Livelihood Changes, and Related Effects of Urban Expansion on Urban Peripheral Communities: The Case of Gondar City: ANRS, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was undertaken at peri-urban area of Gondar city aiming to examine livelihood changes and related effects of urban expansion on urban peripheral communities. To this effect, samples of 293 households were taken for this cross-sectional study. Accordingly, the study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The primary data was collected through survey questionnaires, key informant interview and focus group discussion; and secondary data from various sources were complimented to the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data whereas the qualitative data was analyzed in thematic analysis via the form of narratives, summarization, and comparisons. The finding revealed that most of the respondents were uneducated and owned small farming land size. From the total sample respondents, 76% were expropriated partial of their land and 24% were disposed completely by the city expansion program that affected the production and productivity of farmers. So that, most evicted people are engaged in small trade, house rent and daily labor while they remain in agricultural activities by renting land. Urban expansion declined the livelihood of farmers and perhaps affected their social network and relationships. In addition, it created family disturbance, conflict in neighbors and seasonal and permanent migration on the evicted households. Therefore, the local government, NGOs, higher education institutions have to be concerned to resolve the negative consequences of urban expansion on the surrounding farming households.

Keywords: peri-urban, periphery, livelihood, urban expansion, expropriation, and affected households.