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).