Reshaping Space and Time in Morocco

FOCUS 44 Battles are fought against the enc- roachments of a central authority and Reshaping Space and Time in state pressure. But we know that the Morocco: The Agencification of Urban real problems lie elsewhere, that the most important decisions are made el- Government and its Effects in the sewhere. (Lefebvre 183) Bouregreg Valley (Rabat / Salé) From the terrace of Café Maure in the casbah of the Oudayas, one can enjoy the panoramic view of the Bouregreg Valley (figure 1). The 12th-century citadel is built on the rocky shore where the Bouregreg River flows out into the Atlantic Ocean between the Moroccan capital Rabat and its neighboring city, Salé. Especially on summer evenings, the riverbanks look full of life. Jet-skiers are taking off, men are fishing, families are strolling along the quay, teenagers are diving in the water, and ferrymen take you across the river Maryame Amarouche, Koenraad Bogaert from one shore to the other. Since the turn of the new century, urban tize public wealth, but also how it repre- The valley is surrounded by the remains of mega-projects became a new growth sents an urban laboratory for the Morocco’s rich past: the casbah, the strategy in Morocco. Yet, in contrast to development of new modalities of gov- Hassan Tower, the Mohamed V mauso- their utopian promises, urban mega-proj- ernment, control, and domination. Finally leum, the medinas of Salé and Rabat, and ects do not solve the contemporary urban it assesses the social impact of the project further into the valley, the Chellah, a forti- crisis in the region, but reproduce it in dif- on small-scale farmers and private land- fied medieval necropolis. Each one of ferent ways. A paradigmatic case is the owners. these sites has become an important tour- Bouregreg project in the valley between ist attraction. Yet, the estuary attracts not Rabat and Salé. This article considers the Keywords: Morocco, urban government, only tourists, but also real estate investors. ways in which this megaproject repre- neoliberalism, new state spaces A whole new urban center is arising on the sents a means to extract profits and priva- shore of Salé right across the casbah, with Middle East – Topics & Arguments # 12 –2019 FOCUS 45 the Moroccan real estate company Travaux Généraux de Construction de Casablanca (TGCC), headed by Othman Benjelloun, one of Morocco’s most influential entre- preneurs, and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC). These future material icons of showcase urbanization are part of a long-term project that stretches fifteen kilometers inland along the Bouregreg River up to the bar- rage Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah. Launched in January 2006, the Bouregreg project encompasses a territory of six Figure 1: View on Bouregreg thousand hectares and will be developed 1,700 new residential units, a new marina, tion of the Grand Theatre, designed by the in six different phases (figure 2). The first luxury hotels, retail facilities, bars, and res- late “starchitect” Zaha Hadid, will become two phases are currently underway. taurants. La Marina Morocco, as its Abu Rabat’s newest landmark. The fluid sculp- Dhabi developer Eagle Hills calls it, has ture form of the theater, inspired by the The developments in Bouregreg Valley become a new luxury hub for living, lei- movement of the river itself, symbolizes are a salient example of a broader process sure, and entertainment. But that’s not all. the capital’s own aspiration for a of economic and political transformation A new bridge (Pont Moulay Hassan) now “Guggenheim effect” (Rodríguez et al). It that embodies the reign of King connects the two riverbanks. Together is the cornerstone of an urban renaissance Mohammed VI ever since his accession to with two tramlines, a tunnel underneath that aims to turn a dull administrative city the throne in 1999. Under his impetus, the the casbah, and a brand-new belt highway into a top-notch cultural destination – for launch of urban megaprojects and large- further along the valley, these state-of-the- now, at least. Only a few hundred meters scale infrastructural works came to charac- art infrastructures improve mobility from the construction site of the theater, terize a new development strategy, an between two cities plagued by traffic con- billboards already announce another “urbanism of projects” (Cattedra) or a gestion. landmark endeavor: The Mohamed VI “new culture of projects” (Barthel and Tower, a 55-storey skyscraper. The deal to Zaki), trying to link networks of investment The most remarkable feature of the val- build Africa’s tallest tower, which was capital in Europe, Africa, and the Middle ley’s transformation so far is situated right announced in the summer of 2017, is a East and if possible Asia and the United behind the bridge. The ongoing construc- multimillion dollar partnership between States. This new development strategy Middle East – Topics & Arguments # 12 –2019 FOCUS 46 should also be situated within larger entrepreneurial shifts in which megaprojects become the cornerstones of the cur- rent spatial re-organization of globaliza- tion (Brenner and Theodore; Harvey; Massey). Mega-projects are considered key for the commercial redevelopment of urban centers and the promotion of the city’s “unique selling position”, both in the Global North (Flyvbjerg) and the Global South (Ren and Weinstein), and more spe- cifically the Arab region (Wippel et al.). What matters here are not just the material changes in the urban landscape, but also how these projects reveal new political practices and agency that materialize in the interplay between global capitalism and local places such as Rabat and Salé. Cities like Rabat, but also Casablanca and Tangiers, became the privileged vehicles of economic regeneration and capital accumulation, as well as testing grounds for the re-invention of (authoritarian) politics and urban government (Bogaert). In Figure 2: The Bouregreg Project other words, the transformation of the Moroccan city tells a broader story about they can be a site for the production of mental arrangements that emerged within the transformation of politics, the state, new political imaginaries, future aspira- the context of the Bouregreg project. and the economy within a context of glo- tions, and expectations of social justice Second, we want to draw attention to the balization and neoliberal reform. (Strava). But more often, they produce new expectations and concerns of some of the In this article, we question some of the forms of social exclusion and feelings of people who live in the valley and reflect on promises and logics behind Morocco’s marginalization. Our examination first ana- their relations with the project. urbanism of projects. One the one hand, lyzes the new institutional and govern- Middle East – Topics & Arguments # 12 –2019 FOCUS 47 This article is based on joint ethnographic The agency functions as a quasi-state the official website of the Bouregreg proj- fieldwork and expert interviews with offi- within a state. ect. Especially the first phase, now La cials and other stakeholders conducted in Marina Morocco, was worked out in detail April and July 2018. It also draws on find- This particular form of neoliberal statecraft and the Commission anticipated the con- ings from earlier fieldwork between 2007- is a salient example of what Neil Brenner struction of a central, open, and green 2013 (Koenraad) and 2014 and 2018 has termed “new state spaces” (Brenner). public space in front of the medina of (Maryame). It implies not just a rescaling of state Salé, where inhabitants of both cities power (i.e., from the national to the urban could come together, stroll, and picnic. It New state spaces and ad hoc urbanism in scale), but also a whole new assemblage was important, the commission stated, the Moroccan capital of power by which foreign actors are inte- that the new public place would be To realize the Bouregreg mega-project, grated in the decision-making process. “planned with less density than the shore the Moroccan authorities created a new The Bouregreg Agency operates as an of Rabat to allow a larger variety of uses institutional model of state power: the intermediary between various investors by the population of the city” (Royaume Agency for the Development of the from around the world and the Moroccan du Maroc 40). Eventually, as an official of Bouregreg Valley. Law 16-04, which cre- context. It not only attracts investors such the Bouregreg Agency admitted, the ated the agency in November 2005, gives as the Abu Dhabi investor Eagle Hills (first whole plan was revised and the building the agency exclusive authority over the phase) and the sovereign wealth fund site was densified to increase the profit- project within its legally defined territorial Wessal Capital1 (second phase), it also ability of the private investor.2 Where they boundaries (the six thousand hectares). gives them decision-making power. As a once planned a public park, there is now Within that territory, local governmental semi-public entity, the Bouregreg Agency a gated community. entities such as the prefectures, the local is allowed by Law 16-04 to set up private municipalities, and the Rabat-Salé Urban enterprises and create joint ventures with Another example can be given with regard Planning Agency are effectively sidelined. private investors. Not surprisingly, plans, to the second phase. Originally, this phase The Bouregreg Agency is authorized to goals, and strategies are adapted regu- was going to be developed by Sama develop zoning plans, organize public larly within the institutional and legal Dubai, before it defaulted in 2008 due to inquiries, provide public infrastructure, framework of the project in order to better the financial crisis. Sama Dubai had allocate land for construction, deliver con- serve the interests of foreign investors.

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