Governing Infrastructure Interfaces

This project investigates the governance of urban infrastructure interfaces in two Ethiopian cities, the capital Addis Ababa and the second largest city Dire Dawa. The interfaces or connection points bring together different technical characteristics (e.g. large/small scale), governance regimes (e.g. formal/informal) and disciplinary expertise (e.g. engineering/social policy).

Understanding the boundaries between infrastructure interfaces tends to be neglected in urban research. Yet it is here where many critical questions for cities arise: who governs, who decides, who funds? Based on comparative case study methods, this project will examine two interfaces: transport (rail/local transport) and sanitation (city-wide/local) infrastructures in each of the two case study cities. Combining socio-spatial analysis with institutional analysis of infrastructure governance, it aims to better understand the relationship between development goals and the contribution made by infrastructure rollout.

This project investigates the material infrastructure interfaces within transport and sanitation systems respectively and how these are constituted by non-technical, administrative and political governance regimes. The project recognises the fundamental role of both systems as drivers of urban growth and as critical determinants for poverty reduction and people’s well-being. It also acknowledges urban infrastructure as a hard policy instrument linked to discrete decision-making and a unique opportunity for the purposive design of cities.

Long-term urban growth and poverty elimination includes improved transport for the movement of both goods and people. The aspiration of reducing urban poverty and inequality, embraced by Ethiopian national policies, through the African Union’s 2063 vision and via the Sustainable Development Goals, hinges on the institutional capability of making cities more attractive places to live, visit and invest in.

Principal Investigators
Philipp Rode, LSE Cities
Jo Beall, LSE Cities

Senior Advisors
Zegeye Cherenet, EiABC, Addis Ababa University
Sue Parnell, University of Bristol

Project coordinator
Nuno Ferreira da Cruz, LSE Cities

Researchers
Nuno Ferreira da Cruz, LSE Cities (Project coordinator)
Liza Cirolia, African Centre for Cities
Biruk Terrefe, LSE Cities
Rebecca Craig, LSE Cities
Marco Di Nunzio, LSE Cities
Julia King, LSE Cities

30 November 2018: Developing Urban Futures, Session 6, Ethiopia’s Urban Transformation

28 February 2019 | Public Lecture hosted by LSE Festival 'New World (Dis)orders | Developing Urban Futures

22 March 2019 | PhD Debate - Common Ground beyond Disciplines: Readings on Urban Infrastructure

16 October 2019 | The Governance of Strategic Planning and Infrastructure, Emerging City Lab in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

19 November 2019 | African Cities Today, Developing Urban Futures

Journal articles

Cirolia, L., Hailu, T., King, J., da Cruz, N.F., Beall, J. (2021). Infrastructure governance in the post-networked city: state-led, high-tech sanitation in Addis Ababa’s condominium housing. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, Volume 39, Issue 7, pages 1606-1624.

Rode, P., Terrefe, B., da Cruz, N.F. (2020). Cities and the governance of transport interfaces: Ethiopia's new rail systems. Transport Policy, Volume 91, June 2020, pages 76-94.

Beall, J., Cherenet, Z., Cirolia, L., Da Cruz, N., Parnell, S., and Rode, P. (2019). Understanding infrastructure interfaces: common ground for interdisciplinary urban research?: Journal of the British Academy, London.

Policy Briefs

Rode, P., da Cruz, Nuno F. and Terrefe, B. (2020). 'Governing Infrastructure Interfaces for Ethiopian Cities: How to connect cities and transport infrastructure'. Policy Brief 2020, LSE Cities

Working papers

Cirolia, L. and Rode, P. (2019). 'Urban infrastructure and development'. Research Strand 03 (January 2019). LSE Cities Working Papers.

da Cruz, Nuno F. (2018). 'Urban Infrastructure in Political Science and Public Administration'. Governing Infrastructure Interfaces, Research Note 03 (September 2018). LSE Cities working paper.

Rode, P. (2018). 'Urban Infrastructure in Transport Studies and Planning'. Governing Infrastructure Interfaces, Research Note 02 (September 2018). LSE Cities Working Papers.

Di Nunzio, Marco. (2018). Anthropology of Infrastructure '. Governing Infrastructure Interfaces, Research Note 01 (June 2018). LSE Cities working paper.

Essays

Rode, P. (2018). ‘Ethiopia’s Railway Revolution’ in Burdett, R., Rode, P. & Griffiths, P. (Eds.) Developing Urban Futures, pp. 16-17. Urban Age: London.

Blogs

Terrefe, B., (2020). "When infrastructures meet: Cities, transport and placemaking in Ethiopia". LSE Cities, 8 May 2020.

Introductory Video