Urban sprawl and of informal settlements in Wolkite town; central Ethiopia

Abstract

This study attempted to analyze the factors affecting the escalation of informal settlements in Wolkite town. The study also explores the land use land cover changes of the study area for the last 30 years, i.e. 1984-2014. Both primary and secondary data were used for the purpose of this study. Landsat image of 1984 and 1999 and SPOT image of 2014 were used to detect the changes in LULC and analyzed through ArcGIS 10.3 and ENVI 4.7. Qualitative and quantitative data were also systematically analyzed using SPSS software. In addition to these participatory mapping as an approach of PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) techniques were used to locate the different land use classes before and after 1994 (the year where the first urban land lease law was enacted in Ethiopia). The empirical findings revealed that the nature of settlement is determined by a combination of factors such as monthly income of respondents, previous residence, occupation and mode of accession of respondent’s current holding. Forest coverage shows a continuous decrease from 19.39% in 1984 to 11.6% in 1999 and 5.9% in 2014. On the other case, built-up experiences a dramatic increase with three time intervals; it was 14% in 1984, 26.11% in 1999 and 26.7 in 2014. The area covered under crop land had also experienced an increase in volume; i.e. from 31.87% in 1984 to 38.7% 1999 and 32.9% in 2014, unlike the decrease in the area of grass-land from 34.7% in 1984 to 24.15% in 1999 and increased to 34.4% in 2014. Broker’s agitation, the unresponsive nature of the municipality, costly nature of the formal lease law and the question of ownership of the town are another causes of informality mentioned by informants in the study area. Empirical observation by the researcher revealed that informal settlements are expanded alarmingly in the study area with the expense of the nearby agricultural fields and the effects are witnessed in the town causing disorganized infrastructures and spontaneous network of villages.Therefore, the municipality should revise its procedures and control the spontaneous expansion of settlements.