Future of Public Spaces I: Michael de Beer

1. NO STREET IS LONELY
IN ETHIOPIA
P R E S E N T A T I O N B Y
Michael de Beer
Rethinking Public Space

2. Old Market in Mekele

3. Harar : Walled city
A network of spaces of various forms
and sizes

4. Side street in Addis Abba near the
Merkato (thought to be one of the
largest markets in Africa)

5. Addis Abba
Vegetable market on a
pavement
Pedestrians occuping the streets

6. Three stories of active frontage
as mixed use is a matter of fact
Internal arcade of the building to
the left
Addis Abba | Merkato

7. Space = opportunity
Addis Abba | Merkato

8. People have made space for
themselves.
Addis Abba | Merkato

9. Potential border vacuums are rather
immensely active edges.
Alley dedicated to the sale and
repurposing of metal

10. Throughout the country, building work
seems more numerous than built stock.
People have made space for
themselves.

11. As buildings are build completed
floors are inhabited
Shop Bank

12. merkato epitomizes an “ideal” urban
environment or a “real” public space
– ruled by the people and
reminiscent of the Roman Forum

13. Backalley in Piazza
Operating late in the night with music
and makeshift lighting

14. Harar Christian market
A part of daily life

15. Timkat celebration of jesus’s baptism

16. Ethiopia’s aspiration to compete on a
global stage
Bole | Business District | Addis Abba

17. Bole | Addis Abba
Vehicle orientated boulevards dissect the city.

18. Bole | Addis Abba
Development is rude, maximising the cost
benefits and divorcing itself from the public
realm.

19. Bole | Addis Abba

20. The city as a market…
Lalibela market