Modernist Experiments and User-Initiated Dwelling Transformations in Hay Mohammadi
Brendan P. CULLEY CLAIMING SPACE IN CASABLANCA Modernist experiments and user-initiated dwelling transformations in Hay Mohammadi MSc Thesis Urban Geography Faculty of Geosciences Utrecht University, the Netherlands August 2011 BRENDAN CULLEY Claiming Space in Casablanca: Modernist experiments and user-initiated dwelling transformations in Hay Mohammadi. August 2011 MSc Thesis in Urban Geography (30 ECTS) Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University Supervisor: Dr. Gideon Bolt Brendan Patrick Culley Born 23/11/1987 Student number 3625745 brendanculley [at] hotmail [dot] com Title Typeface: Kozuka Gothic Pro B Text Typeface: Times New Roman, 12 pt, line spacing 20 pt Literature and Interview Typeface: Calibri, 12 pt, line spacing 20 pt Cover image: Nid d’abeille building, ATBAT-Afrique, Carrières Centrales, Casablanca, Morocco, 1953. Edited by the author. 1 CLAIMING SPACE IN CASABLANCA Abstract This thesis seeks to provide exploratory insights into the transformation, adaptation and adaptation processes of post-WWII modernist mass-housing projects, using Casablanca’s laboratory neighbourhoods as a case-study. A historical contextualisation of Casablanca’s development depicts a city shaped by the modernist principles of the Athens Charter. Yet, over the space of half a century, the urban tissue has extensively evolved – both from a social and physical perspective – shaped by its inhabitants and in a fashion that the urban visionaries had not foreseen. Results of a five-week fieldwork focusing on the Hay Mohammadi neighbourhood aim to provide social perspectives into the logics behind these extensive bottom-up, informal dwelling transformations. Using an in-depth, qualitative semi-structured interview process with local inhabitants and other stakeholders, it has been found that the underlying reasons for occupant’s appropriation are multiple, and originate from complex and variegated socio-economic, traditional and cultural interplays.
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