Admission requirements
There are no specific admission criteria. But, in view of the final attainment levels envisaged, minors are most suitable for third-year bachelor's students.
Description
This course introduces students to the diversity and dynamism of Morocco’s urban landscapes, exploring the evolution and transformation of cities through the lenses of history, governance, infrastructure, and everyday life.
Around ten lectures will be delivered by Moroccan specialists on major Moroccan cities (Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Marrakech and beyond). The course situates contemporary developments such as large-scale infrastructural projects, housing schemes, green city initiatives, and preparations for global events like the Africa Cup (2025) and the World Cup (2030) within Morocco’s long and layered urban history, including Islamic, colonial, and postcolonial trajectories.
Using concepts such as dwelling, heritage, urban renewal, and future cities, students learn to link theoretical debates in urban studies with on-the-ground realities of planning, policy, and lived experience.
The course encourages reflection on Morocco’s current ambitions while positioning students to critically read cities as spaces of both continuity and change.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Identify and describe key historical and contemporary patterns of urban development in Morocco, relating them to broader regional and global processes.
2. Interpret major conceptual frameworks in urban studies (such as heritage, dwelling, renewal, and smart cities) through case studies of Moroccan cities and a multiscalar approach.
3. Analyse how political, economic, and environmental forces shape the form and function of Moroccan urban spaces.
4. Compare diverse Moroccan cities to understand contrasts between planned and organically grown settlements, pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial legacies, and evolving governance models.
5. Reflect critically on Morocco’s urban ambitions and challenges (housing, mobility, water, landscape, cultural policy, etc.) and connect them to wider debates on sustainable urban futures.
6. Engage with expert perspectives through guest lectures and literature, developing an informed and interdisciplinary understanding of urban transformation in the Global South.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
Reading seminars
Assessment method
| Partial Assessment | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Individual essay | 60% |
| Comparative group presentation | 20% |
| Short reflective note | 20% |
Assessment remarks:
Individual essay – analytical paper connecting a Moroccan city case to a theoretical debate (≈ 1,500–2,000 words)
Comparative group presentation – group synthesis across two cities
Short reflective note – individual reflection on learning outcomes
Resit, review & feedback
If the final grade is below 5.5, the students have to revise the essay based on feedback.
If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will be organized.
Reading list
Registration
Admitted students will be enrolled for the courses by the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr by the end of August / beginning of September.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the information bar on the right.
For questions about enrolment, admission, education programmes offered by NIMAR, contact the coordinator.
Remarks
Important: this course is taught at NIMAR in Rabat, Morocco.