To curb the rapid urban expansion that follows an unplanned manner, experts at the Ministry of Urban & Infrastructure prepared a study with hopes of controlling and improving the spatial distribution across the country.

The six months long study was conducted in 10 regional states and two city administrations. It analysed the economic growth and the living space available to residents, taking into account the accessibility of basic services like transportation, housing, electricity, and clean water supply.

Officials at the Ministry hope to alleviate poor land use, inadequate infrastructure, and chronic housing shortage through a proper diagnosis of urban expansion.

Following the study, experts recommended a framework for future endeavours that prioritise vertical expansion and allocate 30pc of the floor space to housing. The proposed plan indicates that residential areas will make up to 65pc while manufacturing vicinities use 10pc of the area designated for housing.

Nesru Mohammed, the design expert of the economic infrastructure standardisation desk at the Ministry, said that cities should expand upward, adding height to areas and increasing economic and residential densities.

"It will address the challenges that come with population growth," he said.

According to Nesru, by calculating the land covered in an area to the population density for new expansions, it will be possible to create space for a person, demarcating generous urban boundaries and ideal measurements of the expansion.

Officials believe the study enhances the quantity and spatial distribution of urban floor spaces in cities for economic productivity and mobilise finance for urban investments in infrastructure.

Roads, as an essential part that make up a city, cover the 30pc of the space while the rest will be left open for green areas.

Urbanisation has been associated with high levels of economic growth, averaging 38pc of the GDP. With an estimated annual population sprawl of 4.5pc, the rate of population growth is outpacing the city's spatial expansion rate resulting in a deficient physical form.

According to Yasin Siraj, head of the economic infrastructure standardisation desk at the Ministry, unplanned urbanisation fails to serve the current rapid population growth.

"The goal is to control the spontaneous expansion," Yasin told Fortune.

A World Bank Study suggests over 90pc of the urban growth occurs in the developing world, adding an estimated 70 million new residents to the urban each year.

There are 4.4 billion people living in urban areas, projected to surpass two-thirds of the global population in two decades, where seven out of 10 people will live in the city.

In Ethiopia, the rate of urbanisation is growing at a 5.4pc every year, tripling the population by 2034, where 30pc of people will be living in urban areas by 2028.

The lack of floor space taking a toll on liveability in Addis Abeba inducing many dwellers into informal settlements, where 60pc of the population in the urban areas live in underdeveloped spaces.