Urban Public Spaces and NCD Risk Reduction in Rapidly Expanding Ethiopian Cities

This proposal examines how urban public spaces can help reduce non-communicable disease risk factors in Ethiopian cities that are growing quickly. The central idea is simple: when people have safe, accessible, and usable public spaces, they are more likely to walk, spend
time outdoors, stay physically active, and rely less on sedentary routines.
The study is designed to be practical, policy-relevant, and locally grounded. It focuses on secondary and primary cities where urban expansion is happening fast, but public-space planning has not always kept pace with population growth.