Using an ethnographic approach, this PhD project tries to uncover the dynamics of urbanization and ethnic contestations in peri-urban areas of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa cities, Ethiopia. Accordingly, the dialectics of (peri) urbanization, politically induced (re) resettlements, the political economy of ‘informal’/’illegal’ settlements, land tenure arrangements, urban sprawls, and urban planning and development strategies are dealt with in the context of (violent) conflicts.