5th national meeting, Urban Agencies, 25 years of urban landscape

National Meetings Of Urban Agencies

5th national meeting, Urban Agencies, 25 years of urban landscape

Rabat : 27 - 28/12/2010

Morocco has already entered decades into an accelerated phase of urbanization. This process of sustained urbanization is far from reaching its end. It is expected that the urban population will increase by 8 million inhabitants between 2004 and 2030. This evolution has already strongly marked our cities and will not pass without consequences on their future. The Moroccan city is placed on more than one plan, faced with several challenges of a quantitative and qualitative

In the face of these challenges, urban development is now one of the priorities of public policy and tends to embrace all forms of planning, management and manufacturing interventions in all its global and sectoral aspects. This care has generated a remarkable dynamism and certain advances, evidenced by the various programs and open sites dedicated to the city. However, despite the efforts made by our country, affecting different levels of intervention, the almost universal deficiencies of urban growth remain far from being mastered and the heavy trends of the urbanization processes push more to the bursting of the city and To the degradation of the living environment it offers.

Faced with the amplification of this accelerated urbanization and its corollary of negative effects on the quality of urban life as well as the image of our cities, the main showcases of our country towards the visitor or the potential investor , Several projects of embellishment and urban upgrading were opened by the public authorities. The driving force behind these urban upgrading efforts is the quest for qualitative urban planning and the improvement of the urban landscape and sustainable development.

The strategy resulting from the Royal High Guidelines is based on the promotion of a harmonious development and improvement of the urban landscape of our urban spaces in order to improve the living environment of the population of our cities, to arouse and cultivate Their splendor and consequently improve their attractiveness, their economic competitiveness and ensure their sustainable development.

It is with the aim of contributing to the reflection on the problems and challenges of development of our cities and to deepen the understanding of the urban phenomenon and to identify the instruments of its regulation that "Majal" Federation of Urban Agencies of Morocco Devoted its first four meetings to the overall theme of city development. Thus, after treating urban development in its global dimension, the fifth meeting of urban agencies, proposes to take the step forward in order to explore the different sectorial aspects of this major topic and set itself the ambition to open the debate on the theme : "Urban Agencies, 25 years of urban landscape".

The purpose of this meeting is to :

Debate the concept of the urban landscape by allowing a broader understanding and redefinition of this concept through the confrontation of different approaches (national and international). In a context marked by environmental and ecological challenges, urban growth trends and ongoing & future social changes, this effort to rethink the urban landscape must take place without losing sight of the spin-offs arising from the growing challenges of the environment urban.
Take stock of efforts to upgrade urban areas in Morocco and improve their living environment. The question of the level of development of architectural and urban creativity in the production of urban space will also be on the agenda. Openness to regional and international experiences would certainly be a great contribution to both theoretical and practical lessons. This evaluation and assessment exercise is motivated by the need to highlight good practices in the safeguarding, improvement and production of the urban landscape as inspiration for the improvement of the living environment Of our conurbations and the promotion of their image.
To highlight the diversity of our urban landscapes and their evolution and the different forms of perception and experience of these landscapes by its inhabitants and by visitors and potential investors. The diversity and richness of our urban spaces (medina, Ksour and Kasbah, regional architecture, colonial heritage, diversities of the city's fabrics) and the multiple challenges facing them and consequently involve new tools and forms of intervention to be invented and To take care of our urban landscapes. In this context, Morocco's commitment of sustainable development policy is likely to produce new urban forms and could be at the origin of a change in urban landscapes;
Embracing international experiences in urban innovation (France, Spain).

It will be a question of reflecting on how to define and characterize these landscapes of a new kind combining the notions of urban landscape and the objectives of sustainable development? What representations do the elected representatives, the Architects, the Town planners, the Engineers or the users, who contribute, each at his level, to the factory of the city?

The work of this meeting will be organized around three main axes:

Urban landscape in question: evolution and challenges of the Moroccan city
Saving, improving and producing the urban landscape
What urban landscape for sustainable development ?

National Meetings Of Urban Agencies