2017 NYU Policy Case Competition
Urban Planning in Casablanca, Morocco
General Background:
Morocco has often been a site for experimentation in modern urban planning, used frequently by
French colonists as places to try out ideas and visions of how cities in France could evolve through
modern city planning, zoning and architectural design. Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco
and is situated as a pole of dynamic and rapid growth and development, largely due to widespread
industrial investment and bountiful opportunities for domestic and international trade. Casablanca
is located about fifty-five miles southwest of Rabat and Morocco’s principal commercial
distribution center for exports of primary economic products.
In 1915, Henri Prost, a French architect
and urban planner, was appointed as head
of a new agency in charge of the
development of the new cities in French
Morocco. His work in Casablanca has
affected both the current environmental
circumstances in the city and became a
reference for urban planning and
development in France after World War I.
By 1946, Michel Écochard came to head
the urban planning division of the
protectorate. He established a Division of
Urban Planning and Architecture to function alongside the Housing Division of the Department of
Public Works favoring the innovative modernist, “functionalist” architectural designs of the time.
However, this resulted in a deliberate physical separation between the French, and the native
Moroccans, with the Moroccans living in much higher population density than the French.
Écochard had a vision for the expansion of Casablanca. His plan entailed three-parts. Firstly, he
planned on increasing direct industrial development to other nearby towns, as he wrote, to “create
opportunities for other cities.” Next, since Casablanca was already experiencing crowding innercity slums, he sought to decentralize residential space through a polynucleic design (similar to Los
Angeles’ current city design) of boroughs and satellite towns. Lastly, in response to this housing
crisis, he planned vast landscapes of public housing units that were laid out not unlike other mega
block housing projects like the Lower East Side in New York City. His regional plans, in the long
run however, have proven to have significant consequences, cultivating social and economic
distinctions that, in conjunction with neoliberal economic reforms in the 1980s, led to extreme
inequalities and disparities across the population.
Today, local authorities do not prioritize the preservation of colonial architecture, and do not seek
to recycle abandoned buildings in an eco-friendly way. Instead, the Moroccan government has
been pressured by foreign industries located in cities like Casablanca to have these structures
replaced with buildings with very poor infrastructure. In turn, environmentalist groups have
decried the ensuing infrastructural pollution across Casablanca. The city is notoriously dirty;
however, tourists do not often interact with this pollution environment, as they are deliberately
directed away affected areas. With the combination of poor infrastructures and management,
foreign factories, the health of residents has been significantly impacted. According to
environmental engineer Mohamed Benjelloun, 50% of people living in Casablanca are diagnosed
with health problems resulting from this pollution. Every year, 28 thousand reported cases of new
diagnoses are found in Casablanca mainly due to the lax environmental restrictions on factories,
but also because of the lack of sustainable methods of urban growth and the scarcity of green
spaces.
In 2016, the United States released a report
through the Global Pollution Index, ranking
Casablanca as the sixth most polluted city in the
world. In response to these findings, King
Mohammed VI of Morocco has responded by
focusing on waste management and water
purification systems for residents.
What to Cover:
Direct your policy proposal to senior government
officials in Morocco. Consider the following
questions and be prepared to answer for our
panelists:
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International Mediation: proposals should discuss mediation processes that engage all
major players in the region. In addition, discuss how the American public might respond to
the US’s involvement in an initiative such as this and the implications of pursuing this
during the current US political climate.
Rights to Research: The proposal could explore how the rights to scientific collaboration
can exist in the midst of privatization of lands. Also, discuss what measures Morocco
should take in case private companies reject interference from other countries like the US.