Spatial manifestation of self-governance groups

According to official figures from the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency, the urban population of Ethiopia is projected to nearly triple from 15.2 million in 2012 to 42.3 million in 2037, growing at 3.8 per cent a year (World Bank 2018). Urban Kenya is experiencing similarly dramatic growth, with its population soaring and boundaries expanding. However, urban lo-cal government institutional systems and infrastructure have not kept pace with rapid urbanization (UN Habitat 2017, 2022). Despite progress over the last decade in building institutions and providing infrastructure and services across all sectors, ur-ban service delivery remains weak to this day, as urban reform remains one of Ethiopia's greatest challenges. In both Addis Ababa and Nairobi, parallel varieties of self-initiated community organizations exist, among which iddirs and resident asso-ciations are the most widespread. Primarily established to provide mutual aid in difficult times or for important events, in-creasingly they have been observed to address other community concerns (Pankhurst 2008; and this volume). This research applies the constructivist grounded theory method to birth a theory that explains the terms of engagement of these communi-ty organizations with local state actors through open coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding procedures. A co-production framework has been crafted from the data embedded in the experiences and perceptions of realities within partic-ipants. The co-creation, co-operation, and co-optation modes of iddir engagements pave the way for the prospect and under-standing of a restructuring of power relationships among iddirs, resident associations, and local governments for an empow-ering exercise of the right to the city.