Rabat - Salé, Morocco by Francoise Navez-Bouchanine
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The case of Rabat - Salé, Morocco by Francoise Navez-Bouchanine Contact Françoise Navez-Bouchanine Source: CIA factbook Laboratoire URBAMA 41 bis, rue Bani Tanza, Rabat-souissi Morocco Phone: +21 23 7639393 Fax: +21 23 7639393 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] I. INTRODUCTION: THE CITY A. THE URBAN CONTEXT 1. National Overview Located in Northwest Africa, Morocco has both a development of agriculture. In 2001, the World Bank Mediterranean and an Atlantic coast. The country is pointed out that economic growth is low, mainly bordered by Algeria and Mauritania. Its total surface because of agriculture’s poor contribution to overall area is about 710,850 km², a large part being moun- growth (World Bank, 2001) Moreover, the manufactur- tainous. The country is divided into 16 regions. ing sector has not developed much1, resulting in unem- According to the last census (1994), the total popula- ployment and poverty in urban areas. However, the tion was about 28 million, while the first post-independ- tertiary sector has developed well (especially tourism ence census in 1960 registered only 11.5 million and information technology). Poverty affects about 20 (Ministère de la prévision économique et du Plan, per cent of the population and urban unemployment 22 1999, a). per cent. Since the end of the 1990s, Morocco has undergone There is still a huge gap between rural and urban a process of democratisation after the political closure areas. The female education rate in rural primary which had characterised the country since the 1960s. schools rose from 28 per cent to 47 per cent over the This process, among others, is linked with the fact that 1991-1998 period (World Bank, 2001). Nevertheless, a so-called “alternative” government came to power, in the country is still lagging behind all comparable coun- which the left-wing political opposition holds several tries in the region. Still, gaps have been narrowed portfolios. However, four ministries are still sovereign thanks to the efforts made in the framework of rural ministries and the appointment of ministers depends on infrastructure programmes (electricity, drinking water the palace. The process of democratisation has accel- and roads). The health system has remained much erated thanks to the new King (Mohamed VI) who has less developed than in most comparable countries in emphasised the importance of social issues, poverty, the region. Although life expectancy has extended to governance and equality between men and women. 67 years and most people benefit from vaccinations, However smooth this transition, it entailed some diffi- many indicators remain low. Mother and infant mortal- culties, especially a slow process of decision-making in ity rates for example are higher than the overall aver- economic policy. The drought, which lasted several age and here too, there is a great gap between urban years, caused even more problems, especially in the and rural areas. Urban Slums Reports: The case of Rabat-Sale, Colombia 1.1 Urban Development Characteristics urbanisation of the territory and the strengthening of the The Maghreb in general is characterised by an urban urbanisation process including that of areas which were history with traces of very old cities and urban cultures, hardly urbanised. The effects of such a policy are quite together with an accelerated recent urbanisation different from one region to another. Recently concern process. At the beginning of the 20th century, city for a more generalised and better balance has inspired a dwellers hardly formed 6 per cent of the total population. set of measures which are meant to encourage decen- According to the most recent official estimates, the tralisation and the development of the territory as a urban population is expected to reach 60 per cent whole. However, there is a tendency to favour the devel- around 2005 (Ministère chargé de la population, 1997) opment of activities and services in the Atlantic axis and Initially, the urbanisation process resulted from an impor- of areas which are more open to trade and international tant process of rural depopulation. This still causes exchange. important variations in the suburbs of large cities, espe- cially during the drought periods. However, it is generally thought, especially after the last general census of the 2. The History of Rabat-Sale population (1994), that the current growth of towns is The first urban settlements on the site of the present principally due to the natural growth of their populations. city date to the Roman era and the Sala Colonia. The Furthermore, French colonisation made decisive Romans did not settle on the right-bank of the Bouregreg choices regarding urban settlement, by setting up its River, the site of present day Salé, but on the left bank. focal points on the coast. The choices they made However, the embryo of the present day twin-city only brought lasting changes to the development of the began to develop in he 12th century. The two cities, often national territory by choosing Rabat as an administra- presented as rivals, seem on the contrary, to have tive capital, strengthening Casablanca’s position as an always been strongly complementary to each other. In economic capital and building a port in Kenitra (ex-Port the 12th century Rabat was a fortified town and a garrison Lyautey). Independence did not change these deci- - a ribat – used by the Almohad dynasty to launch the sions, but only tried to reduce their negative effects. The Holy War in Spain. It was later made a true city (Ribat el Kenitra-Casablanca Atlantic axis is thus inhabited by 34 Fath) by Abou Youssef Yacoub, called Al Mansour, in the per cent of the total Moroccan urban population2. It 13th century. It was already connected to Salé, a very provides the country with 60 per cent of its national active city in craft industries and commerce, by a wooden industrial turnover. The region drew in more than 40 per bridge. The arrival of morisco and andalous populations cent of the migrant population settled in the large towns with the decline and collapse of the Andalous kingdom of of the kingdom. Spain, led to the development of the left bank, of two After independence a policy for the development of distinct cores, the Kasbah (now called the “Oudaïas”), the whole territory was adopted, whose aim was to and the médina. bridge the gaps between the different regions. This During the 17th century, these three entities (two on the development policy included among others the overall left bank and one on the right bank) formed the “Republic Figure 1: Historic growth of Rabat- Sale 2 UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 Source: unknown Figure 2: Location of slums in Rabat-Sale of Two Banks”, enjoying a true political autonomy. Even Lughod, 1980, p.196 and following). The consequences if the two banks’ functions were not exclusive, each are well known: “the first bidonvilles had begun to form one’s specific roles were clear. Rabat had the political in Douar Doum in 1921, and in Douar Debbagh just one and military functions as well as control of the territory. year later. By 1947, these shack towns would contain Salé had the port, the shipyard, economic activity, over 25,000 inhabitants, more than had occupied the commerce, intense exchange relations with the rural entire médina of Rabat in 1913” (ibid p.200). world and piracy on the sea. The decline of this last Moreover, from this time the demographic surplus activity later led the two cities to turn towards the inte- tended to pour into Salé, where the slums of Douar rior of the country and to gradually lose their maritime Jedid and Douar Smala began to develop in the 30s activities. (Naciri, 1965). Both médinas suffered, by the end of the By the end of the 19th century, just before colonisa- 40s, from higher densities than ever before, climbing tion, Rabat and Salé constituted a small, but quite from 400 inhabitants/ha to 758 inhabitants/ha in Rabat, dynamic urban centre of 30,000 inhabitants. The and 240 to 650 inhabitants/ha in Salé (Mauret, 1953). complementarity of the two cities and the increasing The peri-urban slum extensions absorbed part of this flux of the population and merchandise are attested to growth in the Moroccan population. by the European traveller-observers of the time. However, they were of secondary importance, compared to Fez or Casablanca. The region’s future 3. The Physical City destiny was established in 1912, with Lyautey’s deci- sion to use Rabat as the administrative capital. He Rabat - Salé is part of the Rabat agglomeration, entrusted Prost with the urban development plan. This which also includes Témara. plan, designed in 1914, remained until 1947 the only The climate is temperate and the atmosphere is quite control tool for the city’s development. A city planned for humid, due to the double influence of the ocean and the Europeans, with a will to separate the “natives” from the river. The mean annual temperature is 17°C. Rainfall Europeans, (even if this will was not always followed as varies widely. The annual mean for the last ten years is predicted, to the great displeasure of Prost, (cf. J. Abu 559.8 mm, but large differences can be registered from year to year. The towns are located on two plateaux on 3 Urban Slums Reports: The case of Rabat - Salé, Morocco Figure 3: Expansion of the City if Rabat-Sale Figure 4: Urban structure of Rabat-Sale at the beginnng of 1990s 4 UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 either bank of the River Bouregreg.