Urban gentrification and its impacts on urban and architectural heritage appropriation: Marrakesh medina

• Main Author: Assia Lamzah
• Format: Article
• Language: Arabic
• Published: Pr. Khalid EL HARROUNI 2020-12-01
• Series: AMJAU, African and Mediterranean Journal of Architecture and Urbanism
• Subjects: urban gentrification; colonialism; orientalism; architecture; public space; heritage; marrakesh medina
• Online Access: https://revues.imist.ma/index.php/AMJAU/article/view/23902/12706

In a context where urban issues, forms of public action and systems of actors have dramatically changed the ways of citymaking, it is necessary to grasp the logics of actions that contribute to the dynamics of transformation of cities and territories. Urban gentrification refers to the process of transforming the economic and social profile of an old urban neighborhood to the benefit of a higher social class. This essay analyzes the impactsof urban gentrification on the social and spatial practices of the urban space as well as on its collective representation. The specific case of the medina of Marrakesh and its transformations, serves as reference ground. The main argument is that appropriation by inhabitants and a sense of belonging is undoubtedly one of the most important values that a medina can have. Data for analysis are mainly obtained through participatory observation and field interviews carried out between 2018 and 2019, as well as by bibliographic query. Managing changes and mutations in architectural and urban culture of the medina must allow cultural diversity, but without erasing architectural, urban and social specificities, which make it a unique space in the world.