The urbanization challenge in Africa and the territorial strategy of North African countries: the case of the new towns policy in Morocco

Africa is facing an inevitable rise in urban pressure. Faced with rampant urbanization and the growing number of people living in slums, several African countries have opted for the development of entirely new cities as much as a territorial strategy aimed at providing affordable housing, stimulating economic growth and generating employment. In Morocco, in response to the sustained acceleration of urbanization and in order to respond appropriately to the challenges it generates (densification of big towns, growing demand for housing, massive demand for infrastructure, etc.), a national program for the creation of new cities was launched in 2004. This program, which aimed to create 15 new cities by 2020, had a number of objectives, including: controlling urban sprawl, combating substandard housing and creating new economic activity clusters. Thus, Tamensourt, Tamesna, Chrafat and Lakhyayta are new cities that were initiated at the gates of major cities, respectively in Marrakech, Rabat, Tangiers and Casablanca. Then, it was envisaged to generalize the creation of new cities in different regions of Morocco. Moreover, although these projects promised to be promising, the findings of the present study have shown that their implementation has been characterized by several dysfunctions (inappropriate legal and institutional framework, financial mechanisms not corresponding to the scale of these projects, equipment deficiencies, mobility problems, etc.) and the achievements remain below expectations. As a result, guaranteeing the sustainability of new city projects and their durability is a challenge that is currently acute, and the success of the new towns policy in Morocco remains dependent on the reforms to be undertaken at various levels (planning, management, governance, etc.). The objective of this article is thus to demonstrate the magnitude of the urbanization challenge in Africa, to present the strategy of new towns adopted in Morocco to face this challenge, and to reveal the main shortcomings and weaknesses that have marked the implementation of this strategy.