Urban95: Addis Ababa
2023 · Ongoing
Urban95 asks what a city would look like seen from 95 centimeters — the height of a healthy three-year-old. Since 2023, Superpool has supported Addis Ababa's transition towards a playable city by combining capacity building, pilot projects, play programming and the co-development of a citywide Play Masterplan framework.
Playgrounds
A pilot playground in Lideta Subcity introduced locally built, low-cost play environments for children under three, an age group the city had not previously designed for. Building on this pilot, Superpool co-designed and supported the delivery of fifteen playgrounds across several subcities, providing design development, technical guidance, site supervision, safety inspections and implementation support. These projects became the foundation for Addis Ababa's ambition to create a playground in every housing block, demonstrating a scalable model that the city continues to expand.
A design team inside the bureau
An ECD design team was established inside the Bureau of Urban Beautification and Green Development in May 2024, mentored by Superpool and Kalkidan Wondaferew. The team now runs site selection, documentation, supervision and reporting itself, and works through the subcities to reach every neighbourhood.
Playgrounds for Early Years Guidebook
Playgrounds for Early Years is a practical guide for the design, construction and long-term management of playgrounds for young children in Addis Ababa. It introduces a five-phase circular process—from strategy and design to construction, maintenance and innovation—adapting the RIBA Plan of Work to the local context. The guide combines international playground safety standards with local implementation tools, including checklists, design guidance and procurement recommendations, helping city officials, designers and contractors deliver play environments that are safe, engaging, maintainable and rooted in local capacity.
Safety standards
EN 1176 became part of Addis Ababa's growing playground programme through a series of hands-on trainings led by Derya İyikul and a study visit to Denmark with the Nordic Playground Institute. The programme led to Ethiopia's first certified playground inspector and introduced a systematic approach to playground safety, with fifteen pilot sites assessed against the standard.
Training and certification
More than 900 people took part in Superpool's training programmes, creating a shared foundation for playground design, construction and inspection across Addis Ababa. As the programme matured, the city made training a requirement for municipal playground contracts, while Ethiopian trainers who had emerged from the programme began leading courses themselves.
Internship programme and Little Steps
Initiated by Superpool in partnership with the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) and the Strategic Programs Management Office, the playground internship programme was launched in 2023 to build a new generation of play practitioners. Three cohorts have since engaged more than thirty final-year architecture, engineering and urban design students in real municipal projects. Several graduates went on to establish Little Steps, a design practice that now supports the city with data collection, playground design and the Everything Is Play seminar series at EiABC.
Play in the streets
Beyond playgrounds, Superpool has helped bring play into the everyday life of the city. Through Addis Ababa's Sunday Open Streets programme, streets and community spaces have become places for loose parts play, supported by a new generation of playworkers and mobile play kits being introduced across all eleven subcities.
Urban95 a part of the first African Urban Forum
The playground initiative was exhibited at the first African Urban Forum, held in Addis Ababa in February 2025, and presented at the Playground Conference at EiABC.
Play masterplan
Superpool is working with the City of Addis Ababa to develop its first Play Masterplan. Once completed, the masterplan will provide a long-term strategy for embedding play into planning, public space, governance and investment, helping shape a more playable city.
Urban95 is a project of the Van Leer Foundation
Locations
- Addis Ababa
Partners
- Van Leer Foundation
- Addis Ababa City Administration — Strategic Programs Management Office
- Bureau of Urban Beautification and Green Development
- Bureau of Women, Children and Social Affairs
- Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC), Addis Ababa University
- African Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Development
- Little Steps
- Nordic Playground Institute
Team
Selva Gürdoğan, Gregers Tang Thomsen, Derya İyikul, Beyza Gürdoğan, Münevver Latifoğlu, Ege Sevinçli, Ece Sözer