inquired about the possibility of adding food vendor
services at the sanitation facilities, which is currently not allowed
under current regulations due to health safety concerns. Finding
creative ways to minimize operations costs will be critical to the
viability of the public sanitation facility.

Takeaway 5: Monitoring - Maintaining the quality of the shared facilities requires a clear set of
standards and institutions or individuals able to enforce the standards during construction and
operation. For the communal toilets, there are no standardized guidelines or rules for their
usage once they have been handed over to the households. Similarly, once the public facilities
are handed over to the operators, there is no ongoing monitoring and evaluation to ensure the
quality of the services provided. This situation arises partly due to the lack of an institution or
citizen group with the mandate for oversite or with the funding needed for such oversight. A
system in which AAWSA oversees the facilities can be envisioned but would require some
rethinking of the overall financial model – both for communal and for public facilities. There are
also global examples in which users can hold the services providers to certain standards
through, for example, mobile rating systems, but such approaches also require funding and
ownership to implement.
 
 
Tameru Worku, a young adult involved in the cooperative for the
Yeka Woreda 7 neighborhood shifted from his prior enterprise of car
washing to the management of local public sanitation facilities. He has
faced problems during his tenure of operating the facility as a result of
poor quality construction – six of the ten showers are not operational,
limiting his revenue – and due to ongoing water leakage through the
pipes, furthering negatively impacting the functioning of the shower
facilities. While Tameru continues to believe in the value of the
facility, he also thinks that the construction quality should be more
closely monitored in order to minimize such management issues once
the facility is transferred to an operator.

Over the past decade, AAWSA has continued to implement a diversity of institutional, financial
and technical solutions to help address the challenges of providing shared sanitation services
by employing incremental, adaptive, and mixed approaches, which are part of its own ‘Citywide
Inclusive Sanitation’ philosophy.

Reference

1 www.cordaid.org, www.urbanafrica.net, www.edition.cnn.com, www.interaction-design.org

1.  Dictionary meanings in the Cambridge Dictionary of American English, at Dictionary.com (esp. meanings 1–5 and 7–8) and
at AskOxford (especially verbs).
2. ^ Dorst, Kees; Dijkhuis, Judith (1995). "Comparing paradigms for describing design activity". Design Studies. 16 (2): 261–
274. doi:10.1016/0142-694X(94)00012-3.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c Brooks, F.P. (2010) The design of design: Essays from a computer scientist, Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 0-
201-36298-8.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Schön, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action, Basic Books, USA.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Ralph, P. (2010) "Comparing two software design process theories". International Conference on Design Science
Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST 2010), Springer, St. Gallen, Switzerland, pp. 139–
153. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-13335-0_10.