For more than a century, the capital city of Addis Ababa has been the engine of Ethiopia’s urban development. In alternating between three models of state—imperial, socialist, and federal—it has benefited from the interaction between traditional and modern ways of life as well as from an urban-rural exchange. This nexus is acknowledged by a rich tradition of urban studies and by a planning experience that has no equal in African cities. Today, Addis Ababa is losing the primacy it has enjoyed since its founding. In search of a post-modernist image that has little to do with its own history, the city tends to debase the social policies on labor, housing, service, and infrastructure, with unsustainable eco-systemic effects. This text invites us not to forget how behind the glitter of skyscrapers and streets transformed into nervous streams, there is a living world of tradition, and that the urban future cannot ignore what is happening in the rural world.

For more than a century, the capital city of Addis Ababa has been the engine of Ethiopia’s urban development. In alternating between three models of state—imperial, socialist, and federal—it has benefited from the interaction between traditional and modern ways of life as well as from an urban-rural exchange. This nexus is acknowledged by a rich tradition of urban studies and by a planning experience that has no equal in African cities. Today, Addis Ababa is losing the primacy it has enjoyed since its founding. In search of a post-modernist image that has little to do with its own history, the city tends to debase the social policies on labor, housing, service, and infrastructure, with unsustainable eco-systemic effects. This text invites us not to forget how behind the glitter of skyscrapers and streets transformed into nervous streams, there is a living world of tradition, and that the urban future cannot ignore what is happening in the rural world.