Typologies and Dynamics of Urban Growth Projects in Ethiopia: A Discursive Analysis

Abstract

This paper analyses the typological evolution and discursive construction of urban growth projects (UGPs) during the EPRDF and Prosperity Party (PP) periods in Ethiopia. Using typological analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA), the study identifies three types of UGPs, namely housing and infrastructure, urban renewal, and industrial parks, and reveals their continuity at the material level despite their different development patterns. Despite the Prosperity Party’s critique of the EPRDF model, both use UGPs as a legitimising tool for governance. The study highlights that UGPs consolidate authoritarian governance pathways, shift discursive logics from state-led industrialisation to market-oriented global competition, and document grassroots tensions between national narratives and local realities.