Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Land Use Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol Drivers of informal settlements at the peri-urban areas of Woldia: Assessment on the demographic and socio-economic trigger factors ⋆ Fentaw Baye a, *, Fisseha Wegayehu a , Solomon Mulugeta b a Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC), Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 518, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia b Faculty of Social Science, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Compensation Housing affordability Income Informal settlement Lease price Woldia ABSTRACT Though Ethiopia is one of the least urbanized countries of the world, its urban areas are expanding rapidly. Woldia, which is a Zonal town is no exception to this trend and situation. As a result of its rapid horizontal expansion and growth, Woldia is currently confronted with different types of urban problems. The emergence and growth of informal settlements is one of these challenges. To that end, this paper investigates the foremost demographic and socio-economic triggering factors that played key roles for the growth of informal settlements at the peri-urban areas of Woldia. In order to achieve the objective of the study, a questionnaire survey covering a total of 244 sample households was carried out in addition to in-depth interviews, FGDs and key informants. Accordingly, the income disparity; the rise in the lease price of urban land, and the meager compensation paid to peri-urban farmers during their lands expropriation are among the key economic drivers for the growth of informal settlements. Similarly, ever-increasing urban population and inefficient land provision, and lack of housing affordability compounded by the rise in the rental accommodation are the other triggers factors. All these factors, among others, point to the fact that socio-economic and demographic factors are all tied to the immediate growth of such settlements. Thus, lands at the periphery are misused and the situation has greatly contributed to the unlawful and rapid expansion of built-up areas in the city administration. 1. Introduction Urbanization is a global phenomenon (Griffith, 2009; UN-Habitat, 2009). Thus, the twenty-first century is to be dominated by urban living in a way that we have not experienced before (Thorns, 2002). Recently, more than half of the world’s total population lives in urban areas, and it is expected to continue during the 21st century with the largest rate of growth experiencing in developing world (Cities Alliance, 2015). Between 2007 and 2025, the bulk of annual population growth in de- veloping countries is expected to be 2.27 % compared to a mere 0.49 % in developed nations (UN-Habitat, 2009). This remarkable increase in the rate of annual population growth and urbanization implies that cities in developing countries are being urbanized faster than cities in developed countries. If well managed, cities are places of economic and social opportu- nities. They can serve as centers of production, employment, innova- tions, and social developments. Thus, urban problems are not only due to urban growth itself but also the misguided policy responses by countries and unguided expansion of cities (Cheema, 1993; Cohen, 2006). In reality; however, managing growing cities becomes increas- ingly complex (Cohen, 2006). Thus, despite their economic and social benefits, a rapid rate of urbanization and unregulated growth of urban areas, particularly in developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, have led to numerous negative consequences. One of the consequences of the rapid rate of urbanization has been providing residential areas for housing. In line with this, Beall and Fox state that, urban areas across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are increasingly characterized by burgeoning squatter settlements, shanty towns and favelas, fuelling fears about the negative social, economic, and political impact of urban growth (Beall and Fox, 2009). As one of the urban areas in developing countries, Woldia, a town located in the northern part of Ethiopia has experienced rapid rate of urban growth. Particularly after the 1990s, the peri-urban areas of Woldia are characterized by the informal settlements. As a result of rapid horizontal expansion and spontaneous growth, Woldia confronted https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104573 Received 24 July 2019; Received in revised form 3 February 2020; Accepted 4 March 2020 ⋆ We gratefully acknowledge those individuals who made proofreading the manuscript, and Woldia University and Addis Ababa University for their financial supports to the first author in the collection of the data for this paper. ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: fentaw.baye@eiabc.edu.et (F. Baye), fisseha.wegayehu@eiabc.edu.et (F. Wegayehu), solomon.mulugeta@aau.edu.et (S. Mulugeta). Land Use Policy 95 (2020) 104573 0264-8377/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T