atlantis
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The City as a
market.
by Michael de Beer
Spatial Practitioner and Writer The article stems from a lecture by the author and Rebecca Looringh van Beeck, entitled "No Street is Lonely"
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In the globalised environment that we live it is not often that one is confronted by an environment that repositions and challenges notions of best practice, Ethiopia is one such case. With 80 different cultural groups the country is incredibly diverse, however it’s unique history in Africa, being relatively unhindered by colonial influences, has enabled the growth of a building tradition that is drawn from the commons. However, rapid urban development, which can be seen throughout Africa, threatens to rewrite traditional spatial practices. Addis Ababa, the epicentre, serves as a petri dish of what is occurring throughout the country, and the Merkato district, Harar and Lalibela markets, positions the city as a market. Advocating an alternative understanding of cities and development questioning methodologies of practice - in an environment where space is opportunity and the city is built through actions and practices.
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At first glance, Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, is a sensory overload. The streets are teeming with life. As a foreigner the context is chaotic. On observation however a finely networked system begins to unearth itself. Between the grit and the grime there is a logic that is concerned with spatial potentiality. This temporal quality of the city is made possible by how people occupy the city. Rather than a top down system, enforced through rigid bureaucratic processes, people make the most of their environment. The quality that enables adaptation has developed over centuries. Ethiopia is an ancient civilisation and has been a powerful empire for far longer than the period of the modern post-industrial era dominated by foreign influences. As a key-trading route into Africa, cities such as Harar to the East and Gondar to the North were key points of power and exchange. Not only were they empowered by the goods that these points traded but through cultural exchange. The past 150 years has however brought a radical transformation colonial influences from Italy, modernism as a global movement, a post colonial period of communism (the red terror) and now China's influence in aiding the revolution of modernising Ethiopia’s infrastructure and
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cities. These foreign influences have drawn the future development of the Ethiopian landscape into question as global aspirations are meeting local identity and practices. Harar, is a walled city. The fine network of streets that organically move over the topography is one that developed over centuries as people have claimed spaces through various practices. Interfaces with the street offer space for various trades and selling of goods, while the interior courtyard caters for a tradition of tightly knit family structures. As one moves through the labyrinth of streets, one stumbles upon a clearing, a coming together. As a locus for public life, these spaces are etched out, each with a clear purpose. Smaller spaces form a common space, the extension of the home, school or mosque - where a tree may offer shade in the hot sun, or a slight dip may fortuitously allow for a group to sit in a circle. Larger spaces, formed by a lineage of practice and occupation are deeply rooted in the daily lives of people. The Christian and Butcher's market reflect this moulding of the public realm through daily actions and occupations of space.
HARAR
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The Christian market, at the South-western gate, carefully responds to movement. Food and goods map out the primary walking route while at its centre a space for auctioning livestock or making speeches allows for gathering. The butchers market, in the city interior, not only allows for those activities that one would associate to the carving, drying and selling of meat but also offers space for the vultures and dogs; the men to discuss and children to play. Spaces here have not been designed autocratically but rather through ‘common-ing’ - where over many generations spaces have been informed by the occupation and practices of their inhabitants. The same could be seen at varying scales and forms throughout Ethiopia - be it the structure of the city; such in Mekelle where the city form accommodates the long caravans of camels, salt laden, returning from the Danakil Depression; or the varied architectural typologies found throughout the country.
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Lalibela, famed for its rock-hewn churches, draws forward the notion of the city as a market. Atop a hill, with a vast vista of the surrounding region, sits a large sparse opening - the marketplace. A centre of life. Made up of nothing more than what one could bring on the back of asses and camels. Set up in the early morning and dismantled again at night. The space retains its spatial order not in its form but in the
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minds of those that inhabit it. That which has given rise to this building tradition of the commons is a result of people's continuous engagement with space. The landscape is not measured by a car's odometer but rather ones walking pace. Even in the most rural and isolated environments, such as the communities of the Simien Mountains or the nomadic Afar people of the Danakil depression, space is a reflection of the practices of people. In this highly diverse country with dissimilar communities and cultures the similarity that arises is the persistence of the commons. Not to be confused with a western distinction of public and private life, the commons exist here as a collective practice. The varying actions of people enacting their daily lives remains cognisant of tradition, culture and resultant collective actions of groups and communities. The impact of this building tradition on space is uncanny and most recognisable outside of the chaotic city centres. Yet, the melting pot which is Addis Ababa is no exception, it is a product of these same processes of ‘common-ing’ moulding and defining spaces. Geographical Addis Ababa is the junction between, North, South, East and West making the city a melting pot of cultural exchange where traditions are meeting global aspirations. Moving between the
MERKATO
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BOLE Merkato the large market district of the city, and Bole the commercial district, highlights a clashing of old and new where traditions are being confronted by modern practice. The Markato, an industrial heart, exemplifies this character. A man carrying 20 mattresses navigates between livestock, hawkers, taxis and trucks laden with goods. Men in suites read the paper and drink cafes, hawkers sell bits and bobs, vegetable stands offer a specialised range of salads and fruit juices, tailors, recyclers, butchers and jewellers all make up a very cosmopolitan feel to the city. Here life carries on late into the night, with the streets teeming with activity. Perhaps here more than anywhere else one can see why the Ethiopian city has enabled such diversity and activity - where mixed use exists as a matter of fact due to enough feet on the street. The high volumes of people continuously navigating the city have offered a critical mass enabling every interface to become an opportunity. A building with three storeys of active frontage and diverse program within is commonplace. The program that the build fabric inherently holds is every architect's wet dream. An order begins to unfold, where the seemingly endless market is segmented into specialised sectors. Building materials, the recycling of car tires, textiles, leather workshops and the list goes on. The varying markets become specialised areas of focus - from the informal vegetable market on a corner to the row of shops specialising
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in kitchenware. Secondary activities supporting the primary focus of the areas are intermingled within the order, as flower shops appear near funeral parlours and gas salesmen are located next to the shop to buy your new hob. The nature of this space however is not static, like the ebb and flow of the tide it is continuously moving and change. If you were to map the Merkato it would be like counting grains of sand and when you were done it would have all changed. It is this temporal nature that returns to the notion of ‘common-ing’ - where the fabric of the city forms a complex interplay between how people occupy space - their activities - and the resultant spatial formations. This dynamic creates a responsive urban form that is resilient due to is ability to adapt. It is sustainable and importantly, preferences the lowest common dominator - empowering the impoverished and marginalised in society by offering the opportunity for equitable appropriation. The Merkato is an extreme of the processes that have given rise to Harar. It is a process inherent in Ethiopian culture however it is now under threat. Ethiopia is undergoing a rapid wave of development. In every city and town scaffolding is etching out a new skyline. Bole, the commercial centre of Addis Ababa situated between the centre and the airport, is a reflection of what this process may bring. Here the car dominates with wide boulevards. Tower-blocks jostle for
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space, while the public realm is devoid of the life seen elsewhere. It is a place of rigid exclusion that aims to purge the city of shanties, grit and the perception of poverty. High walls hide lush foliage and decadence. The only benefit of this development is that it is one of the few places where you are guaranteed a soft serve frozen yoghurt with all toppings you could wish for. It is the product of global aspirations where a western ideal of a quality of life is seen to be overwriting those qualities that make Ethiopia unique. However, the primary threat is not the frozen yogurt stall but the rigid processes and resultant forms that have given rise to this environment. It is in opposition to the commons as these spaces are the product of singular visions, an authoritarian approach of best practice manifested in the west. The process promises a move away from the adaptable and responsive environment to one that is rigid and exclusionary. It sees every new development as green field opportunity, ignoring the lineage of spatial occupation that has given rise to these nuanced environments. In this sense it not only threatens an existing resilient spatial form but the unique and diverse cultural legacy of Ethiopia. The new urban agenda raises critical questions going forward as Africa in the following decades will see an unprecedented rate of development. Bole is not unique, as in most major centres across the continent similar areas are forming, implanting
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LALIBEL
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a generic vision for Africa. Not only is this form unsustainable but it is also unresponsive to the diverse cultures and values of spaces - threatening to rewrite cultures. It is time for spatial practitioners to reflect on their methodologies of practice when working in alternative situations. To learn through observation and the study of place and praxis - there is no normative generic solution. Although Lalibela pales in significance to the Makarto, it is a reminder that it is people who collectively define the world we inhabit. With no single author no architect or planner - the most complex of environments are formed through the collective act of eternal mediation. • All photographs are taken by the authorMichael de Beer 1. Dried chili’s, onions and potato’s lie beside a building site ready to be sold. Merkato. 2. A view of Addis Abba from the Piazza district 3. The Christian market in Harar 4. The narrow streets of Harar's walled city, with a courtyard housing typology. 5. The Mekato. A huge market of varying areas and types. The image shows a particular area where development is being undertaken and how shops use the opportunity of a blank facade to position stalls. 6. Bole, the new commercial district of the city is an area that is car centric. The image shows a man walking alone in a sparse environment with little activity. 7. Lalibela market from the main entrance. 8. Lalibela market - looking toward the town. 9. Lalibela market - an area specifically selling grains.
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