© Copyright 2018 Jesse McClelland Planners and the Work of Renewal in Addis Ababa: Developmental State, Urbanizing Society Jesse McClelland A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2018 Reading Committee: Steven Herbert, Chair Ben Gardner Lucy Jarosz Vicky Lawson Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Geography University of Washington Abstract Planners and the Work of Renewal in Addis Ababa: Developmental State, Urbanizing Society Jesse McClelland Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Steven Herbert Geography This dissertation explores the political geographies of urban restructuring through a case study of planners advancing urban renewal programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I build an account of the work lives of these public servants on the basis of data from interviews, participant observation, and unobtrusive study of planning and policy documents. Amid rapid urbanization, I show that Ethiopian legacies of high modern development are gaining new expression in the EPRDF’s agenda of infrastructure-led development. Urban renewal was tentatively tried in Addis Ababa in the 1980s. But by the time of the master planning round begun in 2012, renewal had become the signature intervention of massive redevelopment of the city. Slum spaces have become the proving grounds for planners as key agents of urban governance. By drawing together insights from Marxist urban studies, socio-legal studies, and recent literature on African urbanisms, the dissertation refines scholarly understandings of the dynamic relations between governance and development in (East) African cities. Urban renewal is not reducible to a local variant on the familiar story of capitalist enclosure, and the slum is not just a space of immiseration beyond the reach of regulation. Instead, the dissertation shows that as planners draw a line against development failures of previous regimes, they furnish the local state with legitimation for its deepening involvement in everyday life. At the nexus of rapid urbanization, new flows of capital, and the bold visions of this resurgent developmental state, planners see themselves engaged in a historic project to realize better urban futures through renewal. Some even see in the current moment a more egalitarian planning praxis to come, including upgrading as an alternative to urban renewal. However, though the specialist knowledge of planners points to the potential for new and more inclusive planning paradigms, such a vision has yet to overcome the hegemony of party politics. Acknowledgements While I hope many more research projects are ahead of me, this is surely the only dissertation I will write. This is my chance to acknowledge the considerable intellectual and personal debts I have incurred in the course of this project. Scholarship is ultimately a collective endeavor. I finally know why acknowledgement sections can be so long. I thank all the participants in my study for teaching me so many things about their world and welcoming me into it. Though I cannot name them individually, I recognize the many direct and indirect influences they had on the course of my work. They challenged me to refine my craft. I hope to provide them with something of use with this text, or in other modes in the future. Thanks to the members of my dissertation committee. Throughout incremental successes, botched deadlines and many moments when I was lost in the weeds, my advisor Dr. Steve Herbert helped me chart my course. I thank Steve for his even keel, and for modeling the roles of publicly-engaged professor, interdisciplinary scholar and astute administrator. Through insightful meetings, seminars, and her own research, Dr. Vicky Lawson has been a special source of inspiration for me since I first arrived at UW Geography. Whether as professor, as scholar, or as interlocutor on the politics of development in Africa, Dr. Lucy Jarosz seems tireless; she always welcomed discussions of my work and I am grateful for her help. I appreciate Dr. Ben Gardner’s graciousness and insight, as mentor and supporter of my teaching in African Studies. Thanks also to Dr. Danny Hoffman, the Graduate School Representative on my committee, for his insights, inspiring scholarship, and willingness to engage. At the UW Department of Geography, I want to recognize an exceptionally talented group of faculty and staff. Thank you to Dr. Katharyne Mitchell, who helped me to lay a foundation in the earliest stages of the project. Thanks also to Drs. Michael Brown, Sarah Elwood, Kim England, Joseph Hannah, and Larry Knopp who influenced me through teaching and scholarship. Thanks to James Baginski, Sharon Frucci, Parwati Martin, and Wendy Kramer for the vital work they perform, too, as they keep UW Geography spinning on its axis. The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the Addis Ababa University graciously hosted me as a Visiting Scholar during my fieldwork. In this regard, I am grateful to the efforts of Drs. Tebarek Lika and Asmamaw Abebaw and their colleagues. Thanks also to Drs. Solomon Mulugeta, Tesfaye Tafesse, and Giulia Bonacci, who were open to discussing my project at Addis Ababa University when it was at a pilot study stage. To my patient and skilled Amharic instructors – Ms. Zebib Sultan at the Alliance Française in Addis Ababa, Dr. Tadesse Sibamo at the Addis Ababa University, and Dr. Abiyot Debebe Seifu formerly of the University of Florida – I say, betam amaseganalaw! i During fieldwork, analysis and writing, I was buoyed by friendly and scholarly encouragements. Thank you to Benno Müchler, Susmita Rishi, Sarah Stefanos, Shanna Scherbinske, David Coomes, Mark Kelly, Eden Tamire, Tirsit Yetbarek, Solomon Hassen, Helawie Sewnet, Daniel Mains, Kate Cole, Medhanit Adamu Abebe, Ray Jonas, Ben Cox, Fiona McKinnon, Alexandra Belinesh Thorer, Gordon Shen, Pieternella Pieterse, Lucas Robinson, Benedikt Kamski, Philip Louis, Mesganaw Andualem, Owen Edwards, Olaf Kammler, Nicole Baron, Mark Purcell, Evan Carver, Vartkes Nalbandian, and Shana Riddick. Many caring and courageous emerging scholars lit a path in my doctoral years. For their care and community-building, my thanks to Geography graduate students and others at University of Washington: Mónica Farías, Léonie Newhouse, Brandon Derman, Tiffany Grobelski, Ryan Burns, Katie Gillespie, Jeff Masse, Katherine Cofell, Skye Naslund, Elyse Gordon, Kristy Copeland, Will Buckingham, Chris Lizotte, Eloho Basikoro, Amy Piedalue, Andre Ortega, Dena Aufseeser, Magie Ramírez, Michelle Daigle, Patricia Lopez, Andre Rogers, Becky Burnett, Yanning Wei, Will McKeithen, Yolanda Valencia-Gonzalez, Austin Crane, Mike Babb, Maeve Dwyer, Lee Fiorio, Joe Eckert, Caitlin Palo, Kenny Robinson, and Issa Abdulcadir, among others. Thanks to friends and colleagues who completed a PhD in the years before me, including Tony Nadler, Dan Hackbarth, Bill Lindeke, Josef Woldense, Michelle Statz, Ariel Wetzel, Milli Lake, Michael Reagan, and Anna Zogas. Glad they did not always make it seem easy! From friends outside of academia (at least for now), I am thankful for insights and many happy memories with Uriah Melchizedek, Ben Owen, Katie Simmons, Bryan Preston, Jefferson Mok, Michael Kennedy, Aidan King, Julia St. Thomas, Elise Buchen, Efren Sanchez, Kate Cole, Chloe Waters, Mekonnen Firew Ayano, Ammanuel Alemayehu, and Sherief Gaber. I thank my wife, Krista Genet (Churness) McClelland for her patience, curiosity, companionship and encouragement, particularly as I wrote in Minneapolis. It was a special joy to finish the first complete manuscript of this dissertation before our wedding in October 2017. Thanks to my parents, Drs. Jerry McClelland and Denny McClelland, for their unstinting support, and countless dinners, coffees, and chats over the years. They pushed and listened in the right measure. Thank you for the personal and scholarly examples you have set for me. My thanks to Academic Workers for a Democratic Union and University (AWDU), United Auto Workers Local 4121, and For A Democratic University (FADU). I think it is clear by now that students, staff and faculty need to build solidarity in our workplace if we are to realize a more just and inclusive model of education. Finally, I am grateful for the material support of granting agencies. The fieldwork would not have been possible if not for Fulbright-Hays DDRA Fellowship # P022A130050 from ii the US Department of Education. I am grateful for two Foreign Language Area Studies fellowships that were extended to me by African Studies Center of the University of Kansas, and for grant and fellowship support of the University of Washington Department of Geography. iii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... vi Note on Transliteration and Spelling ...................................................................................................... vii Note on Names ...................................................................................................................................... viii Common Acronyms .................................................................................................................................. ix Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Spaces of lack and possibility in an urban age