Ethiopias ongoing transformation from a mainly agricultural society to industrialisation is linked to substantial changes of the country’s rural and urban areas. In their current “Growth and Transformation Plan II“ the Ethiopian government plans to develop a large number of small cities in order to ensure the provision of water, food, energy as well as social and traffic infrastructure to foster economic growth. For a sustainable development of these new towns the consideration of flows of resources and people within the urban system is crucial. To better understand how such flows are linked to building activities in rural urbanisation processes and their impact on the existing environment, we are referring to urban metabolism as a framework for urban design and planning of small cities.

In this design studio students analysed urban patterns and flows of small cities, learned about urban metabolism and its spatial implications, applied tools and methods for spatial analysis and finally implemented that knowledge to simulate possible development scenarios using parametric models.

In the following videos you get an impression of the different student projects: