Street and Property Identification and the Challenge of Urban Management in Mekelle City, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study employs in-situ primary data supplemented with secondary information from conventional archival sources to examine the toponymic experience of Ethiopia, one of only two African countries without a colonial history. The focus is on Mekelle, the country’s third largest city. The city’s spatial structure is nondescript. The streets are identified with a string of numbers, which are placed at irregular intervals. Most landmarks are unnamed whereas buildings are unnumbered. This paper shows that the absence of a precise and unambiguous street, place and property identification system in the city stifles its performance in the urban management, economic, and social milieus.