A ‘Time’ to Act: The 2015–20 Development Plan for Greater Casablanca

Abstract

This chapter examines conflicts of development focusing on the 2015-20 Development Plan for Casablanca, which was the subject of a broad consultation process initiated and implemented by the Wali of Casablanca, the King of Morocco's direct representative. The study highlights the competing visions, power relationships and struggles that led to the completion of a hundred or so development projects. Unlike studies on urban development in Morocco, which mainly focus on opposition and protest against development projects, or on engendered loyalties and alliances, this chapter highlights the tactical alliances and various mediations that helped define the development plan. This encourages us to understand the state not as a 'referee' but as an 'arena' . The Casablanca development project represents a period when the balance of power and the competing forces at work in Morocco-the interconnected relations of state and society-could be brought up to date.