Environments by Design

Abstract

Located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Minalesh Tera is a 5ha land inside one of the largest open-air markets in Africa. It caters to diverse trades: blacksmiths, carpenters, leatherworkers, and plastic specialists to name a few. Artisans use the arterial streets and rented out workshops to transform scrap into a usable commodity. A minute screw from automotive parts of a car is dismantled and christened to find its new purpose. Since this operation is performed within the public domain, one can witness the process of dismembering a large entity into smaller usable parts. The streets operate as vibrant theatres of production. The cycle of collecting scrap and the infrastructure of reusing/ recycling depends on collecting items, sometimes thrown as garbage or scarp, and transporting to Minalesh Tera which usually happens on foot. Items are then sorted and distributed to different sectors within Minalesh Tera. 

Although the area is characterized as dilapidated, the intricate relationship between the artisans, the shop owners, and the municipality harbor an urban environment that is economically inclusive in addition to cleansing the city off its waste. The subtle negotiation between different actors on the use of space is a key issue to be explored. How is space appropriated and negotiated? What type and level of tacit community negotiations happen? Are these processes completely informal or do they operate within the formal domain? How can a city adapt or benefit from such bottom-up and innovative structures of land use? Spatial appropriations and negotiations will be the main points of interest. Visual ethnographic methods will be employed to reveal how informal spatial practices operate and how spatial resilience in Minalesh Tera contributes to accommodating spatial practices.