SCRUTINIZING THE POLICY AND PLANNING MODEL FOR ETHNIC ENCLAVE GAMBELLA CITY, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

An urban and regional growth pattern is shaped by purposeful, cooperative governance initiatives in any country through planning. Various planning strategies have been underway in Ethiopia since its inception. However, these plans for Gambella City felt short, as the current city development plan is challenged by the concentration of residents from the same ethnic group settled in spatial space. Ethnic federalism in Ethiopia, with a lot of ambiguities, failed the urban planning strategy. The planning was unsuccessful in accommodating the influx of ethnic groups armed with an ethnic sense of identity and attitudes. Resistance to structural plan execution, ethnic conflicts, high environmental pollution, robbery, and theft in Gambella City are all revealed as the result of unsuitable residential settlement policies, regulations, and planning models in place. We explore the planning model in use since the establishment of Gambella enclave and develop a new one that fits the city. Purposive sampling was employed for selecting the Gambella Urban Development and Construction Bureau, the Mayor's Office, the Gambella Speaker House, the Gambella Municipality, Urban planning Institue; and experts in all these sectors.