Urban Planning in the Neoliberal City

Urban poverty alleviation and city transformation projects are closely connected to demographic change, political objectives, and capitalistic economic policies in the globalization era. Worldwide, states have seen urbanization rates increase to unprecedented levels (Beier and Strava 2020: 1). This has entailed the proliferation of different types of informal housing, especially in developing countries, such as slums, which have become a major challenge for urban planning and poverty alleviation strategies. Such is the case with the Millennium Declaration of the United Nations specifically recognizing the need to improve the living conditions of slum-dwellers (OHCHR 2000).

In Morocco, King Mohammed VI launched the Cities Without Slums program (Ville Sans Bidonvilles- VSB in French) in 2004, a national initiative officially aimed at addressing pressing issues of urban poverty, unsanitary housing, and social marginalization by eradicating slums in the country. Thus, big areas such as Casablanca—the focus of this work— have witnessed the acceleration of resettlement and rehousing strategies, that had been used since colonial times (Navez-Bouchanine 2003a, Bogaert 2018).

Also Read: Governance Efficacy in Sustainable Slum Regeneration