Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi
This research is motivated by the scholarly calls for new concepts and analytic tools for documenting, analysing, and theorizing complex urban territories such as those of cities in Africa. With implicit comparative intent, it takes the case of Addis Ababa city and its old and typifying places—the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Delft University of Technology
2023-09-01
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| Series: | A+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment |
| Online Access: | https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/abe/article/view/7168 |
| _version_ | 1827811879226966016 |
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| author | Anteneh Tesfaye Tola |
| author_facet | Anteneh Tesfaye Tola |
| author_sort | Anteneh Tesfaye Tola |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This research is motivated by the scholarly calls for new concepts and analytic tools for documenting, analysing, and theorizing complex urban territories such as those of cities in Africa. With implicit comparative intent, it takes the case of Addis Ababa city and its old and typifying places—the sefer, to develop and test a new architectural transdisciplinary research methodology referred to as the trinocular. By way of this methodology, it unearths and introduces sefer, iddir, and gebbi of Addis Ababa as not only socio-spatial phenomena but concepts and vocabulary for a located and nuanced reading of the city itself. Sefer are introduced as flexible boundary conditions that are primarily cognized by their dwellers—results of indigenous and autochthonous foundation and continued processes of self-actualization by communities that construct them. Iddir is unearthed as a form of social capital embedded in sefer that appears in the structures of relations among residents. And the gebbi as an urban spatial typology that constitutes the sefer’s morphology—the last frontier of communality just prior domestic spaces which, in many cases, can be a single multi-functional room.
These concepts and vocabulary, it is argued, in both practical and metaphoric sense, should be the starting point of new urban imaginaries for Addis Ababa. Urban planning and housing projections thus, should draw inspiration from these notions, elements, and phenomena. Furthermore, lessons learnt from the trinocular and the findings are presented as new avenues for architectural research in similar, less-known, and complex urban conditions as the sefer of Addis Ababa.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:10:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8f22d05e6e8d451688ae9f9e602cf75a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2212-3202 2214-7233 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:10:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Delft University of Technology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | A+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment |
| spelling | doaj.art-8f22d05e6e8d451688ae9f9e602cf75a2023-09-21T08:39:07ZengDelft University of TechnologyA+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment2212-32022214-72332023-09-01131410.7480/abe.2023.14.7168Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbiAnteneh Tesfaye Tola0Delft University of Technology This research is motivated by the scholarly calls for new concepts and analytic tools for documenting, analysing, and theorizing complex urban territories such as those of cities in Africa. With implicit comparative intent, it takes the case of Addis Ababa city and its old and typifying places—the sefer, to develop and test a new architectural transdisciplinary research methodology referred to as the trinocular. By way of this methodology, it unearths and introduces sefer, iddir, and gebbi of Addis Ababa as not only socio-spatial phenomena but concepts and vocabulary for a located and nuanced reading of the city itself. Sefer are introduced as flexible boundary conditions that are primarily cognized by their dwellers—results of indigenous and autochthonous foundation and continued processes of self-actualization by communities that construct them. Iddir is unearthed as a form of social capital embedded in sefer that appears in the structures of relations among residents. And the gebbi as an urban spatial typology that constitutes the sefer’s morphology—the last frontier of communality just prior domestic spaces which, in many cases, can be a single multi-functional room. These concepts and vocabulary, it is argued, in both practical and metaphoric sense, should be the starting point of new urban imaginaries for Addis Ababa. Urban planning and housing projections thus, should draw inspiration from these notions, elements, and phenomena. Furthermore, lessons learnt from the trinocular and the findings are presented as new avenues for architectural research in similar, less-known, and complex urban conditions as the sefer of Addis Ababa. https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/abe/article/view/7168 |
| spellingShingle | Anteneh Tesfaye Tola Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi A+BE: Architecture and the Built Environment |
| title | Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi |
| title_full | Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi |
| title_fullStr | Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi |
| title_short | Addis Ababa’s sefer, iddir, and gebbi |
| title_sort | addis ababa s sefer iddir and gebbi |
| url | https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/abe/article/view/7168 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT antenehtesfayetola addisababasseferiddirandgebbi |