URBAN GOVERNANCE Field study in and

MASTER GOVERNING THE LARGE SCIENCES PO URBAN SCHOOL 2015

Photo (front cover) : Nicolas Hrycaj Photo (back cover) : Nicolas Hrycaj CONTENTS

EDITORIAL NOTE 6

CHAPTER ONE: RABAT AND CASABLANCA IN CONTEXT 10

Understanding Institutions and Urban Governance in 11 Valentin Dubois, Roberto Lopez

Rabat and Casablanca: Developing Together or Developing Apart? 14 Kwame Boye Frimpong, Marissa Potasiak, Naomi Fagla Médégan, Mikhail Ermac

CHAPTER TWO: STRIVING FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH 18

A maritime interface 19 Arthur Simon, Sofia Morgavi, Alex Aung Khant, Adélaïde de Couëssin

On Casablanca and Rabat’s entrepreneurial urban governance: Mega-projects 22 for whom? Lorena Figuereido, JitkaMolnárová. Perrine Chauliac

Political language: two tales of Morocco 25 Marie Pla, Clarissa Pelino

The role of international organizations in local projects 31 Danlu Chen

The role of French institutions in the Moroccan Economy 33 Laura Grelet, Alexandre Reznikow, Gaëtan Müller

CHAPTER THREE: LAND-USE AT THE HEART OF POWER-RELATIONS 42

Land ownership and power relations: legal structure of use and abuse 43 Ivan Márquez, Alberto Garcia Picazo, Leire Irigoyen, Sofia Ramos Díaz

The Bouregreg Valley and mega projects in the urbanisation of Moroccan cities 47 Josephine Hébert, Emeline Dutheil The collective lands threatened by the current politics of urbanization 51 Elise Roy, Suzanne Spooner

CHAPTER FOUR: DEVELOPMENT CHOICES AND THE URBAN POOR 54

Governing the informal 55 Lou D’Angelo, Catalina Ramirez Palau

The governance of poverty in Rabat 60 Mireia Lozano

Safety valves for a contested metropolisation 62 Paul Tristan Victor, Elsa Cardona

CHAPTER FIVE: CULTURAL FACTORS AT STAKE IN THE METROPOLISA- 65 TION PROCESSES

Cultural Policy and Governance 66 Daniela Pascual, Clementine Chazal, Lisa Gerbal, Camille Lavoipierre

Cultural heritage in the context of economic development 70 Melina Spiga, Charlie Mitchell, Juliette Delaveau, Clara Lange

Stripping the Study Trip 73 Massimo Hulot, Simon Chabas

CONCLUSION 76

Looking at Casablanca and Rabat beyond the contractual 77 Côme Salvaire EDITORIAL NOTE

n the 11th of January 2015, fifty-two Sciences Po students from the fifth cohort of the master’s de- gree “Governing the Large Metropolis” took off for Oa one-week study trip in Morocco. Our mission was to examine the urbanization processes unfolding in the cities of Casablanca and Rabat. 20 degrees and palm trees. 1469 miles away from our cold and snowy . An almost summer camp-like atmosphere... After landing, all of us hopped on the bus heading for our hotel in the center of Casablanca. Eyes wide open, probing the landscape from above, we felt carried away into another culture by the sight of shepherds guiding their herds, the young riding their patched-up motorbikes, and the numerous wanderers of the Mohammed V public square. Casablanca is considered Morocco’s economic and business center. Yet, many battered building facades lined both sides of the road, contrasting with some of our preconceived ideas about the transformative power of economic development in a globalised and capitalist world. Within these seven days however, we learned to value these run down facades - the history they have witnessed, the power struggles they have endured, and most importantly, the lives they were shaping and sheltering. During six intense days we met with several high-ranking officials from both cities - representatives from cultural associations, private agencies, real estate developers, researchers and various members from civil society. Over lunch and late at night, a few hours of spare time allowed us to engage deeper with the medina’s maze of narrow lanes and its street vendors competing to catch our foreign attention. Not only were these informal moments necessary to recharge our batteries, but they were also crucial in our quest for information and local testimonies. Our professors had earlier suggested that most of what we would be looking for would be found in off-the-record discussions, debates and revelations. In this, Saint Exupéry’s “Petit Prince” guided our steps, reminding us that “what is essential is invisible to the eye”... Our efforts were thus aimed at finding a singular approach to build the report, by highlighting bridges and connexions between major themes which structured the visits (economic development, governance issues, culture, urban projects, etc.). Following this, we analyze the articulation between the policy choices made by, and for, the political and business elite of Rabat and Casablanca, considering the sometimes conflicting demands for economic development and claims for democracy -following the adoption of a new constitution in 2011. We also look at how the fringe of society characterized by partially informal lifestyles fits into this dialectic. What is the impact of the conflict between development and democracy, more specifically in the metropolization process of the Rabat-Casablanca region? How is the management of informality addressed within these competing narratives? These questions are answered from various perspectives in the following pages. The first chapter presents an overview of Moroccan governance at large - its structure and inherent conflicts - together with an analysis of the factors leading to evolving ties between the metropolitan regions of Casablanca and Rabat. Chapter 2 evaluates the various attempts of the city of Casablanca to become an international trade and financial hub. The following chapter looks at the dynamics of land ownership and its impact on the socially disfranchised populations of both cities. The fourth chapter tackles social challenges and focuses on the governance of both poverty and the informal sector. Finally, Chapter 5 examines how cultural policies are embedded within the metropolization process occurring between the cities of Rabat and Casablanca.

Editor in chief Paola Chapdelaine

Editors Julie Lannou Marissa Potasiak Côme Salvaire Designers Ivan Marquez Regina Diaz CASABLANCA RABAT

Maps : Paola Chapdelaine Julie Lannou Photo : Nicolas Hrycaj

RABAT AND CASABLANCA IN CONTEXT

CHAPTER ONE

10 UNDERSTANDING INSTITUTIONS AND URBAN GOVERNANCE IN MOROCCO by Roberto Lopez and Valentin Dubois-Guidoux

We are a democracy.” Separation of Powers in Moroc- These were the words co used by Moroccan officials to qualify their regime. The Kingdom of Morocco is “Despite Morocco’s low ranking a parliamentary constitutional in numerous global indexes of monarchy. The central executive democracy, officials argued thatpower belongs to a bicephalous Morocco was similar to other government, lead by the Prime Western democracies. Yet this Minister under the King’s con- official discourse often seemedtrol. The bicameral parliament out of step with the reality has held legislative power since we observed on the ground, 1996. It is composed of a house suggesting that the Moroccan of representatives, elected by state walks a thin line between direct universal suffrage, and a maintaining their political house of councilors, elected by legitimacy at home and wooing the representatives of the local Western trade partners abroad authorities. Ultimately, the Su- - which necessitates at least the preme Court, whose members appearance of a democratic are appointed by the King, holds mode of governance. the judiciary power. At the local Since our study trip took place level too, Moroccan counties and both in Casablanca and Rabat, cities are divided between an ex- we had the opportunity to ana- ecutive board appointed by the lyze the Moroccan political sys- King (the wilaya, responsible for tem in both its national and local each of the 16 regions) and an dimensions, as well as the state elected representative or mayor. of relations between the two. The two administrations are not Thus after presenting a critical outwardly competitive, yet they description of the Moroccan po- have their own prerogatives and litical system we will attempt to street-level bureaucrats. Overall, illuminate the issues and stake- Morocco is still very much in the holders in Morocco related to early stages democratization. In- urban public policies in particu- deed, according to the 2012 De- lar. We believe such a division is mocracy Index (The Economist relevant, as the former will help Intelligence Unit), the country is us trace the development and ranked 115th out of 167, with organization of Moroccan urban particularly low scores in plural- governance. ism and electoral participation. Rule of law is limited in Western

11 Sahara, as well as for the lowest stance, the administrators he can categories of the population and appoint are exhaustively listed). ethnic minorities living in slums. The field of legislation by the Parliament has been extended The Supremacy of The King to new domains. The two hous- es are made equal in the legisla- The current king, Mohammed VI, tive production process, yet the has reigned since 1999. His role control by the representatives is central and his legitimacy part- on the government is strength- ly comes from his religious and ened. The Prime Minister is now military power, as he is both the the appointed head of the Gov- leader of the army and the “com- ernment, yet the King still rules mander of the faithful”. Practically over the Ministers’ Cabinet. The he presides over the government government remains responsible and can dismiss ministers large- to both the Parliament and, to ly at will. Besides the Supreme some extent, the King, who can Court, no political institution has expel any Minister. any power upon him. The King, along with his advisors, has a ro- Urban Governance and Urban bust ability to initiate and direct Policies in Morocco public policy. For instance, he can appoint all top-level officialsThe duality of Morocco’s govern- and administrators or give dahir, ance, composed of two branch- a King’s decree bypassing the es - one political (elected by the Parliament. As a result, in every citizens) and one administrative national or local project, the King (appointed and controlled by the is presented as a benevolent in- King) - also exists at the city lev - itiator. This omnipresence in na- el. This situation results from the tional, local and even religious fact that the King has launched a domains is reflected in the royaldecentralization process, without propaganda in Morocco. fully renouncing its many pow- ers and prerogatives, resulting in The 2011 Constitution a situation still characterized by his omnipresence through local After the protests of February officials ( and Governors). 20th in early 2011, King Moham- Thus, while the presidents of med VI proposed a new consti- city assemblies and regions are tution on March the 9th to be officially in charge of urban -pol ratified by referendum, which icies and projects, there is a gap was approved by 97.58% of the between their budgets and their population on July 1st. The pur- numerous prerogatives, subject- pose of this text was to rebal- ing them to central state author- ance the separation of powers ity and the King. Along with the to reinforce the rule of law. Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion According to the text, the King’s (a publically-funded organiza- prerogatives have not been lim- tion), the Walis (equivalent of the ited but rather clarified (for - in french “préfet”, whose respon-

12 Photo : Mikhail Ermac sibilities are the preservation of fact that their policies directly im- common among countries seek- security and the promotion of pact the inhabitants these politi- ing to accelerate decision pro- economic development among cians represent. cess and implementation. Indeed, their territory) handle most - fi similar configurations of sover- nancial resources, enabling them This complex political architec- eignty and rescaling of the state to control local politicians and ture is essential to understand can be found in other Arab cities giving them the final word onbecause it explains why most ofengaged in global competition to many urban policies and projects. the actors we met in Morocco attract foreign investments, such More recently, in order to accel- defined their action as an appli- as the Aqaba Special Economic erate and facilitate the imple- cation of the King’s will. Moreover, Zone Authority, Mawared in Am- mentation of long-awaited me- such depiction of the political or- man and Solidere in Beirut. ga-projects, the King has created ganization also shows the chan- by dahir (royal decree) a certain nels through which the King and number of urban agencies en- the central state transmit their dowed with exceptional powers orders, and why these orders related to these projects. The are so respected by local officials. latter benefit from an absenceNonetheless, while Morocco’s of control from local politicians political organization and govern- or traditional urban agencies. It ance could seem rather unusual seems evident that this new type and not fully democratic (as we of agency leaves the traditional Western citizens conceive it) it political frame aside since they should be noted that many as- are no longer held responsible pects we have described are not by any local politician, despite the unique to Morocco but rather

13 CASABLANCA AND RABAT: DEVELOPING TOGETHER OR DEVELOPING APART? by Kwame Boye Frimpong, Marissa Potasiak, Naomi Fagla Médégan and Mikhail Anton Ermac

omparing the differing achieving these goals, particularly trajectories of urban with regards to their strategies development in Rabat of financing and their reliance on and Casablanca reveals state authority. What do these Cmuch about relations between similarities and differences say these cities and their place in the about the trajectory of urban de- Moroccan state’s development velopment in both cities? More strategy as a whole. On the one specifically, are Casablanca and hand, through the site visits, in- Rabat developing together, sep- terviews and meetings with pol- arately, or in direct competition iticians, private developers, and with one another? The answer to civil society actors, we have no- this question is rooted in a more ticed a complementary process fundamental distinction between of development in both cities. the cities themselves, Rabat serv- Massive investments have been ing as the country’s cultural and made on projects such as the political capital, and Casablanca building of a new marina, the de- hosting its economic and finan- velopment of a new downtown cial activities - a historic distinc- in Casablanca, and the renewal tion that continues to influence of the old port and river basin urban development in both cities in Rabat, which largely cater to today. middle and upper class Moroc- cans. These projects also share Competition an international, outward focus aimed at projecting Morocco as At first glance, several arguments a global city. However, despite seem to support the thesis of these similarities these projects competition between the two often employ different means of urban centers of Casablanca and

Drawing: Clara Marcuard Fregonese

14 Rabat. The writings of Cuadra- welcomed Rolex. One year later, do-Roura and Rubalcaba-Ber- after Rabat had inaugurated its mejo1 support this idea, asserting MegaMall in Hay Ryad, Casablan- that cities have always special- ca opened its O Gallery. Finally, ised, producing a natural inclina- Rabat’s Arribat Centre, with its tion towards a presumption of luxury hotel and shops, appears competition. In comparing Ra- as a direct counter-attack to Cas- bat and Casablanca, one notable ablanca’s , built in 1. Cuadrado-Roura, J. R., Rubalca- area of specialization relates to 2010. This would be in line with ba-Bermejo, L. “Specialization and each city’s differing demograph- the argument of Gordon and 2 Competition amongst European ics. Casablanca has always been Cheshire , who suggest that “the Cities: A New Approach through a city of migrants, while Rabat competitive ethos is, increasing- Fair and Exhibition Activities”. In has historically been quite a ly, affecting cities, obliging them Regional Studies, 32(2), 133-147. bourgeois city. This demographic to be more active in marketing 1998 difference became particularly themselves and in trying to iden- visible during the reign of King tify and reinforce their assets.” Hassan II, when both cities were This process of competitive de- marked by a certain opposition velopment between the two cit- to the royal authority, yet ex- ies may flow from the fact that pressed that opposition in highly there simply is not the kind of dissimilar ways. In Rabat, the elite political infrastructure needed (mainly composed of civil serv- to achieve a joint metropoliza- 2. Cheshire, P. C., Gordon, I. R. ants) was very politicized and tion process between Rabat and “Territorial competition: Some used the institutional channels Casablanca. Therefore the devel- lessons for policy”. In The Annals available to them to shift the po- opment of new cities - as well as of Regional Science, 32(3), 321- litical agenda. On the other hand, the rapid urbanization occurring 346. 1998 Casablanca became the cradle of along the road linking both cities several riots (the most violent of - does not seem to stem from which happened in 1981) aiming a carefully reflected project, but to improve the people’s materi- would rather follow a growing al conditions. Thus in Rabat and and dynamic private real estate Casablanca opposition to the sector which overtakes politi- central government did not have cal dynamics, as emphasized by the same goals, nor the same Dr. Mohamed Tozy, Dean of the modus operandi - revealing little School of Governance and Eco- sense of unity between the two nomics of Rabat. It thus seems cities. that both cities are privileging Second, when it comes to de- their own development, regard- veloping commercial activities less of whether it is done at the and attracting foreign business- expense of the other. But does es, Casablanca and Rabat have a this impression still hold true history of competition, each city when abandoning the local focus seemingly trying to counter the and shifting the scale of analysis other’s influence. Several exam- to the national level. ples illustrate this point. Not long after le luxury group Cartier set- tled in Casablanca in 2004, Rabat

15 Complementarity Tourism Development (SMIT) is to make both Rabat and Casa- To better understand the com- blanca “global destinations” for 3 plementary roles played by the international tourism . Thus it two cities of Rabat and Casa- seems that each complements blanca, we needed to broaden one another - offering both di- our understanding of the sub- versity and specialisation linked ject by placing ourselves at a to their comparative advantage. national scale. For one, evidence Positioning Casablanca as a glob- of complementary develop- al city invariably allows Rabat to ment can be found in the SOFA dominate domestic affairs. Textile, (Schéma d’Organisation Fonc- electronics, food processing and tionnelle et d’Aménagement de clothing industries of Casablanca l’aire métropolitaine centrale), a supply the increasing demand for document proposing to merge such products in Rabat. On the Casablanca and Rabat, as well other hand, Rabat boasts a large 4. Batten, D. F. “Network cities: as the surrounding towns, into a number of higher educational in- creative urban agglomerations grand (INAU stitutions which supply the skilled for the 21st century”. In Urban Field report). Written in 1998, it human capital needed to propel studies, 32(2), 313-327. 1995 identified the key barriers to de- the growth of Casablanca. velopment plaguing both cities, Integration is further achieved barriers which in turn impeded through the transportation net- the economic development of works linking both cities - be it 5. Autoroutes du Maroc (ADM), Morocco as a whole. The SOFA by rail, road, air, or sea. Internally, 2003 (On Line:http://www.adm. called for a metropolitan per- both cities have seen huge in- co.ma/adm/communication/pag- spective to address these com- vestment in transportation in- es/publication.aspx?p=5) mon problems, while ensuring frastructure. The travel time be- that the state would continue tween Casablanca and Rabat is to be the guiding force behind one hour by train or road, falling Moroccan metropolitan devel- within the accepted “one hour opment. This is not to deny key rule” of which urban dwellers 4 differences between Casablanca are willing to spend commuting . and Rabat. The former is without How does the transport net- question the economic, financial, work evidence complementary and industrial capital of the coun- relations between the cities? Ac- 3. Hemidach Amjad, “Rabat and try, coming in at number 78 in the cording to the agency in charge Casablanca to Become “World Global City rankings (perhaps of the construction, maintenance, Tourist Destinations” “. In Morocco and operation of state highway World News. 2014 reflecting the city’s aspiration to 5 become the top financial hubnetwork, of Autoroutes du Maroc , the African continent). The latter, Casablanca-Rabat has the coun- on the other hand, is the political try’s most circulated Motorway and cultural capital of Morocco, (20.30% share of national traffic) home to some of Morocco’s with an average daily traffic of most notable historic architec- 49,543 vehicles. The high volume ture and cultural sites. Yet the new of traffic in part accentuates the goal of the Moroccan Agency for exchange of goods and services between the cities; each being a

16 reciprocal consumer of the oth- What’s more, the two growing 6. UN Habitat. Economic Role of er’s functionality. cities stand to benefit from real- Cities: Global Urban Economic izing the synergies of interactive Dialogue Series. 2012 In conclusion, answering the growth. As affirmed by UN HAB- question of whether Casablanca ITAT 6, national economic growth and Rabat are developing in a is harnessed by the heteroge- competitive or a complementary nous functions of modern cities. manner, we find that the answer However, it must be noted that lies somewhere in-between, competition generates negative pointing to a kind of complemen- consequences of being discrim- tary-competition. At a national inatory with its patrons, hence level, the competition between perpetuating inequality and seg- the cities seems inconsequential regation. Efforts should therefore - a win-win situation for the state be made to mitigate the emerg- and the king, who have a vest- ing negative consequences. ed interest in the development and prosperity of both cities.

Photo : Nicolas Hrycaj

17 Photo: Nicolas Hrycaj STRIVING FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

CHAPTER TWO

18 A MARITIME INTERFACE by Adelaide de Couessïn, Arthur Simon, Sofia Morgavi and Alex Aung Khant

ome to 3500 kilo- supervision is carried out by the meters of coastline Ministry of Equipment and Trans- stretching from the port. Mediterranean Sea The maritime juridical framework Hto the , Morocco changed in 2006, with reforms boasts 38 ports handling ap- aimed at enhancing competition proximately 98% of its internalamong other ports, adapting the exchanges. However, the countryprovision of port services to an began only recently to take ad- increasing demand and creating vantage of this strategic location. a powerful tool able to influence In 1912, , then in the economic performance of charge of the Moroccan protec- Morocco’s private companies. torate, was given the task to build To do so, conveyor chains the first modern port of Casa - were adjusted and competition blanca, which at the time was was fostered thanks to the only a small fishing port. intervention of the private sector. Nowadays, the fishing portA more strategic vision was thus has been moved to the Roch- necessary for Casablanca’s es Noires neighbourhood, four port - a vision which failed kilometers away from the actu- to materialize. This is why the al port, which has tripled in size modernization project has yet since 1912. As a result, the port to be successfully implemented, of Casablanca handles over 33% despite the reform’s well- of all shipping traffic to Morocco, meaning intentions. a staggering number given that it In the meantime, a ground- is only 1 out of 38 ports. breaking simulation software program has been launched Logistics on the port by the Ministry, used to train new recruits with managing The is under and handling the container the control of two official bodies. ships. The simulation software First, the National Agency of the brings a modern approach to Ports is a public agency endowed the development of the port with a legal status and financial and ensures that its employees independence. It is however sub- work in accordance with ever- ject to financial control from the changing international standards. state. It plays a key role in regulat- Infrastructure-wise, a new fourth ing port activities, while technical terminal is also planned and will

19 be built with a deeper dock to with regards to flows of cereals, accommodate larger container minerals, and fishing ships. ships, with all the modern However, the port of Casablan- equipment required. ca is also orienting its activity to- These new demands for logistics wards tourism by building a pier has also prompted a plan to build which could host cruise ships a new port zone in the north of and by investing in the touristic Casablanca where there is am- sector through a marina project ple space and less congestion. and the opening of the port to This zone is meant to handle all the old medina. Focusing more the port’s logistics, and would on touristic activities would en- also serve as a connection be- able Casablanca to attract more tween Casablanca and the north, visitors, potentially transform- as well as with Rabat. ing Casablanca into a Moroccan economic and cultural capital. External and internal links To widen the extent of Casablan- ca’s port’s influence, various pro- Historically speaking, the devel- jects are underway such as the opment of Casablanca was di- development of railroad activi- rectly linked to the development ties from the port towards the of the port. With a workforce hinterland, and the construction of about 30,000, it stands at the of a road between the port of core of Casablanca’s economy, Casablanca and the logistics zone employing not only locals, but of , 20 kilometers north- also attracting national and inter- east. Zenata is a strategic place, national investors. located between Casablanca, To foster the economy of the and Rabat, and is country, mainly based on maritime crossed by several motorways fluxes, there is now a major and railway lines. government project to make The port of Casablanca therefore ports not only infrastructure not only aims at being Morocco’s used to transfer goods, but also most important port, but also the economic levers of the strives to hold a strategic place in country. The fact that Rabat has the international maritime trade. effectively decided not to have its At the moment, Casablanca is own industrial port is indicative mainly an African hub, trading of the complementary process with its neighbours especially of metropolization between from the region. the two cities. The development However, the city ambitions to of Rabat’s port is indeed more expand its trade to the Arabian focused on leisure and tourism, Gulf and a clear indicator of this whereas the development of the ambition is the Marina project. port of Casablanca is based on to the historical downtown trade, with the aim of becoming of the Old Medina, offices, luxury an important hub between the apartments, a shopping mall and Moroccan hinterland and the a marina are to be built, largely rest of the world, particularly based upon the model of ,

20 with the marina aiming to attract rich foreign investors to develop high-class tourism. The project is actually under construction, but has been considerably slowed down since the main investors, the Gaddafi family, Drawing: Clara Marcuard stopped funding the project in Fregonese 2011. Funding the Marina has been the main difficulty ever since and the project has been delayed numerous times, while the marina is yet to undergo construction. It seems as though this project reveals the limits of Casablanca’s ambitions; the main challenge is to be attractive enough to lure foreign investors. Yet competition is fierce in that sector and the future will show us if Casablanca have the means to live up to its ambitions.

21 ON CASABLANCA AND RABAT’S ENTREPRENEURIAL URBAN GOVERNANCE: MEGA-PROJECTS FOR WHOM? by Jitka Molnarova, Lorena Figueiredo and Perrine Chauliac

n the 1980s a regenera- ca Finance City (CFC), the new tion-based, project-focused commercial and residential Casa type of urban planning Marina center, also in Casablan- emerged in the North-Amer- ca, and the Vallée du Bouregreg Iican and European framework1, regeneration project in Rabat, associated with a new model which combines transportation of urban governance, the “en- infrastructure, environmental trepreneurialism”, in which city protection, and cultural equip- managers act as entrepreneurs ments such as a theatre and a fighting for investments, in com- natural sciences museum. While petition with other cities2. Today, Casablanca aims to become the not much has changed in the ur- “new financial hub of North Afri- ban planning scenario, apart from ca”, Rabat seeks to promote itself 1. Hall, Peter. 2014. Cities of to- a crucial movement of global as a “green city” and the “cultural morrow. West Sussex, UK: Black- expansion: “everywhere the citycapital” of Morocco. well. 4th edition of enterprise has boomed and Yet at this point one must won- busted and then boomed and der whether these efforts made busted again1. The most flagrant by Casablanca and Rabat will expression of the entrepreneur- truly suffice in attracting- for ial model of urban governance eign investors that could turn 2. Harvey, David. 1989. From are the numerous design-orient- the Morrocan metropolitan re- managerialism to entrepreneur- ed, first-class mega-projects that gion into a new global city. And ialism: the transformation in ur- spur everywhere — from Lon- if so, how will it change the ur- ban governance in late capitalism. don’s Docklands, an abandoned ban landscape of the two cities Geografisca Annaler 71.1, 3–17 industrial zone transformed into and the lives of their inhabitants? a dynamic residential and com- According to the latest rankings mercial area, to China’s Shen- of the Global Financial Centres zhen, the built-from-scratch, Index (GFCI), which measures 3. QFC (2014), The Global Finan- high-tech, service-oriented -finanthe competitiveness of financial cial Centres Index 16 cial hub, passing through the pub- centres, Casablanca is currently lic-private partnership for urban positioned at rank 513. Com- regeneration in ’s pared to cities such as Lagos harbour area (Porto Maravilha). or Istanbul (of which the recent Not surprisingly, Morocco has growth might shake off the Mo- its own gems: the new Casablan- roccan ambition to host a new

22 global financial hub) Casablanca, has become market-oriented, due to its many reforms and promoting the city with the goal tax incentives launched in 2010 of attracting foreign investments. and its scenario of political sta- Thus, Casablanca as well as 4. Barthel, Pierre Arnaud and bility, seems to stand bravely as a Rabat and its iconic project of Planel, Sabine. 2010. Tanger Med strong competitor moving quick- Opera, designed by the star and Casa Marina, prestige pro- ly upwards in the GFCI statistics. architect Zaha Hadid, implement jects in Morocco: new capitalist It is therefore probable that the a strategy of “city-branding” in framework and local contexts. (CFC) order to reinforce Morocco’s Built Environment. 36.2, 48-63 project will succeed and bring attractiveness for business and the expected foreign capital toposit the country in the Euro- the city. mediterranean map4. However, However, the GFCI focuses on it is unclear whether this strategy the quality of business environ- could turn Casablanca into a ment, market access, skilled la- especially attractive location, bour force and prices of real as, in many ways, the project estate3, leaving social aspects imitates existing financial hubs5. Vainer, Carlos. Pátria, Empresa e such as inclusiveness, quality of — for example, ’s projectmercadoria. In Arantes, O.Vain- housing stock or social welfare of commercial towers resembles er,C. Maricato, E. A Cidade do out of the ranking. The increas- Dubaï’s skyline. The risk of pensamento único. São Paulo: ing potential of Casablanca to homogenizing urban landscapes Vozes, 3ª Edição 2004 become a new financial centreand losing the Moroccan thus reflects benefits the identityCFC does exist; Casablanca’s would bring to international busi- governance is following a generic nesses, but little does it say about model of development, based the benefits it would bring to the on standardized international local population. Consequently, the ambition of becoming a financial hub is translated in the urban landscape by iconic projects embodying the political willingness to brand Casablanca as the new gateway to . In a globalized and competitive environment, urban planning and design are coupled together, to re-imagine and sell places1. A good example is the creation by the private agency ANfA of the CFC, a whole neighbourhood dedicated to financial activities, stretching out on 365 hectares at the heart of rankings, such as the Quality Photo : Alex Aung Khant the city, which aimed to send a of Living Index of Mercer, and positive symbol to investors. In recommendations of global that sense, megaprojects reveal actors, such as the consultant how much urban planning McKinsey, working on almost

23 Photo : Nicolas Hrycaj every urban megaproject ies at an international rank, the the consumers of the “city mer- worldwide Moreover, the lack government invests in “prestige chandise”5, that is, international of participatory processes urbanism” mega-projects that investors, expats, and upper and in Casablanca planning, as might not correspond to the middle class dwellers; not the ur- underlined by Barthel and real needs and expectations ofban poor, whom according to his Planel4, may also contribute to the locals. This is intrinsically con- discourse “would have to move the standardization of urban nected with the top-down mod- elsewhere”. Certainly, the very landscapes, as inhabitants are not el of governance by which these positive side of ANFA’s project granted the chance to preserve projects are implemented, via ad is the creation of jobs. However, the specificity of their lifestyles. hoc private agencies like ANFA the risk is that those jobs benefit As international organizations and the Agence d’Aménagement mostly skilled workers and side- like the GFCI, by measuring the de la Vallé du Bouregreg, lacking line one part of the population. global competitiveness of cities, democratic control mechanisms. The top-down entrepreneuri- end up giving little importance But in a project like the ANFA al model of urban governance to the overall improvement of one, which will create a new adopted in Casablanca and Rabat the local quality of life in their neighbourhood of expected 100, is thus implementing “prestige ur- recommendations, the Moroc- 000 inhabitants in Casablanca, banism” mega-projects that seek can government, seems to fo- the absence of provision to build to attract international investors cus too much on improving the social housing is quite striking. in a competitive global scenario conditions for businesses and When the ANFA representative of cities, while neglecting local their employees, and too little on stated that this neighbourhood inhabitants’ needs and expecta- benefiting the Moroccan popula- would be a space “for everyone, tions of what a city “for every- tion. While seeking to place cit- by everyone” he probably meant one” should really be.

24 POLITICAL LANGUAGE: TWO TALES OF MOROCCO by Clarissa Pelino and Marie Pla

olitical language, trarily to intuitive thinking. It is like all texts, precisely can through the ambiguity be understood as of words that Casablanca-Rabat creating an endless developers build their discourse, “Pchain of ambiguous associations which they use to talk both to and constructions that offer wide the local population and to the potentialities for interpretation foreign investors and clients they and for manipulation.”1 wish to attract, revealing “the The vagueness of the political openness of language to accom- 1. Murray Edelman, Political lan- language used by Moroccan au- modation to varying situations guage and political reality. PS, thorities, and more generally the and to the range of interests of 1985, Vol. 18, N° 1, p. 10-19 actors involved in urban pro- speakers and audiences”.1 jects in Casablanca and Rabat, The political discourse in Moroc- serves two purposes. One is co is therefore articulated along to build consensus among citi- two distinct narratives: a demo- zens, through the use of a dem- cratic discourse, addressed to the ocratic lexical field; the other is citizens and aimed at evoking an to woo potential expatriates to imagery of pluralistic, social, and the country by employing both participative governance; and a images and a lexical field that discourse of prestige, where the appeals to the notion of a pres- vocabulary is carefully chosen to tigious metropolis and general fit international standards of mo- globalized urban norms. Words dernity and progress. such as “democratic initiative” do We attempt to deconstruct the not imply effective participative political discourse that we were governance on a practical lev- exposed to in Rabat and Cas- el, but nonetheless conjure the ablanca, not only by splitting it image of a government working into two narratives, but also by hand in hand with its citizens. On contrasting both narratives with the other hand, the imitative vo- reality and to what has been ac- cabulary of modernity and the complished on the ground. global architecture of the Casa- blanca-Rabat projects is aimed at A tale of democracy appealing to foreign investors. This double discourse is rooted A first narrative is that of a in the inexistence of reality as democratic government. Pub- stated by Lacan: reality only ex- lic agencies and political entities ists when named. Therefore it is that we have met in Rabat and language that creates reality, con- Casablanca strongly emphasize

25 their preoccupation with matters “democratic organization (...) of social inequalities on the one which places social action at the side, and citizenship and dem- heart of its development pro- 2. Vallée du Bouregreg brochure ocratic decision-making on the gram and takes care of reha- other. This orientation in their bilitating the space for citizens’ political discourse is essential for well-being”2. authorities to build consensus, by In the speech he gave for the in- maintaining among the popula- auguration of the INDH, the King tion a shared imagery of plural- uses the words “society” and “so- istic governance working for the cial” twenty-four times, and he well-being of Moroccan citizens. epitomizes the democratic nar- Because it is difficult for civil -so rative we are describing, saying: ciety to counter political rhetoric “We call on the government to (as most of them are mere re- adopt an action plan founded on cipients of it), vocabulary that is principles of good governance, skilfully chosen and publicized by namely responsibility and trans- authorities can succeed in cre- parency, rules of professionalism, ating a correspondingly favora- citizen participation, integration ble image of government in the and rationalization of public in- minds of citizens. stitutions’ intervention, as well as This democratic lexical field -ar the monitoring and permanent ticulates around some key, ge- evaluation of its realizations”2. neric words that are endlessly Note how phrases like “social repeated. Their accumulation action”, “good results into what sounds to us governance”, “The largely technical and specialized language almost like a refrain: it penetrates or “integration” that directly activates resource allocations as people’s minds while carrying are seldom part of the implementing actions of govern- no concrete meaning, and thus accompanied ments and corporations is inevitably responsive creates vague images that do by explicative to established social inequalities, for this form not necessarily match reality, but content that of policy making minimizes public attention and that can be stronger than reali- completes their maximizes bargaining among directly interested ty itself. The key words we have meaning. It is groups that come to know each other’s resourc- detected push forward the idea never explained es well. In the making of such decisions there of a government where decisions what is meant is direct, though unequal, participation by those are taken by the citizens and for by “social ac- who can bargain while the publicized activities of the citizens. A strong emphasis is tion,” or what government amount to a ritual of vicarious par- thus put, first of all, on the idea plans the agen- ticipation that is a necessary prelude to public of “citizenship” itself, and we find cy has to put it acquiescence in implementing decisions.”1 this word - in all its possible dec- into practice, so linations - in many speeches and no-one can be blamed for lack brochures. Others include words of social action (which itself is a such as “democracy,” “society,” vague concept), and no-one can “participation,” and “empower- be disappointed. The name of ment.” Below are some exam- the agency, though, and its rep- ples: To begin, the Agence pour utation, will remain linked in the l’Aménagement de la Vallée de public’s mind to that faint idea of Bouregreg describes itself as a “social action” and of “citizen en-

26 treprise,” to that euphonic song more on what we could see with of democracy, and that will be our own eyes, as we find that the enough for its image to survive. democratic discourse staged by In the vagueness of this vocabu- politicians and public agencies lary lies its political strength. doesn’t quite correspond to At the wilaya of Casablanca, we their philosophy of action. had the chance to hear about When we looked for concrete the development strategy for the , which gave us additional examples of a quite vague – and to some extent contradictory – discourse. As the himself explained, the main concern is the “reconciliation of the city with its inhabitants,” and one of the main pillars of this strategy is the creation of an “in- clusive financial hub.” But if we look at the conditions of poverty in which a good part of the pop- ulation lives, it is hard to imagine how the most immediate priority of a city-government that wants to reconcile itself with its citizens could be the creation of a finan- cial hub. In the meantime, we find it hard to imagine how such a proofs of a government by the hub can ever be “inclusive.” Here, citizens, characterized by pluralis- it seems like the word “inclusive” tic decision-making mechanisms, was added to the discourse in we had trouble observing tru- order to edulcorate, and some- ly participative processes, as all how mask, the real expected public agencies respond to the outcomes of the policy. central authority rather than to Vocabulary referring to demo- local needs and expressed pref- cratic practices is widely used by erences. Although authorities agencies and governments. At put a lot of emphasis on the the Mairie de Rabat as well, we existence of several independ- heard about “growth and solidar- ent agencies, a more thorough ity,” about “actor empowerment,” look at the processes unveils a and “active citizen.” In the con- very centralized power struc- ference room of the Al Omrane ture, where a monarch and an agency the refrain kept playing, urban elite surrounding him are with phrases like “social habitat,” omnipresent in all decisions. At “urban reintegration” and “social the same time, an impression of support (accompagnement)”. plurality contributes to a shared But it is time to look away from confusion about accountability. rhetoric and talk, and to focus When looking for proofs of a

27 government for the citizens, we aimed at attracting investments had the slight impression that from abroad and potentially at decisions were pushed more, as housing expatriates. we will see in the second part, by The fact that Moroccan authori- the desire to attract foreign in- ties posit themselves in a demo- vestment than by a sincere con- cratic rhetoric is also something cern for the local populations. that might appeal to foreign ac- Cases of displacement of local tors: the performative nature of populations (done more or less language implies that the recipi- subtly) are very common in Cas- ents of the discourse will not find ablanca and Rabat. The Vallée de it necessary to check what lies Bouregreg project, for instance, behind the discourse. The very which is proud of “rehabilitat- fact that something is deemed ing the geographical space for democratic is often sufficient to the citizens’ well-being,” focuses satisfy people’s need of informa- on the creation of high-income tion: vagueness is at the heart of housing, that the fishermen pre- discourses and allows for the ac- viously living there will never be tors involved to interpret them able to afford. More violent ex- as what suits them best. In this amples of displacement are slum sense, the address to foreign ac- removal projects, being carried tors aims at creating an aura of out by governments as well as by modernity and prestige around real estate development agen- the Casablanca-Rabat urban re- cies (such as ANFA, for the new gion (i) when reality is far from downtown): informal dwellers the Western standards they living in central areas of the city claim to meet (ii). are evicted, sometimes by police The Bouregreg Valley epitomizes forces, and - when lucky - relo- this purpose. In the brochure, the cated in the peripheries. Such Agency advertises for the Valley’s projects are often justified byfuture business district in these authorities through rhetorics of terms: “Al Saha Al Kabira’s office social inequalities that need to spaces will welcome Moroccan be overcome. and multinational companies seeking for a central location, A tale of international prestige high quality services and a pleas- ant work environment. They will We have seen that the democrat- be equipped with flexible rooms ic and socially-concerned rhet- that meet the most prestigious oric does not match the urban business centers’ norms, as well policies undertaken in the Cas- as with the best infrastructures, ablanca-Rabat conurbation, yet it for maximum comfort”; “the is essential for the government business district will be strate- to build consensus within Mo- gically located in the Rabat-Salé roccan society. We understand agglomeration”. In order to ap- this first narrative as a veil to pealthe to international firms, the second discourse, addressed to Agency resorts to a lexical field foreign companies and actors, of supposed international urban

28 norms (“répondant aux normes idea that expatriates expect such des centres d’affaires les plus infrastructures, but they feed it. réputés”) and describe the infra- It is in this sense that language structures they provide as being contributes to creating reality: at the forefront of such norms. the Agency’s discourse, by aim- However, these standards have ing at reaching expatriates, also no tangible meaning: they con- designs the needs this popula- tribute to activating an imagery tion may have. However the im- of modernity without giving a aginary of modernity and highly concrete definition of what “opti- attractive metropolis that this mal” or “strategic situation” might discourse creates faces a chal- mean. In order to attract not only lenging reality: for instance, peo- foreign investors but also a pop- ple in charge of the Casa-ANFA ulation of expatriates, the Agency project said “they [were] trying also praises the grand theater of to make Casablanca the hub of Rabat: “designed by Zaha Hadid, Africa, and it [already was]!”. Not a true symbol of contemporary only is it contradictory (why try urbanism”, a “magnificent build- and make Casablanca the hub of ing with a futuristic design”, “a Africa if it already is?), but also it real cultural symbol for the cap- is wrong, as Lagos is already in- ital”. Relying on both the lexical vestors’ major point of entry in field of prestigious urbanism and Africa and concentrates far more of cultural pre-eminence in local foreign investment than its Mo- authorities’ concerns, not only do roccan competitor. Indeed, the they base their discourse on the Casablanca-Rabat urban region

29 is far from being investors’ this project still holds on to ment, by transforming ur- dream city and political the lexical field of prestige ban space into a source of authorities’ alleged goal of and international standards incoming flows of capital. turning the city into a point when it is actually ten years This, unfortunately, could of entry to Africa for for- behind in terms of design, not be achieved smoothly eign investors remains still as buildings’ architecture if the people who would quite ambitious. a pipe now dates back to the not gain from this poli- dream. 1990s and is rather out- cy were fully aware of it. The Marina of Casablanca dated: it strongly contrasts Language turns out to be has been under construc- with the discourse that still a toolkit, with which pol- tion for over a decade but tells the story of a modern investments brutally dried and attractive environment up in 2011 when the Arab for businesses to settle. Springs paralyzed the re- Moroccan authorities’ and gion. Gulf countries that developers’ discourses on were responsible for a a number of projects of large share of the invest- the Casablanca-Rabat con- ments in this project put an urbation illustrate the po- end to their participation litical relevance of language and construction stopped and vocabulary. Its evoca- until the year 2014 – when tive power and openness everything was initially to interpretation allow pol- expected to be builtiticians by to play with images 2013. When we passed and ambiguities, in an effort by the Marina, pictures of to build national consensus iticians can cut out paper Photo : Nicolas Hrycaj the future landscape were on the one hand, and to castles and draw imagined Drawings : Marie Pla shown on large billboards, attract international invest- realities, while behind the while guards made sure ment on the other. Our scenery there are unfin- that bypassers did not en- analysis of Moroccan po- ished construction sites ter the construction site. litical rhetoric was inspired and out-of-date luxury - res After negotiations, we by Edelman’s thesis that idential buildings. were allowed to enter language can construct a showroom exhibitingpolitical realities, as we be- plans, photos and videos lieve that – in politics – im- of the future Marina: pic- agined, chanted visions of tures were not allowed reality are often more vivid there or on the construc- than reality itself, especially tion site itself. The guards to the majority of eyes and did not seem at ease with ears. The two narratives our presence, which made we’ve analyzed should be us feel as if their was a understood dialectically, as discrepancy between the they are two lines of the discourse and the reality same long-term project, in the Marina, implying that which aims at integrating visits and pictures could Rabat and Casablanca in end up contradicting the the global market for busi- official story-telling. Indeed,ness and real-estate invest-

30 THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN LOCAL PROJECTS by Danlu Chen he inspirations of the Morocco has been awarded the King, the local govern- 2010 Scroll of Honour Award for ments and private in- its slum reduction and improve- vestors from Morocco ment programs3. In the mean- Tand overseas shape in many ways time however, the affordability of 1. Cities Alliance. Cities without the national metropolization. upgraded housing makes many Slum Action Plan. (On Line:http:// Nevertheless, a variety of inter- slum dwellers reluctant to leave4. www.citiesalliance.org/cws-ac- national organizations also play When GLM students asked tion-plan) a significant role in the process.about the human rights issue, the They serve as sources of finance,General Director of SAO Rabat legitimacy and technical support of Al Omrane would defend in different types of projects the project with the UN award. 2. OECD (2013), State-Owned that are expected to shape theClearly, UN Habitat has given the Enterprises in the Middle East urban future of Morocco. Since Moroccan slum reduction pro- and : Engines of these resources are essential gram positive recognition which Development and Competitive- building bricks of the metropol- could facilitate upcoming pro- ness?, OECD Publishing, Paris itan governance, realized through jects from the program, by pro- projects, one cannot ignore in- viding it legitimacy. ternational organizations when The Bouregreg Valley project specifying who governs the Mo- on the other side is conducted 3. UN Habitat, 2010, Al Omrane: rocco metropolization. by the Agency for the Planning Leading actor for Settlement Up- The Villes Sans Bidonvilles (Cities of the Bouregreg Valley. The ur- grading without Slums) initiative emerged ban planning agency is claimed during the UN Millennium Sum- to be a unique type of agency mit in 2000 and found echo in that takes in charge a three- the Millennium Development fold task with PPP: environment 4. Malcom Borthwick. Moroccan Goalsl1. In 2004, the Moroccan protection, layout management efforts to replace slums. In BBC government adopted the Pro- and heritage preservation. It is in News. 29/09/2009 [On Line : gram. Working with Al Omrane charge of the management and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/busi- Group, a real-estate State-owned development of a 17-km long ness/8266403.stm] company, the Ministry of Hous- waterfront in Rabat. Among the ing and Urban Development has 1-billion-euro budget granted eliminated or improved 46% of to the project, 600 million euros the country’s slums2. The slum come from international leasing upgrading and reduction projects agencies such as the BFD, World in Morocco has been endorsed Bank and French Treasury. Simi- by UN Habitat as one of the larly, the Port of Casablanca also best in Africa, and ranks second has external funds from BAD worldwide in slum improvement (African Bank for Development) over the period 2000-20103. and European Fund. The World

31 Bank has conducted research on Through these empirical ex- the project, which is considered aminations, we try to reach the as an evidence of the uniqueness conclusion that the urban devel- and qualification of the project. opment in Morocco is partially In general, international leasing shaped by international organiza- agencies are a key resource of tions and their own perspectives financing and for technology- fa and agendas. cilitation, as it is in the develop- ment of Casablanca and Rabat’s 5. The World Bank. National Ini- respective ports. tiative for Human Development The National Initiative for Hu- Support Project (INDH). (On man Development (INDH), a Line: http://www.worldbank.org/ social project initiated by the projects/P100026/national-initi- royal decree also received con- ative-human-development-sup- siderable supports from interna- port-project-indh?lang=en) tional agencies. The Word Bank launched a facilitating project from 2006 to 2011 with a total commitment amount going up to US$ 100.00 million which rep- resents 10% of the total project cost5.

Photo : Paola Chapdelaine

32 THE ROLE OF FRENCH INSTITUTIONS IN THE MOROCCAN ECONOMY by Laura Grelet, Alexandre Reznikow, Gaëtan Müller

he past year has been a tween France and Morocco, we tumultuous one for re- will see that many French actors lations between France are present in the country due and Morocco, both to its advantageous geopolitical Tdiplomatically and politically. On positioning. The kingdom repre- January 7th, the french news- sents a stepping stone for major paper Le Figaro reported that companies such as Bouygues to cooperation between France access the wider African market, and Morocco had been severe- especially through French-speak- ly curtailed on the antiterrorist ing African countries. 1. Christophe Cornevin. “La front for most of the year 20141. coopération antiterroriste au Four days later, the absence of The historical and structural point mort entre la France et le the Moroccan State Secretary, presence of France Maroc”. In Le Figaro. 06/01/2015 Salaheddine Mezouar, was much noted at the Republican March The French protectorate (1912- to protest the Paris terrorist at- 1956) completely transformed tack. Although present in Paris, the political and economical Mr. Mezouar declined to attend structures of Morocco for the the march, suggesting that “blas- benefit of the phemous” images would surely economy. This period still affects be displayed. However, at the the economical environment of end of the month of January, Mr Morocco, as France remains the Mezouar indicated that France country’s biggest investor. French and Morocco had resumed their companies have increased their 2. Charlotte Bozonnet. “Le Ma- judicial cooperation2. Indeed, the investments since the 2000s, es- roc exige le respect, la considéra- relationship between France pecially in public infrastructures tion”. In Le Monde. 02.02.2015 and Morocco is crucial for both (public works and transporta- countries, who share a long his- tion) and large development tory and complex demographic, projects. French influence can be cultural and economic links. In noticed in other areas. While the the context of the metropoli- Moroccan educational system zation of Casablanca and Rabat, has achieved autonomy from its we thought that it was important former colonial master, Moroccan to analyze the role of French ac- elites continue to study in French tors, both at the industrial and universities - first attending institutional level. Does such French high schools before go- metropolization present an in- ing on to “classes préparatoires” terest for French firms? and “Grandes écoles” in France. Beyond the historical links be-

33 French high schools in Morocco, and practice in Wthe kingdom. Photo : Lorena Figueiredo such as the Lycée Descartes in Rabat and Lycée Lyautey in Cas- Study case of Morocco’s inter- ablanca, represent the largest nationalization the new Casa- contingent of students among blanca hub all French high schools abroad. Because of these profound links Moroccan and foreign invest- at the educational level, French ments in transport, services and remains the commonly used lan- very large development projects guage for the Moroccan political reflect a larger political willing- and economical elite. Morocco ness on the part of the state is also attractive to French in- to attract new capital and turn vestors thanks to its remarkable Casablanca into a financial hub political stability, especially when in Africa. In this process one of compared with the larger region. the main actors is the Caisse de Indeed, while other states such Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG), a as or Egypt are still in the national institution dedicated to revolutionary process ignited by the management of investments the Arab Spring (2010-), Moroc- and urban development. The co has been able to preserve its CDG was established in 1959 on institutional and internal stability the model of semi-public financ- through the constitutional re- ing French institutions such as forms of 2011, which increased the Caisse des Dépôts et Con- the power of democratic norms signations. The main urban devel-

34 opment projects are conducted French engineer. most important financial hub in by the CDG through the estab- Africa. lishment of private agencies such Morocco’s as a gateway for the To conclude, we have seen that as l’Agence d’Urbanisation et de zider African market for French France is very present in Moroc- Développement d’Anfa. firms co for historical and structural While Bouygues seems to be reasons. French firms are largely present in many mega-project, Morocco is also an essential responsible for both metropoli- other French corporations are gateway for French firms wantingzation and the creation an in- also positioning themselves in to develop their activities on the ternational investment hub in strategic Moroccan infrastruc- African continent. In this sense, Casa-Rabat. Such a strategy en- tural markets. In the Casablan- Morocco, and particularly Casa- ables them to have more weight ca-Rabat metropolitan region, blanca and Rabat, are becoming in the African continent, particu- this tendency has existed sincea financial and economic hub for larly with regards to the growing the first urban plans for- Africa. Casa Bouygues Immobilier, a presence of China. Nevertheless blanca under the protectorate, real estate developer, has start- other actors are also active in with the participation of the Ly- ed a major project in Casa-An- this market, such as Dubai and onnaise des Eaux for the city’s fa. According to the director of Saudi Arabia. water and sewage system. For Bouygues Immobilier Maroc, his instance, Vinci Construction has company is willing to work with located numerous projects along African countries in order to de- the metropolitan axis. Cegelec velop its activities on the conti- is investing in Moroccan public nent. Morocco is also one of the lightning, Alstom is working on a first African sites of investment tramway and a high-speed train, for Alstom, who also just signed while Lafarge is currently work- a contract in . The ing on the new airport. These same can be said about Lafarge, groups are notably chosen for who is involved in the renovation their international stature as well of the Rabat airport. Moreo- as their expertise - the “know- ver, by uniting the Nigerian and how” they have acquired and South African branches, Lafarge demonstrated on previous urban has become the largest concrete projects of the same nature (e.g producer in Africa. Finally, Areva Vinci with the Stade de France). has started a partnership with Areva, the French nuclear com- the Moroccan firm Buzzichelli, pany, has also been positioning who will be in charge of mainte- itself in the phosphates business, nance in Areva’s uranium mines a market that we know after our in Niger.French companies enjoy visit of the Casablanca port to the relative political stability of be of tremendous importance Morocco, using the country as a for Casablanca’s economy. Finally, starting point for wider business French corporations are chosen development in Africa. Casablan- even for the most symbolic en- ca, and to a lesser extent Rabat, deavors, such as for the Hassan are becoming important hubs II (1993), one of the for French investment in Afri- biggest in the world, ca. French private interests thus which was constructed by Bou- match the Moroccan interests in ygues according to the plans of a trying to make Casablanca the

35 P O R T

36 F O L I O

Photos : Alex Aung Khant Paola Chapdelaine Lorena Figuereido Clara Marcuard Fregonese

37 38 39 40 41 Photo : Nicolas Hrycaj

LAND USE AT THE HEART OF POWER RELATIONS

CHAPTER THREE

42 LAND OWNERSHIP AND POWER RELATIONS : LEGAL STRUCTURE OF USE AND ABUSE by Leire Irigoyen, Sofia Ramos Díaz, Alberto Garcia Picazo and Ivan Marquez asablanca’s Medina is Development (INDH). one of those spac- Suddenly, in the extra-muros es where the urban Medina, a street leads to an open structure contrasts dusty space where houses were Cstarkly with its neighbouring are- demolished or had simply col- as. Surrounded by avenues, twen- lapsed without being replaced. tieth-century colonial buildings The slumification process- oc and the commercial Port, the curs precisely because of the Medina appears like a labyrinth, often ambiguous land status: as secluded in the middle of Casa- the buildings do not belong to blanca, as the “new city” develops the state, the land is acquired by around. The land here belongs to letting the edifices deteriorate the State; yet, the houses are pri- on their own. Inhabitants with- vately owned, as explained to us out the financial means to stop by our guide Soraya El Kahlaoui, growing degradations thus face a from the Jacques Berque Re- slow process of indirect eviction. search Centre: a real legal patch- Even the programme Villes Sans work! Bidonvilles has the green light to The Medina is a place apart in clean this area, while the Medina the city, and has its own internal a few meters away is being pre- divisions: as we walked from the served. The Royal avenue project “intra-muros” Medina to the sur- is itself planned to pass through rounding area, we noticed a sim- this derelict area. This exam- ilar layout pattern; yet the build- ple illustrates the complexity of ings of the “extra-muros” Medina land status in Morocco and how appeared a lot more degraded. equivalent land status and con- 1.Raffaele Cattedra, Casa- The Rehabilitation Project of the texts can lead to two completely blanca : la réconciliation pat- Ancient Medina launched in 2010 divergent outcomes. The over- rimoniale comme enjeu de by the King Mohamed 6th only lapping of complex legislative l’identité urbaine, in Patri- targets the “intra-muros” Medina, status creates, both in Casablanca moine et politiques urbaines the classified zone, to be pre- and Rabat, situations of vulnera- en Méditerranée, vol 16, 2003 served and restored. Here, the bility for some, and of benefit for land status seems to be working others. in favour of an intense regenera- tion process lead by the King and A complex mix of land statuses using several instruments such as the National Initiative for Human The legal context framing land 43 use issues explains a considera- the houses built on those plots ble part of the struggle. Numer- do (mostly) belong to their oc- ous rules converge creating a cupiers. These overlapping legal system filled with as many- frameworks con create an ambig- flicts as opportunities. Togetheruous and malleable terrain for with privately owned parcels, legal disputes, as there can be collective lands are probably the opposing interests over the same most common type of property piece of land. In this context, var- in Morocco. Traditionally used by ious actors try to leverage their a group of individuals or families, position, which often ends with collective lands legally belong to the defeat of those with less in- the State, even if inhabitants do fluence and less able to enforce enjoy their usufruct. However, the law.

Political turmoil : a short reapro- priation of space On the 20th of February 2011, a massive social movement oc- curred in Morocco. Inspired by the previous events in Tunisia, the population claimed for more de- mocracy. Yet it must be noted that the legitimacy of the monarchi- cal system was not contested. In response to this movement, King Mohammed VI gave a “historical speech” on the 9th of March, an- nouncing a reform of the Consti- tution, such as free parliamentary election, reducing the monarch’s power in response to the popu- lar demands. This speech was indeed “histor- ical” when we analyze it in rela- tion to the issue of land property. In fact, the loosening of the gov- ernment regarding land control led to a sort of “laissez-faire” that triggered an accelerated construction of informal housing. Some towns at the periphery of Casablanca consequently expe- rienced an explosion of new in- formal settlements. For instance, the number of houses in Douar Drawing : Marie Pla Llota, raised from 100 in 2011 to 44 over 1000 by the end of 2012! newcomers. This was due to a high demand from people who lived in rural areas and wanted to get closer to Regain of control by the state the city, as well as urban dwellers The Villes Sans Bidonville pro- unable to afford the city center gram emerged in 2004 as a con- any longer. Many seized the op- tinuity of the Moroccan national portunity to settle near the city, fight against substandard hous- in a property of their own. If in- ing and the social claim for bet- formal houses used to be built ter housing rights. This program at night, with the exchange of aims to control the accelerat- bribes away from prying eyes; it ed growth of Moroccan cities was tolerated at daylight during generated by the expansion of the revolutionary period, with- urban informal settlements - ex out entailing corruption. With perienced in Morocco after the the permissibility of the State af- independance. The main objec- ter the February 20 movement, tive of the Villes Sans Bidonville the informal construction be- program is the eradication of ur- came more feasible in financialban poverty and the reinsertion terms, but more complicated in of deprived urban areas within legal terms. In fact, this apparent the urban fabric. The program “freedom of construction” and also promotes the cooperation reappropriation of space ended between governmental actors with the revolution. A stronger of various institutional levels and state control began by a denial of the local authorities. The plan is the new properties illegally built, based on the implementation of and no official papers were given three basic intervention strate- to the house owners built a year gies which are restructuration, after the 9th March 2011 King’s rehousing and relocation of in- speech. Actually, the popular in- formal settlement communities, terpretation of the royal speech through the development of a created a blurry legal framework “City Contract” (contrat de ville). whereby the poorer citizens felt After the acceleration of infor- allowed to build houses and start mal housing construction follow- a better life. The weak legal struc- ing the royal speech of 2011 the ture of the periphery combined program has been implemented to this phenomena of land ap- as a legal mechanism to control propriation unfortunately made the emergence of irregular set- the new settlers more vulnera- tlements within moroccan cities. ble towards an official legal -sys The implementation of Villes Sans tem that do not recognize their Bidonvilles begins with changes self-made property. In fact, these in the legal status of the land. This constructions might be tolerated dynamic of land reassessment by the authorities, who acquire could sometimes be considered power to pressure these fami- as a way of re-appropriation by lies at any moment, making the the State of land control. situation all the more tricky for 45 The main objective of the Villes tions. Very often however, when Photo : Danlu Chen Sans Bidonvilles program is the a project implies significant inter- upgrading of informal and un- ests over a particular slot, actors healthy housing settlements must find strategies of land - ac which are falling in ruins. Yet, quisition and development. These political and economic interests strategies, we argue, are not may take precedence over ur- always at the disposal of every- ban issues, which could foster one. Various examples of urban the implementation of the Villes development projects include Sans Bidonvilles program as a le- legal mechanisms to acquire land gitimate legal framework to ex- and evict locals. Yet even if these propriate parcels with purposes instruments are in fact legal, ac- other than slum upgrading. tors have to arbitrate between The complex legal status of land one of the many legal layers at and de-facto informal use of stake. Inhabitants rarely have the public space in Morocco are the same tools or legal knowledge result of historical overlapping to propose alternative options processes: while common land to strong corporations and op- can be inherited from pre-colo- erators. The use of the INDH or nial times, it can also be the direct Villes Sans Bidonvilles therefore consequence of the French hy- become instruments for a one- brid system implemented to deal way interpretation of entitle- with old and new types of ur- ment. Metropolization processes banization. In this context, urban become, at the image of the Cas- development processes in Casa- ablanca Medina, a series of dense, blanca and Rabat are constantly intricate layers of legal material, challenged by ambiguous situa- policy and interests. 46 THE BOUREGREG VALLEY AND MEGAPROJECTS IN THE URBANISATION OF MOROCCAN CITIES by Joséphine Hébert & Emeline Dutheil

ustainability is a complex will focus on environmental sus- notion, as it involves on tainability, we will also discuss the the one hand an environ- social implications of the imple- mental dimension and on mentation of environmental pol- Sthe other a social (and cultural) icies, revealing the ways in which one. Sustainability refers to both social and environmental sustain- diversity and endurance (also ability are closely intertwined. called resilience) which must both be maintained in biological Greening in megaprojects : the and social systems in the long Bouregreg Valley term. Socially, a sustainable envi- ronment should be available for The King Mohammed VI has in- both future generations and the itiated the renovation project current population, without any renovation for the Bouregreg economical, social or spatial dis- Valley in 2004. Situated between crimination. the two cities of Rabat and Salé, Here, we explore the dynamics its territory is of 6.000 hectares at play between Moroccan mod- contains an area of preserved ernization and environmental environment, as well as 540.000 sustainability. In fact, while na- m2 of luxury urbanism close to tional policies such as decentral- the city centre. The project is ization drive the modernization managed by the Agency for Plan- process, the latter is also carried ning of the Bouregreg Valley, a out by urban projects that may public agency placed under the take the form of “megaprojects”, State’s control. The main reason involving a huge area of the city given for the project has been is involved and bringing togeth- the rehabilitation of a deteriorat- er private and public actors. The ed environment: in fact, the pro- project of the Bouregreg Valley ject is presented as enabling the in Rabat and to a lesser extent,“protection of the environment”, the Anfa project in Casablanca, as showed by the foreword given seem to conform to this model by the general directors of the and will be our objects of anal- Agency. Moreover, the agency ysis here. Focusing on the Rabat posits as a success the disman- case in particular, we find that its tling of the informal discharge environmental dimension and that had been in use on the high-profile nature make itBouregreg a bays for decades, and unique example of a mega- itspro replacement by a public dis- ject focused on issues of sustain- charge, “respecting the interna- ability. Moreover, even though we tional norms”, according to the 47 same directors. of rehabilitation aims, accord- Photo: Nicolas Hrycaj Nevertheless, the official dis- ing to Bouregreg development course, as represented in the agency, to the “improvement of speeches of Rabat’s mayor Ou- local populations’ living condi- lalou, also presents the initiative tions”, the slums are dislocated of rehabilitation as a “project of to peripheral locations, some- modernization and “bringing-up- times even without planned to-standard of the city”, which social housing. Then, if environ- includes the “fight against slums,mental rehabilitation is certainly the cultural policy and the ‘green a reality and a motivation for the spaces’ policy”. In this perspec- mega-projects, the housing type tive, focusing on environmental reveals that it is addressed to a sustainability allows to fulfil- in special kind of upper middle-class ternational standards of a ‘global population and that consequent- city’ that offers a high standard ly, the “greening” goes along with quality of life and urbanism. In this favouring the upper-middle class. context, housing with upper-mid - So, the discourse on environmen- dle class standards are built, along tal sustainability in the Moroccan with analogous commodities and mega-project of the Bouregreg prestige infrastructures, such as Valley is one of the means used the Great Rabat Theatre’s pro- to promote a specific kind of -ur ject. banism, which meets the demand On the other hand, if the project of a globalized middle and up- 48 per-middle class, constituted not designed to promote sustainable only by expatriates but also by development at the local level well-off Marrocans, who seems in Morocco. It aims at providing to be sensible to international incentives for municipalities to standards of living. This also fos- manage their energy resourc- ters cities’ capacity to compete es and design their policies in a on the international scene. The sustainable way. Contrary to the objective of the Anfa Project in top-down logic at play in meg- Casablanca, that aims to become aprojects, Jiha Tinou consists in the financial hub of Casablanca, the accompanying of local actors so as the residential area of an in the evaluation of their needs, international clientele, is another their performance and their pos- illustration of the Moroccan wish sibilities. Sustainable cities are re- for international competitive cit- warded by the attribution of a la- ies. In this mark, the preoccupa- bel called MENA Energy Award, tion of environmental conditions elaborated on the basis of the in which deprived populations European Energy Award (EEA), live becomes secondary because a European label. The cities of the geographical displacement , Chefchaouen and of urban poor to the periphery were selected to trial the guid- turns the question of poverty ance project towards a better less visible. Urban renewal poli- sustainability. Finally, the design cies, that come along with mod- and implementation process is ernization and environmental coordinated by a national public preoccupation, and social hous- agency, the Agency’s Territorial ing policies are treated as two Strategy for Sustainable Energy independent questions. Thus, the Development (ADEREE). discourse on sustainability is ad- At first sight, Jiha Tinou appears dressing international standards to be a coherent national strat- of living more than sustainability. egy, respecting and incentivizing These international standards the local involvement of mu- contribute to often prioritizing nicipalities and citizens. Yet the the creation “modern areas” for results are quite mixed. In two the middle and upper-middle years, from the three trial cities classes. that experimented the program, none of them are major Moroc- Jiha Tinou as a local initiative for can , while the city sustainability of Casablanca has not even ap- plied to partake in the program. Besides urbanisation through Indeed, Jiha Tinou’s major weak- megaprojects, which are imple- ness is that it counts on initiatives mented in a top-down logic, an- to spread thanks to emulation, in other type of environmental pol- a country where local initiatives icy is implemented nationally in are still under the control of the the mark of the decentralization central authority. Moreover, the process in Morocco. Launched issue of sustainability of the new in 2012, “Jiha Tinou” (“My Re- cities that are spreading in Mo- gion” in and Amazigh) is rocco can barely fit with this -par the national territorial strategy ticipative approach. This induces 49 two major limitations: first, only Then, although Jiha Tinou is the cities interested in a European official national policy for sustain- benchmark are really eager to ability in Morocco, it appears that get involved in the program. This it doesn’t have enough weight to makes sense for the touristic Ag- induce any major change in the adir or for smaller cities looking way Moroccan cities are address- for a particular image, but not for ing environmental issues. a booming Casablanca willing to Punctual megaprojects show the position itself as the new African lack of an environmental policy financial hub. Second, sustainabil- plan on the long term that would ity is promoted in small, technical be articulated around the notion and management issues of the of sustainability. At the contrary, administrative body, and not on the policies and projects are de- a larger scale of building a sus- signed and implemented in an tainable city for the future. For isolated way, which limits drasti- instance, the installation of solar cally the possibilities of a larger panels in Agadir city hall’s roof- impact. Hence, the megaprojects top is presented by the IDE-E as do not address the issue of sus- an important realization, while it tainability but rather incorporate tells nothing about bigger chal- some environmental concerns lenges for sustainability such as meant to raise quality of life quotas for energy reduction or standards and thus to contribute improvement of water manage- to the modernization process ment, which are indeed impor- destined to the upper-middle tant concerns for Moroccan cities. class. Photo : Alberto Garcia Picazo

50 THE COLLECTIVE LANDS THREATENED BY THE CURRENT POLITICS OF URBANIZATION CASE STUDY: GUICHE LOUDAYA LANDS by Elise Roy & Suzanne spooner

f you were taking the high- the privatization and urbaniza- way to Rabat on February tion of Moroccan collective 2014, you would have seen a lands in the naMe of Modernity group of women on the fringe. the Guish lands : a Moroccan IOn their banner you would have specificity facing growing - cha seen the king’s photo and one lenges claim:“The inhabitants of Douar In Douar Ouled Dlim lived about 1.Soraya El Kahlaoui, « Habitants Ouled Dlim, living on the land ti- tle number R22747, ask for the 120 families, which were part of sans ville » au Maroc - Expulsés royal arbitration against the Ryad the guiche community of Rabat: au nom de la modernité, Orient Development Corporation that Guich L’Oudaya. Members of the XXI, 11/12/2014 evicted the rightholders of the guiche tribes were historically Douar, forcing them to live in soldiers who served in the army makeshift camps»1 of some of the earliest Moroccan The reduction of collective lands of the . In in a context of high urbanization exchange for providing troops, of Moroccan cities raises debates the guiche communities were and contestations among the given a certain amount of land. To Moroccan society. In fact, if on indicate an order of magnitude, the one hand public authorities the lands of the guiche commu- and developers work towards nities in Morocco reached about the modernization of the Mo- 768,000 hectares before the roccan urban environment in country fell under the control of 2. accordance with international the French in 1912 In this sense, standards; others can question this legal status constitutes a Mo- the coherence of such strategies. roccan specificity and heritage. Therefore, we will first see how Those lands are however facing the story of Douar Ouled Dlim growing challenges. On the one reveals how the actual housing hand, their management en- policies threaten the durabili- counters difficulties due to the 2. Samia Errazzouki, Descend- ty of the Moroccan collective demographic evolution of the ants of Morocco’s Veterans Face lands. Secondly, we will question rightholders which creates inac- Violent Evictions, The Huffington the coherence of such strategies, curacies in the lists of the ben- Post, 02/11/2015 showing the paradox of urbaniz- eficiaries of the lands. Yet one ing historical farming lands, along the other hand, it is mainly the with policies of sustainability aim- ongoing urbanization processes ing to build ‘Green cities’. which constitute the main chal- lenges for those lands’ sustaina- bility. In fact, these farming lands are gradually integrated into the 51 urban environment, therefore of Education. ‘Our role is to pro- exacerbating the economic andvide financial resources distrib- property interests of developers uted from the Fonds Solidarité and urban planners. Habitat’, explained the official. The Fonds Solidarité Habitat was The modernization strategies of established in 2001 following a 3.Marot Christelle, 2010, “Rabat the housing sector royal decree intended to ‘combat ville première pour la Journée de As far as Douar Ouled Dlim is unsanitary living conditions’.” la Terre”, Jeune Afrique. concerned, it is because the land The ‘Villes sans Bidonvilles’ (‘Cit- became located on the out- ies without Slums’) program skirts of the wealthy Hay Riad justifies therefore the different neighborhood in Rabat that it evictions and their use of dero- 4. Entretien avec Fathallah Ouala- had become interesting to pri- gations for the development of vatize it. Therefore and similarly public-private partnerships in lou realisé par Jihane Gattioui, to many of the former Moroc- the construction of new urban «Rabat devient la capitale de la can collective lands, the Guich dwellings. It is then thanks to culture, du savoir et de l’écolo- land has been sold by the pub- public policies that private devel- gie», 19 mai 2014 - Le matin lic authorities at very low pric- opers can contribute to the ur- es to commercial and real es- banization of farming lands. tate developers, for the sake of ‘modernization’. A recent article the paradox of these strategies published in The Huffington Post explains the underlying inter- Rabat branded as “the green ests: “The role of the Ministry city” of Morocco of Housing is primarily financialThe city of Rabat is labeled as through its collaboration with the “green city” of the Kingdom other ministries and companies, of Morocco. The city has a ge- including Groupe Al Omrane, ographical advantage regarding the Ministry of Interior, the Min- Casablanca. Indeed, Rabat has istry of Health, and the Ministry 230 hectares of green areas. The Photo: Alberto Garcia Picazo

52 “ceinture verte”, a wood of 1036 not allow them to make agricul- hectares that expands from Ra - tural mid-term or long term in- bat to , is also the pride vestment in the collective lands. of local governors.Since 2010, Taking in account that the surface the City of Rabat has developed of cultivable land is considerably strategies to bring forward this decreasing in Morocco, a political “environmentally friendly” spec- intervention to protect this eco- ificity. The Earth Day Networklogical strength would have been has chosen Rabat to organize the useful. Why didn’t the “green 40th anniversary of Earth Day in city” protect it? 2010. This event generated a po- litical concern on environmental An ambiguous ecological issues and the development of capital : a green city for whom? many related projects3. In June In the context of environmental 2010, Morocco elaborated and policies, the Guiche Lands could signed the National Charter of have been labeled as an ecolog- the environment and sustainable ical Moroccan specificity or as 5. Abouhani Abdelghani, 2001, development. This new ecological an urban agriculture ahead of « Le conflit entre agriculture et trend reveals the will of Morocco its time but this has never been urbanisation dans le périmètre and of Rabat in particular to be done so. On the contrary, de- irrigué de Tadla », Options Médi- seen as an “ecological capital”4. spite the Law n°12-90 aiming at terranéennes : Série A, n°44, p. preserving the peripheral farm- 161-170. The collective land and urban land, the Guiche lands and the agriculture ahad of time specific agrarian “savoir faire” The Guiche collective lands sit- associated to it are in danger of uated around the city of Rabat extinction6. In fact, instead of us- could have been considered by ing the already existing strength the public authorities as an eco- of the city to turn Rabat into an logical strength. In fact, according environmental friendly capital, to the agrarian census of 1973, public authorities paradoxically the Collective Lands represent prefered to create new green areas in accordance with interna- an area of 10 millions of hectares 6.Bensouda Korachi Taleb, “To- tional standards while urbanizing across the country. While 1 009 wards private landownership: the 900 hectares of arable land is the historical farmlands. In this state’s role in the modernization reserved to individual farming, 9 sense, the “green” Rabat seems of land tenure in Morocco” , Fao 000 000 is reserved to collective to prioritize the needs of the corporate institute, 2010 farming2. After sedentarization, moroccan middle classes and the Guiches mainly lived on ag- expatriates while excluding from riculture. Rather than dividing the economic growth and mod- the land in individual plots; the ernization processes those who Guiches’ used to exploit the land can be labeled as the ‘unwanted collectively according to their inhabitants’ of the city. Guiche customs and traditions. tribes, through their resistance, These cultivated lands would are in fact considered by public yet have needed some environ- authorities as one of the main mental protection. Indeed; the obstacle to the construction of a complexity of the land tenuremodern capitalist city, whose im- of the Guiche Lands - who only plementation requires the pur- have the right of usufruct - did chase of their agricultural land. 53 Photo: Paola Chapdelaine

DEVELOPMENT CHOICES AND THE URBAN POOR

CHAPTER FOUR

54 GOVERNING THE INFORMAL by Catalina Ramirez Palau & Lou D’Angelo

he concept of infor- tion when opting out of formal mality emerged in the institutions follows what we call 1970s, under the initia- a « rational choice ». This exit tive of the International implies a « blunt societal indict- TLabour Organization, as a neces- ment of the quality of the state’s sity to define the new forms of service provision and its en- activities brought by major trans- forcement capability »1. Whether 1.Perry,G. (Ed.).(2007). Informal- formations of labour markets and perceived as a nuisance by the ity: Exit and exclusion. World increasing urban poverty. More State - by implying unpaid taxes, Bank Publications recently, the World Bank definedunprotected employment and informal activities as the « activ- unloyal competition for formal ities and incomes that are par- enterprises - or described more tially or fully outside government positively by scholars as a struc- regulation, taxation, and observa- tural sector providing employ- tion », and which can be divid- ment for marginalized popula- ed into two features: on the one tion and reducing urban poverty, hand, the « coping strategies » of the informal sector has triggered individuals having scarce “earning ongoing debates over the past opportunities”, and on the oth- decades. Notwithstanding, infor- 2. Frug, Gerald E (2007). “A Rule er hand, the « unofficial earningmality is never totally disconnect- of Law for Cities” strategies » resulting from a “ra- ed from legality and law since tional behavior of entrepreneurs the legal system, by setting up that desire to escape state regu- the rules of formality through « lations”. This definition enhances licenses to operate businesses, the multiplicity and heterogene- building codes for housing, zon- ity of informality, which covers a ing laws, taxation schemes 2» act- wide range of socio-economic uelly draws the limits of formality. realities, from informal housing Moreover, informality does not to unofficial structured flows necessarily of mean illegality and 3. Elyachar, J (2003). Mappings goods and services. In that sense, contains some form of legitima- of power: the state, NGOs, and informality can be studied from cy: “When practices that violate international organizations in two different angles : on the one laws are accepted as the norm, the informal economy of Cairo. hand we can understand parallel and have a legitimacy that is not Comparative Studies in Society activities as an exclusion from the state’s, they are often called and History, 45(03), 571 formality, suffered by the individ- informal practices”3. In other uals who cannot “afford” it; one words, the institutional context the other hand it can be seen as along with governmental choic- the consequence of a cost-ben- es and economic public policies efit analysis of individuals and have a significant role in the -na private actors, which Hirschman ture and importance of infor- would call “exit”, that is, a situa- mality. Taking this in account and 55 relating it to the different private and induces strategies of dissimu- 4. Haut comissariat du plan, or public actors we met in Cas- lation (ex: black markets). The so - Enquête nationale sur le secteur ablanca, what can be the role of cialist argument rather insists on informel 2006-2007. Rapport the state in the emergence, the the lack of state protection and de synthèse (version française), expansion and the regulation of financial support to help low-in- http://www.hcp.ma/ informality? come agents to stay in the for- mal system. The two approaches, Emergence and extension of the far from invalidating each other, informal sector in Casablanca actually provide complementary perspectives, which Perry sum- - The informal sector is, by defi marizes in those terms : “from - nition, difficult to estimate accu poor regulation to oppressive rately. Nonetheless, according to the National Survey of the Infor- or exclusionary measures” the5. Perry, G. (Ed.).(2007). Infor- State ends up “forcing agents, mal Sector4 the Moroccan infor- mality: Exit and exclusion. World who perhaps are inclined toward mal economy represents a yearly Bank Publications compliance under the ideal state, revenue of 279,916 millions of to cope by defensive evasion”5. dirhams (that is, 14% of the Mo- roccan GDP), and has been sig- The exponential multiplication of slums and insalubrious hous- nificantly increasing since 1999. ing in Morocco since the 1960s One can relate the expansion of illustrates the socialist argument, 6. Rajaa Mejjati, “microentrepris- informality to the intense rural enhancing the State’s difficulties es informelles et cadre institu- exode and urbanization process to provide enough social hous- tionnel au Maroc”, 200 that have been taking place in ing, and to answer the needs of Morocco since the 1960s, which deprived population who adopt- made the urban population jump ed informal “coping strategies” to from 29% in 1960 to 77% in survive. Informality in this case id 2002 (AFD), and which generat- not a choice, but rather the re- ed an overwhelming rise of hous- sult of the population’s incapacity ing/labour demand in urban are- to afford formal housing, added as still in transition. Informality is, to the lack of public support. as a matter of fact, closely related The adjustments also concerned to the city and is highly concen- small economic units, which re- trated in urban areas. The “Grand lied on informal activities to cope Casablanca” for instance concen- with everyday economic pres- trates 14,3% of the informal pro- sures. In 1988, 83% of the chief duction units of the territory, and units questioned in the Survey 69,8% of informal production of the Informal Sector4, cover- units are located in urban areas. ing 12 moroccan cities and 1513 The origins of informal econo- informal units, invoked “survival my have long been debated be- reasons” for choosing informality. tween neo-liberal and socialists. Yet, informality cannot be sole- According to neo-liberal econo- ly defined as the « residue » of mists, it is the direct expression economic growth and transitions, of an excessive presence of the irremediably related to the state’s State, which imposes too much constraints on the free market lack of financial support. Informal economy can also be perceived, 56 to some extent, as the result of ly aimed at private buyers and a rational cost/benefit analysis of sellers, Kaymu rapidly ended up private agents, in response to a running business with informal certain institutional context. The wholesalers (from Derb Ghalef micro-entrepreneurs, even when and Derb grey markets of 7. Alaoui Moustain, F Z (2004) looking for survival strategies, Casablanca for instance). It repre- Market distortions and the in- are supposed to react as “homo sents now an important business formal economy: the case of economicus” following the path venture, fed by local and infor- Morocco. Working Paper. The of rationality, and thus calculat- mal private agents coming from Department of Economics, Lan- ing the “costs of formalization” 5. more than 30 Moroccan cities caster University. This cost is directly linked to the such as Casablanca, Tanger, Mar- institutional context and public rakech, Rabat etc. Based in more policies, as they set up the busi- than 30 countries, including 17 ness environment. And “when African markets, it was launched appropriate investment envi- in Morocco in September 2013 ronment is lacking, alternative by the Sciences Po Alumni and solutions emerge to respond to Managing Director Fanny Ponce, existing market distortions”7. For and has become within the two instance, amongst the most re- last years the first market place current reasons evoked by Mo- of the region. This success actu- roccan informal chiefs of units for ally sheds light on the booming 8. Rajaa Mejjati, “microentrepris- not formalizing their activity, fiscal moroccan informal economy, and es informelles et cadre institu- pressure represented one of the its capacity to provide resources tionnel au Maroc”, 2000 most significant (75%), as well as for low-income population. This the limited opportunities exist- parallel economy, coming from ing in the formal market (79,8%) the street level, escaping from and the socio-economical pres- state regulation and taxes, trans- sure they had to face (70,5%)4. lates the survival strategies of a The consequences of this ration- significant part of the population al choice is perfectly illustrated for whom the “cost of formality” by the exploding informal mi- is too high. However, the notion cro-entrepreneurship and black of « choice » in the cost/benefits markets that kept growing since analysis has to be nuanced, since 1999. Nowadays, international every rational choice is made un- private actors willing to integrate der economic pressure and con- 9. Bogaert, Koenraad. The Prob- local businesses are irremedia- straints. That is why, informality, far lem of Slums: Shifting Methods bly led to deal with the informal from being an attractive pole of of Neoliberal Urban Governance sector. This is the case of Kay- economic opportunities, mainly in Morocco. Development and mu, a fast growing marketplace remains a «place of refuge»8 The Change 42(3): 709–731. 2011. of online sales that we visited State, through its political inter- International Institute of Social and which allows private agents vention and public policies, is at Studies. Blackwell Publishing, Ox- to sell their products online, for the core of the informal sector’s ford, UK free. Kaymu has been largely emergence and expansion. But used by local street sellers and what can be the possible re- informal wholesalers, who find sponses to the evolution of this there an opportunity to expand parallel economy? their own business online. Initial- 57 The authorities’ response : from Omrane operates different kinds Photo: Paola Chapdelaine restructuring policies to non-re- of projects according to the in- glementation formal settlements’ situations. In the case of neighborhoods built “One response (...) is the idea of in proper material, Al Omrane extending the formal legal sys- chose restructuring: they brought tem to everything that now is equipments in order to upgrade located in the informal system. them and make them properly This would mean bringing all recognized by the State. housing and economic transac- tions within legal requirements Roy qualifies those upgrading 10.Roy, A. (2005). Urban infor- policies as a “welcome change – regulating them, bringing them mality: toward an epistemology from previous policies that up to code, subjecting them to of planning. Journal of the Amer- sought to eradicate informal set- taxation, giving them the rights of ican Planning Association, 71(2), tlements or relocate them to ur- property owners” 2. In Morocco, 147-158. ban peripheries”10. However, this those attempts were accelerat- type of response is still visible in ed by security concerns follow- some Moroccan programs. Ana- ing the 1981 riots and the 2003 lyzing the “Villes sans bidonvilles” suicide bombings in Casablanca, 11. UN-Habitat website: program launched in 2004, one both involving slum dwellers9. http://mirror.unhabitat.org/ can see that formalizing can take The formalizing agenda is partly content.asp?typeid=19&- a very different discourse: while implemented through policies catid=827&cid=8816 slum upgrading policies aim at of slums upgrading, and proper- turning informality into potential ty owners programs. We could through integration, slum clear- see this policy at work when ance policies perceive informality we visited Al Omrane’s projects 12. Bartoli, S (2011). “Eliminer les as an impediment to modernity that aim at integrating the anar- bidonvilles = éliminer la pauvreté that should be eradicated. Mo- chic urban fabric lacking all kinds “, ou les charmes pervers d’une rocco was awarded by UN-Hab- of equipments to the formal city. fausse évidence, L’Economie Poli- itat in 2010 for “delivering one of In Kenatra, in Rabat’s suburbs, Al tique 58 the world’s most successful and suicide bombings. However, the Informality stems from a bro- comprehensive slum reduction report concludes that because ken relation between the state and improvement programmes”, of the program’s perverse ef- and the citizens, whether it re- as the UN estimated the slums fects that we underlined, the sults from the exclusion of citi- to have been reduced by 45.8% project could actually nourish zens from the formal system, or 11. However, the policy has also additional social contests, even from rational choices made by been criticized. The AFD evalu- though it was supposed to calm the government. The authorities’ ation underlines that the infra- them, as the satisfaction surveys responses are diverse, and influ- structures such as schools and showed a mixed picture. The 20 enced by economic, social and health facilities lacked skilled em- February movement, during the political factors. Some programs ployees to maintain them, and Arab Spring, therefore marked aim at formalizing housing, and that the displacement of popula- the government’s failure to slow and are pushed by social and tion far away from their former down social claims12. Both pro- economic motivations, but one informal settlement and initial grams aim at formalizing the in- should bear in mind the polit- activity made them economically formal, yet very different different ical dimension, as slums make more vulnerable. Bartoli12 there- responses to informality could poverty visible, and foster riots. fore uses the Moroccan exam- be observed. Informal activities The VSB program unquestion- ple to show that slum reduction in Casablanca represent about ably improved the living condi- does not necessarily mean pov- 70% of economic activities. Un- tions of the 50000 households erty alleviation. On top of that, surprisingly, the State’s answer is who could benefit from it, and the VSB program created new thus non interventionist in terms showed ability to innovate with social and spatial inequalities. In- of juridical regulation. As the lines the financial practice oWWf the deed, Toutain12 showed that it between the legal and the illegal tiers associés. However, because reinforced the social inequalities remain blurry, the local parallel of the negative externalities of between the slums dwellers, as a economy grows, and is tolerat- the program, we could see that result of targeting issues: many ed by the State because of its leaving the slum had an ambiva- households are not concerned scope: “The government simply lent impact on the well-being of by the operations, or in a tran- does not have the resources or the households. Contrasting with sition or waiting period, living in capacity to create a totally formal this program aiming at formaliz- temporary dwellings. They are world. [...] because of its inability ing the informal, authorities do incapable of financing housing,to create an economic system tolerate the informal economy as their situations of economic that provides enough jobs that as it lacks resources to formalize and social precariousness does the growth of the informal econ- the system. not allow them to access cred- omy has been so substantial”13. it, and no financing solution isInternational companies such as adapted to them. It also created Kaymu can therefore capitalize new spatial inequalities between on the vibrant “grey economy”, the relocation sites that are close and make it grow as the compa- to the city and more integrated ny gives more sales opportunities 13. Toutain O., Rachmuhl, V. to it (above all in terms of trans- to street vendors. While such in- (2013). “Le programme “Villes ports and public services), and itiatives enable informal workers sans bidonvilles » au Maroc : un the far-away neighborhoods. The to increase their revenues, the bilan social questionné dans un AFD report underlines the po- State’s position leaves them un- contexte urbain sous tension” in litical dimension of the project, protected. The situation is such Quartiers informels d’un monde launched to contain the risk of that “the state is basically absent arabe en transition, Réflexions terrorism and riots in informal and a social contract is basically et perspectives pour l’action ur- areas, in the context of the 2003broken” 5. baine, AFD report. 59 THE GOVERNANCE OF POVERTY IN RABAT: THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE GUICH L’OUDAYA TRIBE by Mireia Lozano hy does the counter the last remnants of an cemetery of opposition to their displacement. an old military On December 22nd of last year, Moroccan tribe, the lands were completely freed theW Guich L’Oudaya, disappear after 10 months of pressures under the construction of a and harassment. The forceful building complex? Who is - recdisplacement was the result of ognised under the beautifying the signature of a contract be- program Ville sans Bidonville in tween the Minister of the Inte- Morocco, and who is not? How rior and the private developer is it possible that the tribe from Ryad, always under the patron- Guich L’Oudaya is being cycli- age of the King Mohammed cally harassed by police forces VI. to implement displacement? After our arrival, a troubled man The bus stopped on the side of asked to be photographed when the road, in front of us stood a kissing a Moroccan flag, which silver metal wall. Behind it the sky stood next to a protest banner. was syncopated by tall building He wanted me to document his complexes. We had arrived at respect and love for his country, the bidonville of Douar Ouled although in my eyes, Morocco Dlim in Rabat. was not recognising him nor his Soraya El Kahlaoui, Doctorate rights as citizen. What was sur- in sociology at the École des prising was the tribe’s belief that Hautes Etudes en Sciences So- King Mohammed VI had nothing ciales (EHESS), working at the to do with their fate and had no Centre d’étude des mouvements understanding of their current sociaux and associate at the Cen - situation. tre Jacques Berque de Rabat, she The « guich » lands were con- introduced us to the issue of the sidered to fall under the zoning « guich » land. In 1838, the sultan status of collective land. How- Moulay Abderrahmane gave the ever, after 1919’s royal decree walled lands laying in front of us to these lands did not fall under the Guich L’Oudaya, in compen- the jurisdiction of the Minister sation for their loyal military ser- of the Interior. Therefore their vices. Nowadays, the ambiguous situation fell in a legal limbo that status of these lands had resulted was utilised by the authorities’ in the displacement of this tribe. and the private sector’s interest Guided by El Kahlaoui, we ad- in development. Ms El Kahlaoui vanced towards the wall, to en- accounts that 126 families have

60 been displaced without any kind families were left on the streets, Photo: Alberto G. Picazo of compensation. A fraction of while others were relocated. them has stayed by the side of What is interesting is to consider what were once their -and their this situation from an economic ancestor’s- lands. perspective. In fact, the costs of On the one side, the policy that this current situation both for is being implemented seems to the Moroccan government and look for the effective displace- for its police force are striking. ment of the whole tribe. On According to many residents, the other side, the last mem- police forces are constantly pres- bers of this ancestral tribe ent in vans that survey day and are against the idea of mov- night the bidonville. Perhaps, a ing elsewhere, more now than new policy that would integrate before since, as a woman - ex these citizens to Rabat’s society plained, they had lost everything, could be a much better option and thus had nothing to lose. economically. Nevertheless, the Having fallen into a legal hole, complexity and obscurity of data these Moroccan citizens are left available on budget allocation on the streets without any voice, and, more generally, on Moroc- and no one is liable for their can governance makes such eco- difficult situation. It is an - examnomic arguments hypothetical. ple of poor policy design, one A process of mediation between that is not even able to com- these families and the govern- pensate all subjects affected by ment, whereby both their inter- the new housing development. ests are identified and sought Furthermore, the status quo is necessary, if at all, a solution is also proving the absence of wants to be brought to the table. real policy evaluation since 126 61 SAFETY VALVES FOR A CONTESTED METROPOLISATION by Paul Tristan Victor and Elsa Cardona

he metropolisation pro- amples is the INDH (Initiative cess of Casablanca and Nationale pour le Développe- Rabat is highly unequal. ment Humain), launched by His The lower classes are Majesty the King in 2005. The in- Tunder constant pressure from itiative aims precisely at improv- both the private and the public ing the living conditions of the sectors, particularly as a result of lower classes, notably through mega-projects and state-spon- citizen empowerment. There is sored slum removal policies evidence that the INDH is also 1.Hibou Béatrice, Tozy (Mo- - which too often lead to their implemented in areas close to, or hamed), “ La lutte contre la eviction or displacement. This targeted by, mega-projects. The corruption au Maroc : vers une pressure has the potential to boil Vallée du Bouregreg for instance pluralisation des modes de gou- over into outright conflict over is both the site of a mega-pro- vernement ? “, Droit et société 2/ the process of metropolization ject (which will inevitably displace 2009 no. 72, p. 339-357, 200 in these cities - a fact that has some informal neighbourhoods) not gone unnoticed by the gov- and a cluster of initiatives from ernment, which has undertaken the INDH program. In these action in order to offer relief poor neighbourhoods, local so- from it, particularly by targeting cial safety nets have traditionally the lower-classes. Thus it seems been provided by radical isla- in this case that the Moroccan mists (notably salafist) groups2, monarchy is rather flexible (seewho exchange social services - Tozy, 2000, for a case study on such as providing food or mon- the “fight” against corruption)1, etary resource - or security for 2. Alonso Rogelio, Garcia Rey with Mr. Tourabi, the chief edi- political legitimacy. The INDH is Marcos, “The evolution of jihadist tor of the moroccan newspaper targeted at this same informal terrorism in Morocco”. Terrorism Tel Quel, describing its mode of population, perhaps as an offi- negotiation as “Nothing under cial alternative to these islamist and political violence ,(0954- pressure, Everything under pres- groups after the shock of the 6553), 2007 sure” - suggesting that the mon- 2003 Casablanca attacks. These archy’s goal is to avoid conflict neighbourhoods have suffered by making necessary, yet minimal, from relative disenfranchisement policy adjustments. To better un- and a sense of “loss” of citizen- derstand the metropolisation ship, which the INDH is aiming process in Rabat and Casablanca, to resolve. The King himself is it is necessary to take into ac- also using the INDH as a means count the mechanisms aimed at to strengthen his image as “King limiting protests against it. These of the Poor” (Tozy, 2000); thus safety valves were emphasised those who work on the project by numerous actors we met claim the title of “Chantier de during the trip. One such- exRègne,” or project representative 62 of his rule). Overall, one can view Rabat, emphasised the ease with the INDH not as a neutral effort which the authorities could use to help the poor, but as a royal Kaymu’s database of sellers to 3. AKSIKAS (Jaafar),”Prisoners of project to reconquer the politi- halt this informal activity. Yet, lit- Globalization: Marginality, Com- tle is actually done. Such a large cally-minded salafi fiefdoms. munity and the New Informal Additionally, the way the INDH scale tolerance reveals a kind of Economy in Morocco”, Medi- political equilibrium between the selects the projects it finances is terranean Politics, Vol. 12, No. 2, somewhat controversial. Speak- grey economy and the authori- ing off the record, one officialties (Tozy, 2000). Mohammed 249–262, July 2007 responsible for the project stat- Tozi stated further that the sub- ed that the INDH goals must be stitution of the grey economy as consistent with the city’s overall a safety net for the lower classes metropolitan strategy, narrow- allows the government to im- ing inclusionary development in plement once unthinkable pol- Morocco by not making lower icies, such as dismantling price class people a priority. Therefore controls on bread. We can thus it is possible that some projects consider this blind eye to the which have the potential of im- informal economy as another proving living conditions for the kind of safety valve, similar to the poor are not implemented be- INDH. This fragile balance be- cause they do not fit this strat- tween the state’s presence and egy. Although it is debated, this absence in the lives of the lower argument puts the program’s classes is key to understanding James Liddell, “Notables, clien- social and political efficiency intohow the one-sided metropolisa- telism and the politics of change question. tion process is made acceptable in Morocco”, The Journal of A second kind of safety valve for the lower classes. More so North African Studies, 15:3, 315- lies in the state’s tolerance of than widespread corruption or 331, 2010 the informal sector. The latter is indifference, it seems that there estimated to represent one fifth is a political strategy behind this of Morocco’s GDP, serving as a apparent state tolerance of the substantial safety net for the low- informal1. er-class population by providing To conclude, this strategy of using jobs and opportunities3. This in- targeted “safety valves” to reduce formal sector is left undisturbed the pressures facing the lower by the authorities, despite their classes of Rabat and Casablanca legal ability to regulate it further. has its limitations. Although pro- By contrast, Mr. Tourabi stated gress has been made towards that there were more policemen the improvement of poor neigh- in front of the American Embassy bourhoods through the INDH than in Carrières Centrales, one and Villes sans Bidonvilles, the of the biggest slums of Casablan- protests of 2011 showed that ca - suggesting that foreign inter- these policies require more im- ests absorb the bulk of the state’s plication from decision mak- attention. Representatives from ers; the unequal development Kaymu, a start-up e-commerce of Morocco was indeed at the company which often serves as heart of the protest, 6 years af- an online marketplace for the ter the start of the INDH. Fur- informal, so-called “grey econo- thermore, the 2011 protesters my” in cities like Casablanca and were especially concerned with 63 fighting widespread corruption, perhaps explaining why mod- erate islamists came to power, who targeted their campaign around the fight against corrup- tion – much in AKP’s fashion. As a result, this strategy – a strong top-down metropolisation with a few safety valves, such as those described by this article - seems ineffective under these circum- stances. The viability of this un- equal development rests on a fragile equilibrium between state authorities and the coalition of those at the bottom of moroc- can society. These authorities can be challenged, but the flexibility of these safety valves ensure that some leeway is created so as to enable a seamless implementa- tion of these policies.

Photo: Marissa Potasiak

64 Photo : Lorena Figueiredo

CULTURAL FACTORS AND METROPOLISATION PROCESSES

CHAPTER FIVE

65 CULTURAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE by Clémentine Chazal, Lisa Gerbal, Camille Lavoipierre and Daniela Pascual

acines is an association ablanca), which contains only a advocating for structur- few places dedicated to culture. al changes in cultural When we asked about cultural policies and practices in activities and where these take RMorocco. In 2010 it launched a place in the city, we were im- massive project on the “General mediately referred to Les Abat- State of Culture in Morocco,” an toirs of Casablanca. An ancient unprecedented survey project slaughterhouse reconverted into whose aim is to register existinga space dedicated to the arts and artistic and cultural infrastruc- culture, it has organized several tures at the national level. This national festivals in music, cinema initiative does not aspire to be and the fine arts - including les exhaustive, but could rather be transculturelles - in the past few considered as an innovative tool years. It is also a welcoming arena for cultural policy design. This for local initiatives such as under- “first time exercise” unveils theground music bands. This «fabri- current lack of both data and que des arts» resulted from the cultural strategies in Morocco’ 2009 convention signed between decision-making arena. Focusing the city and Casamémoire, a lo- on the metropolitan scale, one cal association that has aided - could wonder: what is today’s along with others - in the recon- state of cultural service provision version of Les Abattoirs. Notably, both in Casablanca and Rabat? Is while the mayor helped with its there a concrete cultural strategy foundation (in the context of for and from the metropolitan his re-election campaign) no fol- level of governance? low-up has been conducted by This paper aims to grasp the local authorities ever since. Alto- main dynamics of cultural policies gether, 250 events and activities in the context of the Casablan - have been organised in Les Abat- ca-Rabat region. Our purpose is toirs without any public funding, to emphasize the paradox be- and the future of the institution tween the will to develop “inter- remains highly uncertain. Les Ab- national cities,” the desire to pro- attoirs is the first initiative of the tect local creative industries, and kind in Morocco, and probably the need to answer the demands in the Maghreb. Today it faces a of civil society. double challenge: bargaining with We will begin with Casablanca, city government for its survival Morocco’s economic capital of and finding the means to expand 3 million inhabitants (and 5 mil- its audience and programme in lion in the region of Grand Cas- order to consolidate its position 66 as a key cultural institution in the the National Institute of Music. city. Today, the most significant - pro Moreover, Les Abattoirs’ story jects are the Grand Théâtre of highlights one of Racines’ biggest Rabat and the National Museum concerns regarding cultural in- of Archeology and Natural Sci- frastructure; it reveals Casablan- ence, which are both organized ca’s still-long path to achieving according to the framework of a comprehensive cultural circuit. the Wessal Bouregreg Megapro- Currently Casablanca is the site ject. The theatre, with its futuristic of only isolated and punctual in- layout designed by Zaha Hadid, itiatives. There is a clear lack of is expected to become an icon data and expertise within public for Rabat and a worldwide point authorities, an essential compo- of reference. It thus appears that nent to improving the general sit- the future development of pres- uation. While in 2011 the Minis- tigious infrastructure is the main try of Culture acknowledged the focus of cultural development necessity of efforts such as Rac- policies in Rabat. ines’, and expressed interest and Indeed, if we take a closer look at support for the “General State of such projects,they all include the Culture,” relations between local edification of large scale cultural governments and cultural struc- institutions, most of which result tures remain poor. Grand Casa from the dynamics of govern- has over 18 spaces dedicated ance themselves. Decision mak- to culture, the vast majority of ing is done at the national level, which struggle to remain alive. as megaprojects are the direct On the other hand, Morocco’s initiative of his Majesty the King administrative and political capital Mohammed VI. At the metropol- of Rabat has recently been given itan level, the figure of the Wali the title of “Ville lumière” (“City and heads of private agencies are of Light”) and designated as responsible for executing part of the country’s upcoming cultural the plans. This governance con- headquarters. Rabat was granted stellation leaves little room for in 2012 a place on UNESCO’s local authorities in the design or world heritage list, which has un- proposal of cultural initiatives. doubtedly contributed to the de- Taking into account the debate velopment of its cultural strategy. between decentralization and The Museum Mohammed VI of democratization, we argue that modern and contemporary art, the current state of cultural pol- which opened in 2013, is a direct icy reflects a decentralization result of the will to provide the limited in scope, and a controlled city and Morocco with cultural democratization where every institutions in tune with interna- decision must be negotiated with tional standards. Moreover, the the Palace. balance between modernity and What remains unanswered is to tradition has been at the core which extent this gap between of cultural planning, as illustrat- institutional programs and local ed by the National Library and needs manifests itself in urban 67 landscape. Cultural strategies these enterprises is the promo- emanating from such top-down tion of economic wealth through approaches are likely to create the realization of great iconic cul- a worrisome two-tiered city tural projects. However, it seems in both Casablanca and Rabat. that this ambition for economic Indeed, we are witnessing the development is being advanced transformation of these metrop- at the expense of citizen partic- olises into “Global Cities” at the ipation, as the Hassan museum cost of neglecting local creative and archive located nearby the industries’ needs and develop- Marina are today largely devoid ment. of local Casablanca residents. Without doubt, the flourishing This leads us to question the ex- cultural plans in Casablanca and istence of an effective geograph- Rabat are the probative illustra- ical and qualitative assessment of tion of the government’s will to demand for cultural facilities by target the wealthiest and, among Casablanca’s population. If the them, the new and growing ex- lack of proper infrastructure is pat class. Cultural policies are a major impediment in the un- used as a tool to compete for folding of cultural practices, as international recognition. The exemplified above with the city use of the MasterCard indexof Casablanca, we argue that for Global Destination Cities the imagined developments for (in which Casablanca appears these two Moroccan cities are among the top 5 most visited disconnected from both social cities in Africa, with just under reality and pressing urban needs. one million visitors per year) as As a matter of fact, royal interest a reference in city planning is a today is focused on internation- great example of this political al competition and this national statement. Moreover, as suggest- concern is illustrated at the met- ed above, megaprojects in the ropolitan level by the construc- two cities dedicate a great part tion of cultural icons. There is of their budget to the develop- however no guarantee that the ment of cultural infrastructures. activity of these centres will suc- Parallel to the Grand Théâtre of ceed in developing the curiosity Rabat, whose opening is planned for culture and the arts among for 2018, Casablanca has started wide sections of the population. the construction of a theatre in Instead, it seems they could easily its city center, at the Mohammed become imposing ghosts brought Vth plaza, which could repre- to life sporadically for major cul- sent potential competition for its tural events. Everyday practices counterpart in the capital. Fur- with limited scope, which are ther on, the Wessal Casablanca more fundamental to a city’s cul- Port project’s ambition is to cre- tural development, are treated as ate a culture and leisure center lesser priorities. for the city, with a Museum of We are witnessing in Rabat and Sciences and a library open to (most blatantly) in Casablanca a the public. The underlying aim of lack of evaluation and incorpora- 68 tion of the right to cultural offer- not seem to be a primary goal why the public authorities have ings for the general population. of established cultural programs, yet to adopt this approach them- To a certain extent this reveals nor is the promotion of local cre- selves, and whether or not they a top-down (be it political or ative industries. Instead we find a can be compelled to do so in the economic) approach to cultural blind strategy from the govern- future. service provision, and a lack of ment, widening the already exist- structured assessment and dis- ing gap between local initiatives tribution of such services to cit- and institutional programs. Alter- izens. This results in the neglect natively, a more bottom-up ap- of local needs for cultural and proach - an approach which the educational offers, be it in terms Racines association already em- of form or content. As a matter ploys - has the potential to close of fact, 25% of the population of this gap, exposing the wider Mo- the Grand Casablanca region suf- roccan population to meaningful, fers from illiteracy today, but the and accessible, cultural education. improvement of education does Question remains, however, as to Drawing : Camille Lavoipierre

69 CULTURAL HERITAGE IN CASABLANCA IN THE CONTEXT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by Juliette Delaveau, Clara Lange, Charlie Mitchell, Melina Spiga

he 19th and 20th centu- A different story can be seen in ries marked the emer- Rabat, where large parts of the gence of Casablanca as city are now listed as UNESCO Morocco’s economic World Heritage sites. This city Tcapital, facilitated in particular emerged from an important in- by the French expansion of tellectualthe exchange between Ar- city beyond the historic medina. abic-Islamic antiquity and West- In 1915, Henry Prost proposed ern . The heritage of the city’s inaugural Master Plan, the city comes from both the modernizing Casablanca with French Protectorate - particu- an economic focus advocated larly its royal and administrative by Général Lyautey. In 1947 a areas, residential and commer- second Master Plan was imple- cial developments, as well as the mented, this time the brainchild botanical and leisure oriented of Ecochard. The impact of these Jardins d’Essaies - and the older various plans - each with their parts of the royal capital dating own distinct conception of the back to the 12th century, includ- city - can be seen in a short walk ing the Hassan Mosque, the Al- through the city’s streets, reveal- mohad ramparts, and the tradi- ing a true hodgepodge of archi- tional city gates. tectural styles: neoclassical, neo Two disjointed trajectories can mauresque, traditional, Art Déco therefore be drawn. On the one and functionalist. hand, Casablanca emerged as the Nevertheless, this architectural country’s main economic centre, richness is currently threatened experiencing rapid urbanization by demolitions due to a simple and liberal economic growth. On fact: cultural heritage in Casa- the other, Rabat remained sta- blanca is still not considered an ble as the political, and therefore important element for the tour- historical, capital of the country. istic development of the city, nor Nevertheless, Rabat’s heritage for the collective memory of could also be threatened by up- the inhabitants. Linked with the grading and development pro- French colonial legacy; this archi- jects. In this article, we will try to tecture is thus not claimed, nor understand if Moroccan cultural perceived by the inhabitants as heritage is at risk in the context their own. of rapid urbanization and me-

70 tropolisation. expel renters, instead allowed There is an increasingly evident their buildings to degrade steadi- tension between the dramat- ly until the state intervened. Thus ic economic development (and state expropriation of land for subsequent urbanisation) of Cas- commercial purposes represent- ablanca and the preservation of ed a tool used by landlords to its cultural heritage. In recent expel and displace poor tenants. years, a pervasive neoliberal par- Through this process, the degra- adigm has galvanized economic dation of cultural heritage sites and urban development in this adopted a new socio-economic region, with the ultimate aim of facet which exacerbated pre-ex- transforming Casablanca into isting inequalities, ghettoization, Africa’s primary economic and segregation and class conflict. financial hub - the cornerstoneHowever, in recent times the of African economic develop- Wali, local authorities and civ- ment. Yet an inevitable result of il society have collaborated and this process has been the ad- begun to act. Organizations are vancement of a “laissez faire” pushing to preserve and con- discourse, one which is conspic- currently to legitimize cultural uously evident in metropolitan heritage in Morocco. This duali- building management and the ty of aims is exemplified by the deterioration of cultural heritage. impressive Casamémoire organ- In a feeble attempt to halt the ization, which is working in the wreckage of sites of cultural short term to protect buildings heritage, the Wali forbade the and areas of cultural significance destruction of historic buildings. in the city, and in the long term, Nevertheless, many buildings in to make Casablanca a UNESCO Casablanca were lost and it re- World Heritage city. An impor- mains a city of business and - fi tant tool used by this organiza- nance, concerned more with tion is public education, which attracting developers and inves- is carried out primarily through tors than preserving cultural em- open-days such as “les journées blems. Today, Casablanca seems du patrimoine”. to physically embody the expres- Despite this piecemeal positive sion “out with the old and in with response, many obstacles to the the new”. protection of cultural heritage re- Heavy building destruction oc- main. One nuance that emerges curred - sometimes city-govern- is the question of whether nas- ment sponsored - to allow firms cent political willingness in Cas- to redevelop the land. The effect ablanca to both foster and safe- of this is all the more perilous guard cultural heritage could be when the role of property own- seen as a political manoeuvre to ers is taken into consideration. catch up with Rabat. This would Indeed, many private real estate allow Casablanca to compete owners, conscious of the poten- in the sphere of cultural capital. tial profits to be made in selling Such a development would be their properties, but unable to logical; the stimulation of a cul- 71 tural life in Casablanca would ment, as well as the marketing of improve the “amenities” available Casablanca as an economic and to foreign investors. Indeed, the international hub. idea of cultural heritage, of “patri- Like in many countries across moine,” is a very western-centric the world, the attempts to “ed- and European idea. ucate” civil society” are not In urban development projects enough to include citizens in the in both Casablanca and Rabat, it decision-making process and the appears obvious that most of the latter remains excluded from upgrading is not directed at poor definitions of what is worth pro- populations, but instead is target- tecting and preserving and what ing very specific social groups: is not. elites, expatriates and recent An important conclusion there- European investors. Therefore, fore arises: cultural heritage pres- as previously suggested, perhaps ervation in Moroccan cities can the meagre will and attempts not go hand in hand with rapid eco- only to protect historical (Euro- nomic development and urbani- pean) buildings, but also to create zation, as long as it is desired by a form of social consciousness elites and wealthy foreigners. This around the notion of cultural has crucial implications for the heritage, could be an attempt judgements made about which to attract even more Europeans sites to destroy and which to and to conform to “european preserve. Such judgements inev- standards.” This ironically links the itably overlook the political and protection of cultural heritage socio-economic needs of the and history to globalization, lib- city’s poor and destitute citizens. eralism and economic develop-

Photo : Paola Chapdelaine

72 STRIPPING THE STUDY TRIP by Massimo Hulot and Simon Chabas

ven before boarding the last-minute, with influential- in plane for our week-long dividuals working under severe study of metropolization time constraints, and it was in in the cities of Rabat and their interests to talk about the ECasablanca, we knew that our issues they saw as important, position as students, researchers, even if they did not always match and, perhaps most importantly, our own. outsiders, would bring with it a The size of our group sometimes host of unique challenges. Land- complicated our research; our ing in Casablanca’s Mohammed party of fifty-two students and V International Airport with a three professors drew attention complex research question, step- as we navigated through the nar- ping aboard our bus with 51 oth- row streets of the medina. We er students - all from different felt this visibility acutely, and not backgrounds - and finally reach- just from people on the street, ing the lobby of the Ibis Hotel but from the actors we met with close to the port of Casablanca, and from our professors as well. we begun our investigation, many Thus we began to regulate our of us experiencing Morocco (and behavior - learning to adopt a indeed the African continent) for certain attitude and to ask point- the first time. ed questions with diplomacy and We quickly found our position to tact, working hard to present a be more tenuous than expect - truly professional image, some- ed, lying somewhere between what regulated by our teacher’s that of researcher and visitor. As guidance. The reality of our pro- Sciences Po students, we bene- fessional profile went even more fited from privileged access to tangible, when during one of our high-level institutional actors in last site visits - to the e-com- both cities, thanks to the person- merce start-up Kaymu - the al contacts of current and former company’s CEO enthusiastically GLM students and to wider in- encouraged us to leave our re- stitutionalized relations. While sumes. Thus throughout this ex- we received warm welcomes perience we simultaneously filled (and sincere condolences for the the roles of students, researchers, recent Charlie Hebdo attacks and members of a highly visible in Paris), many of the pre-pre- - and highly scrutinized - group. pared presentations we listened Just as we were trying to analyze to were not directly linked to the dynamic forces at stake in our research question. Perhaps Rabat and Casablanca, Casablan- this was to be expected; ourca and Rabat were observing us. meetings were often arranged Our fieldwork and meetings with 73 the stakeholders were color- der to achieve quality fieldwork. ed by this internal and externalOverall, perhaps our group’s regulation, yet the impact of the size and diversity proved to be a clock proved just as important. strength, forcing us to collaborate With each passing day we pro- (and to translate) for one anoth- gressively discovered just how er in a manner that improved our little time we had, particularly understanding and challenged in light of the ambitious goals our pre-conceptions of urban of our collective research. Our development in Morocco. study trip agenda seemed torn On the other hand, during our between the necessity of being visit to a slum at the edge of together and the practicality of Rabat (Kenatra), many felt un- dividing the group into smaller comfortable with the distance Drawing : Clara Marcuard Fregonese units. In certain cases, while the visibility of the group was some- times a burden, our large num- bers allowed for the exchange multiple perspectives and de- bates, thereby enriching our re- flections. Alternatively, when our official presentations ended with the more relaxed enjoyment of mint tea and pastries, only few students could benefit from- in formal, off-the-record discussions with our new contacts. We then shared this precious information with our fellow students, particu- larly with the non-French speak- ers among us. For these students the language barrier proved to be a challenge (as the majority of our meetings were in French) and when it came time to collect street-level information among the locals, this was largely ac- complished by those of us who spoke French. Yet even among French speakers collecting such information and interacting with locals proved difficult, as only a minority of Moroccans speak French. Therefore, while English is often one of the most important languages in academics, the study trip reminded us of the necessity of speaking local languages in or- 74 between the ‘visited’ and the ‘visi- of our time on the bus or in a tors’, physically symbolized by the conference room, our urban “tour bus” window. Concerning “phenomenological” experience this visit, some of us criticized its mostly happened on our own, “miserabilist” view from up high. when we deviated from the daily Disembarking the bus, many of routine of the Ibis hotel break- the students felt ashamed of this fasts and the bus journeys. Most flashy transportation and not at of us wandered mainly in the ease in this environment differing surroundings of the medina and from theirs. Such a reaction can the downtown, usually by night be explained as the projection of and rarely earlier than 8:00pm. these students’ own perceptions Hence, we mostly approached and worries, in particular feeling the city when the streets were like we were disturbing people, less animated, emptied of most that this visit could not be under- of its inhabitants and shop-keep- stood by the “visited”. ers, leaving us with a feeling of In parallel, a little group of stu- disconnection from the city’s dents escaped the group - who rhythm. The contrast appeared were listening to the speech of strikingly during the short lunch a representative of Al Omrane break and free morning we had - to have a discussion with a the last day in Casablanca, when dozen of slum-dwellers standing the intense activity of the market nearby and observing the scene. bubbled throughout the medina What followed was a casual lanes, between the tables filled discussion about the local living with the fried seafood and the conditions and the evolution of smell of the delicious tangerines the road works in progress. Yet that followed us until Paris. this interaction could not be fully developed because of different constraints: one being linguistic (the concerned students did not speak the local dialect and only one slum-dweller spoke French) and the other being our lack of time. Thus, an invitation to visit the slum with them had to be declined in order to respect the agenda of our study trip. Overall, if this week was dedi- cated to research, it nonetheless remained a trip, bringing most of us to African soil for the first time. This travelling experience took a very singular form, as our time limits meant we gained only a restrained experience of Casablanca. As we spent most 75 Photo : Nicolas Hrycaj

CONCLUSION

76 LOOKING AT CASABLANCA AND RABAT BEYOND THE CONTRACTUAL by Côme Salvaire

The study trip to Casablanca of spatial restructuring, in the was for all of us an opportuni- face of which we have notably ty to open up and make good developed political economy use of the conceptual tool- analyses. The last point lays in box acquired during the firstthe attention paid to policies semester. These new tools themselves, in particular in the spurred a collective attempt governance of poverty, as well to understand the specificitiesas those addressing the cultur- of governance structures in al sector. Most of our analyses the Casablanca-Rabat region. occupy distinct positions with- We felt empowered in our in this triangle, combine and capacity to get a good grasp give different weights to these of the main governmental dy- three analytical anchor points. namics. Looking back on the study trip, The idea of the trip surely was we must nonetheless keep to be able to focus on the questioning our understand- key structures of governance, ings of urban development without running the risk of processes in Casablanca and diluting our analyses, in a lim- Rabat, and engage with the ited time. The analytical limits delicate analysis of the fron- we ran into still deserve to be tiers of our analytical space(s) pointed out. Broadly put, I sug- during and after the trip. What gest that our analytical triangle have we seen, where haven’t lacks depth: our understand- we looked? ings are too often confined We can perhaps conceive this to the level of the social con- collective analytical space as tract, a notion whose hegem- being defined by three points.ony we fail to escape. Building The first one is that - of our insti analyses on the basis of a tutions and the political soci- preexisting contract between ology component present in institutions and citizens does the majority of our articles. not enable us to conceptual- We refrain from depicting ize properly the edges of gov- them as uniform and do take ernance and cuts us from en- into account their specifici- gaging the lived reality of the ties. The second point is that city, what goes on beyond the

77 contract. Too often, we limit pression/resistance was, in a ourselves to seeing the social sense, all we were hoping for: from the perspective of gov- a straightforward example of erning bodies. Further, we do flouted rights, dismissed citi- not go far enough in taking into zenship and resistance for sur- 4. De Certeau, Michel. The account the agency and con- vival. The notion of resistance Practice of Everyday Life. Trans. tingency of institutions. Can becomes problematic when Steven Rendall. Berkeley: U of we - reasonably, and without it hides the more complexCalifornia, 1984. Print. losing sight of our main goal, processes at play in the city. that of understanding govern- Although Western scholars ance - follow Achille Mbem- tend, ironically, to project it be and Sarah Nuttall’s lead in onto postcolonial thinkers, the their critique of scholarship latter have long been engaged on Johannesburg - a city with in its critique, and attempted many parallels to be drawn to develop alternative, more with Casablanca -, where they dynamic concepts, such as 3 emphasize the need to move hacking, pirating , or, in the 1. Simone, Abdoumaliq. “The our understanding of the so- case of De Certeau, bracon- Politics of Urban Intersection: 4 cial from “order and contract” nage . When we always resort Materials, Affect, Bodies.” The 1 to “experiment and artifice ” ? to resistance, we are unable to New Blackwell Companion to ask ourselves questions that Although very useful in many the City. Ed. Gary Bridge and are key to our understanding Sophie Watson. Malden, MA: contexts, the contractual no- of the metropolization pro- tions of citizenship, rights and Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. 357-66. cess in the Casablanca-Rabat Print. resistance can in many in- region: what tactics and strate- stances become important gies are enacted by inhabitants epistemological obstacles to to access the city, improve our understanding of the so- their life conditions, amid insti- cial dynamics at play in the city. tutional constraints? Thinking 2. El Kahlaoui, Soraya. “Droit à When introduced by Soraya El with the tryptic rights-citizen- la terre : quand une tribu guer- Kahlaoui to burning questions ship-resistance enables us to rière marocaine se révolte.” Le of slum displacement and land understand the governmental Monde Afrique 19 Feb. 2015. confiscation, particularly in choices made regarding urban Web. the case of the struggle of the development, who wins and Guich L’Oudaya tribe in douar who loses, but veils the choic- Ouled Dlim2, it seemed quite es made on the ground by in- important to turn to such no- habitants regarding their own 3. Simone, Abdoumaliq. “Pi- tions. They are necessary in or- development. rate Towns: Reworking Social der to conceptualize the con- As Abdoumaliq Simone el- and Symbolic Infrastructures flicts and injustices they suffer, oquently puts it, “So called in Johannesburg and Douala.” along with their attempts to modern cities have always Urban Studies 43.2 (2006): reestablish their rights. Yet, taken the energies, experi- 357-70. Print. such a blatant example -of ments,op and styles of their dif- 78 ferent human and non-human be hardly more than a coding inhabitants and “contracted” of policy choices made for them, both in the sense of other reasons. Was it inter- truncating these practices and ests? The Marina project and establishing contractual rela- the turbulences it has been tionships defining the rightsgoing through has even ques- and responsibilities of urban tioned the viability of some citizens”1. When necessary, choices for the dominant class. we must be able to put our An idea-based explanation contractual tryptic on the side was then often our last resort: so as to look beyond the con- we ran into the notion of “im- tracted selves, into the lived itation”. 5. Mbembe, Achille, and Sarah reality and all the choices Such a concept proved useful Nuttall. “Writing the World made in the city. in making sense of the some- from an African Metropolis.” times apparent irrationality Public Culture 16.3 (2004): We have struggled with the of certain policy choices. As 347-72. Print. rationale behind economic such, the notion of imitation development choices and the enables us to look outwards, massive investments made at how the Casablanca-Rabat into mega-projects centered region attempts to conform on finance and highly-skilledto international standards of labor. Many times, such eco- economic opening and finan- nomic reasoning appeared to cial appeal, to attract foreign Photo : Alberto G. Pcazo

79 investments and labor. Surely, that could be carried by urban imitation is part of the ex- counter-elites, and intervening 6. Ferguson, James. “The An- planation, but we ought not in the scenographic space of ti-Politics Machine, ‘Develop- to neglect the agency of lo- the city. ment’ and bureaucratic power cal institutions, which are not in Lesotho.” The Ecologist 24.5 solely implementing a policy In order to grasp the articu- (1994): 176-81. Print. package designed elsewhere. lation of mega-projects and In every act of imitation, there legitimation in Morocco, a is a translation, and we need parallel can be drawn with to look at how certain policy Jean-François Bayart and packages are used in this spe- James Ferguson’s analyses of the use made by political cific context. Behind every act 7. Bayart, Jean-François. L’Etat of mimicry, there is an opera- authorities of “development en Afrique. La politique du tion of mimesis, through which projects” in sub-Saharan Af- ventre (2nd ed.). Paris: Fayard, the imitated gets transformed, rica. In the case of Lesotho, 2006. Print. and something original is in- Ferguson argues that the main vented5. Insisting on the capac- purpose of development pro- ity of mimesis of local institu- jects is not to alleviate pover- tions, and thus on their agency, ty, nor is it to serve capitalist can enable us to look at how interests, but rather to rein- “imported“ policies such as force political authority “by 8. Elyachar, Julia. Markets of mega-projects are used not casting political questions of Dispossession: NGOs, Eco- only in the international arena land, resources, jobs or wages nomic Development, and the as vectors of homologation, as technical ‘problems’ respon- State in Cairo. Durham: Duke but also within the metropol- sive to the technical ‘develop- UP, 2005. Print. itan region itself for specific ment’ intervention”. Thereby, purposes. Mega-projects are development projects, wheth- not simply imported abstract er they fail or not, are used by policies and global financial political authorities as instru- centers rankings, nor are they ments for the de-politicization built solely to satisfy direct- of language. In Casablanca, it ly the economic interests of appears that the symbols of small elite groups. If they are globalization and finance are agents, institutions are also used in a similar fashion, as an 9. Shipley, Jesse Weaver. Living 6 contingent, temporary. The “anti-politics machine” , that the Hiplife: Celebrity and En- Anfa and Marina projects in will, further, encourage po- trepreneurship in Ghanaian Casablanca are good exam- tential urban counter-elites to Popular Music. Durham, NC: ples of an imported policy co-opt to the authorities’ dis- Duke UP, 2013. Print. transformed by political au- course7, notably through the thorities into a source of in- jobs offered to them in the ternal legitimation. They aim, finance industry. at two different levels, at neu- Mega-projects, as physical ob- tralizing the political language jects, are also to be seen as 80 Photo : Lorena Figueiredo interventions in the “moral ality of the Casablanca-Rabat Do such considerations re- economy” of the city7. They region. Similarly to citizens, in- ally matter outside of heat- carry values of wealth and stitutions do not only exist as ed academic debates, to the cosmopolitanism, particular contracted entities. They de- professionals that most of us lifestyles and aesthetics, that velop within the symbolic and will become? My conviction is they imprint in the fabric of physical reality of the city. that they do, for two reasons the city. Although the urban in particular. First, we must middle class might not benefitQuestioning the citizen- find ways to account for the economically from mega-pro- ship-rights-resistance tryp- social creativity constantly at jects, the representations they tic as well as the concept of play in large cities, the “hack- carry can become new hori- imitation, I want to show the tivity” of inhabitants, or we will zons, a promise, that will also necessity to reconnect our keep leaving it at the mercy reinforce the legitimacy of po- understandings to the lived of a neoliberal discourse8 9, a litical authorities. We are here, reality of the city. We must vulture more than happy to in a way, coming back to a basic sometimes step away from jump onto any sign of initiative understanding of the politics the background notion of in the city, and from which the of mega-projects, which seek social contract that can be- notion of empowerment has to reinforce political legitima- come an obstacle in making not been protected enough. cy through signaling, within the sense of the main dynamics Second, because it is necessary fabric of the city, new horizons of a city or region. We need to account for all the regimes and promises. to look at how bodies move, of development coexisting in Looking beyond the social make choices, attempt to ad- cities in order to keep decon- contract, at the agency and vance their condition, create, structing the linear modernity contingency of institutions, can at how institutions transform implied by developmentalist enable us to develop analyses and develop, within the urban approaches to public policy. more in tune with the lived re- scenography. 81 AFTERWORD

he graduate programmes of the Sciences Po Urban School are characterised by a precise lear- ning process in the social sciences in addition to practice in the field through professional expe- riences and study trips. THence, the GLM study trip in a large metropolis is an important building block of the pedagogi- cal project of the master’s programme, which takes place during the first year of the curriculum. This ex- perience provides a unique opportunity to blend on-site visits with meetings with the economic, political and social actors in the city or region. The 2015 GLM trip in Casablanca and Rabat has been prepared in advance through conferences and seminars as well as through required readings. Putting what is learnt in class up against the reality of the field leads to fruitful analysis. This report, entirely written by thestudents, is the result of their observation and reflection on current urban dynamics in the Casablanca-Rabat region. The Urban School and the GLM programme in particular would like to thank all the colleagues and local actors who have kindly helped with the preparation of the trip and have welcomed the students: Agence pour l’aménagement de la Vallée du Bouregreg, Agence d’Urbanisation et de Développement d’Anfa, Abdelaziz ADIDI, Al Omrane SAO Rabat, Ambassade de France au Maroc, Association Racine, Association des anciens de Sciences Po au Maroc, Marwa BELGHAZI, Mehdi BENSAID, Abderrahmane BOULOUD, Bouygues Immobilier, Casamémoire, Abdallah CHATER, Soraya EL KAHLAOUI, Abdelmou- nime EL MADANI, Ruth GROSRICHARD, Institut développement et environnement, Institut National d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme, Fanny PONCE, Kaymu, Hind KHEDIRA, Sebastien LINDEN, Youssef NEJMI, Fathallah OUALALOU, Port de Casablanca, Khalid SAFIR, Victor SAID, Otmane SERRAJ, Benjamin TOIX, Abdellah TOURABI and Mohamed TOZI. We would also like to thank the student team which helped prepare the organization of the trip: Dickel BOKOUM, Perrine CHAULIAC, Lou D’ANGELO, Ju- liette DELAVEAU and Gaëtan MULLER. Finally we would like to express our gratitude to the cartography department of Sciences Po, and especially Mr. Savina, whose advice has been of great help in elaborating the maps.

The GLM team : Catherine Bacheter, Régine Serra and Tommaso Vitale Photo : Paola Chapdelaine The Sciences Po Urban School: Brigitte Fouilland and Patrick Le Galès

82 83 Sciences Po Master Governing the Large Metropolis Promotion 2016

Report released in May 2015