Public Lecture on From the City to the Desert – Analysing shantytown resettlement in Casablanca, Morocco, from residents‘ perspectives

November 28, 2019 | 13:30 h - 14:30 h

Public Lecture on

From the City to the Desert – Analysing shantytown resettlement in Casablanca, Morocco, from residents‘ perspectives

Speaker: Dr. Raffael Beier (Institute of Development Research and Development Policy, Ruhr-University Bochum)

Venue: ZEF, Right Conference Room (ground floor), Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn

Abstract:  In recent years, social housing and resettlement projects have experienced a renaissance in many developing countries and are increasingly shaping the new urban peripheries. Morocco’s Villes Sans Bidonville programme (cities without shantytowns, VSBP) is a good example. In my presentation, I will look at both process and outcome of resettlement from the perspective of affected people, analysing the specific resettlement project of a 90-year-old bidonville (shantytown) in Casablanca, Morocco. Methodologically, the paper compares in an analytical way current living situations in a non-affected bidonville and in a resettlement town. The empirical analysis is based on both quantitative and qualitative methods, largely building on a household survey (n=871) as well as on qualitative interviews and in-situ observation in both a centrally located bidonville and in a resettlement town.

The results show that satisfaction with the new housing situation depends on various factors beyond housing comfort. Thus, some residents stressed that they were pushed from the city to the desert, referring to the loss of social networks, urbanity, and centrality. Other residents were appreciative of the move into new houses, hoping that the government would further invest in the development of the new town, which is already marked by multiple forms of neglect. The presentation emphasises that the VSBP, although formally part of anti-poverty and urban inclusion policies, puts a primary focus on the clearance of the bidonville, overemphasises physical housing standards, and ignores aspects of socio-spatial integration. Moreover, various injustices, corruption, and opaque implementation practices have led to homelessness and psychological distress for a considerable number of people – even though affordability was not an issue.

Dr. Raffael Beier has studied urban geography and recently obtained his joint-PhD in International Development Studies from Ruhr University Bochum and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2014, he has been working as a research fellow at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy, Ruhr University Bochum.