["International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract\nThis article examines how urban space functions as a micro‐political arena in the production and localization of ethnic contestation in Ethiopia's contested cities. Focusing on the Igziabiher Ab church in Dire Dawa and the Menelik statue in Addis Ababa, it investigates why particular urban sites emerge as central nodes of unrest during periods of citywide political violence, even when physical confrontations unfold elsewhere. Through a qualitative approach that combines ethnography and case studies, the analysis reveals that public spaces with dense symbolic significance, ambiguous spatial control, and distinct spatial morphologies become recurring nodes of unrest. These sites operate not as passive backdrops but as active terrains where narratives of belonging, authority, and historical legitimacy are enacted and challenged. By foregrounding intra‐urban differentiation, the study highlights how neighbourhood histories, spatial configurations, and localized power relations mediate the unfolding of conflict. The article argues that understanding ethnic contestation in Ethiopia requires moving beyond city‐level generalizations toward spatially grounded analysis of specific urban fragments. A relational spatial lens reveals how hyper‐local interactions intersect with wider urban and national dynamics, demonstrating that the uneven geography of violence is a window into the spatial logics that shape—and are shaped by—Ethiopia's volatile nation‐building.\n"]