Displaced but happy? Making sense of shantytown dwellers’ divergent views and experiences of resettlement in Casablanca

Beier, Raffael

doi:10.1080/13604813.2023.2213462

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…However, in many urban contexts, the difference between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ urban space has been the cause of long‐lasting stigmatization and idealization, constructing the ‘informal’ city as the antithesis of the dignified, modern and orderly ‘formal’ city (Fischer, 2014; Valladares, 2019)—a hyperbolic difference that exists in people's heads rather than in the ‘real’ world (Cavalcanti, 2014; Koster and Nuijten, 2016; Meth, 2020). Consequently, for both the state and residents, formalization may not primarily represent a question of titles—keeping in mind that inhabitants of informal settlements do not necessarily feel insecurity of tenure (Payne et al ., 2009; van Gelder, 2010; Beier, 2019: 143); instead, it represents the symbolism which is strongly connected to visual aspects of stylized images of (in)formality ( cf . Kamalipour and Dovey, 2019).…”

Section: Grey Spaces and The Promise Of ‘Whitening’ In Housing Progra...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…‘I am seventeen years old’, said a female interviewed in the bidonville Er‐Rhamna in December 2016; ‘since my birth, I have heard that we are going to be moved in the next months’ 2 . Alongside people's suffering from the daily stigmatization and derogatory public discourse, this rumour‐led uncertainty further prevented residents from investing in their houses and kept people ever‐hopeful about state‐led housing initiatives (Beier, 2019).…”

Section: Dreams Of Formalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2004, King Mohammed VI started a new nationwide programme with the objective of eradicating all the bidonvilles in Morocco. Following the King's political speeches, the Villes Sans Bidonvilles (VSB, Cities Without Shantytowns) programme aims to restore an urban order that corresponds with globally circulating visions of urban modernity (Bogaert, 2018; Beier, 2019; Harroud, 2019). Likewise, the VSB programme presents a neoliberal strategy to integrate residents into market‐based modes of governance, largely based on home ownership and property titles.…”

Section: Dreams Of Formalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To improve the affordability of the sites‐and‐services project, to minimize public expenditure and resistance, and to speed up clearance of the bidonvilles , the authorities introduced the third‐party system in Casablanca's larger bidonvilles (Zaki, 2013; Toutain, 2014; 2016). However, while private sector influence has increased over time, the disparaging homogenization of heterogeneous bidonville communities and their living conditions has not changed (Beier, 2019). Likewise, the third‐party system continues to offer privately financed one‐size‐fits‐all housing solutions to bidonville dwellers, despite being built on a complex multi‐stakeholder network of central and local state actors comprising semi‐public implementers, private third‐party investors, and the allottees (Table 1).…”

Section: Techniques Of Whitening: the Third‐party Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The article builds on different periods of field research in Casablanca, the economic centre of Morocco, between March 2015 and July 2019. This also builds the foundation for related research (Beier, 2019;2020a;2020b). Research methods included 870 questionnaire-based interviews with resettled inhabitants and bidonville dwellers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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FROM VISIBLE INFORMALITY TO SPLINTERED INFORMALITIES: Reflections on the Production of ‘Formality’ in a Moroccan Housing Programme

Beier¹

2021

Int J Urban Regional Res

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Increasingly, scholarly works challenge the formal/informal dichotomy, stressing the multiple political practices of producing informality which go beyond state incapacity. In contrast, this article addresses a lack of research concerning the production of 'formal' urban space through state-led housing programmes. Deconstructing simplistic notions of state intentionality and incapacity, the article zooms in on competing interests and diverse resources, as well as the shifting power relations between multiple private, semi-public and public actors which shape the production of 'formality'. Focusing on a shantytown resettlement programme in Casablanca, the article differentiates between visible informality and splintered informalities. The former relates to the prevailing clear-cut and stereotypical dichotomy between formal and informal urban space which underpins the state's objective of eliminating the visible informality attached to Morocco's shantytowns. The latter is the result of a messy process of ensuring housing affordability through the so-called third-party scheme--a sites-and-services project based on small-scale private investment and land speculation--once this objective is achieved. Characterized by heterogeneous actor constellations, opportunism and flexible regulatory practices, the scheme has not only capitalized but also individualized urban space. Instead of building new formal housing, the scheme has produced splintered informalities and created new uncertainties and arbitrariness beyond the control of a single actor.

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Section: Grey Spaces and The Promise Of ‘Whitening’ In Housing Progra...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dreams Of Formalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dreams Of Formalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Techniques Of Whitening: the Third‐party Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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FROM VISIBLE INFORMALITY TO SPLINTERED INFORMALITIES: Reflections on the Production of ‘Formality’ in a Moroccan Housing Programme

Beier¹

2021

Int J Urban Regional Res

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The End of Inclusive Resettlement: Experiencing Unaffordability within State Housing Programmes in Salé, Morocco

Beier

2024

Urban Forum

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Since the early 2000s, Morocco’s government is running the Villes Sans Bidonville programme (VSBP) as a literal reference to international policy claims for Cities Without Slums. Initially and in contrast to past, unsuccessful attempts to eradicate the country’s bidonvilles, more inclusive resettlement schemes – participatory and affordable for all – should help to avoid that residents resell resettlement housing and move back to bidonvilles. However, this article shows that with the advancement of VSBP, more recent resettlement has become authoritarian, exclusionary, and unaffordable again. Large numbers of low-income households of one of Rabat/Salé’s last bidonvilles are effectively excluded from accessing resettlement housing, because they cannot afford the construction of a house on their assigned resettlement plot. For many, reselling their plot is the only option to access alternative housing after displacement. Building on narrative and biographic interviews with displaced former bidonville residents who are not living at the resettlement site, this article looks at how displaced bidonville dwellers cope with housing unaffordability. Where do people move why if affordable informal housing is demolished and state-subsidised alternatives are inaccessible? The results show how unaffordable resettlement schemes divide established bidonville communities, leaving the most vulnerable residents behind. Furthermore, they highlight people’s severe constraints, struggles, and uncertainties in seeking to achieve decent residential stability outside stressful rental accommodation.

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Special Feature: Putting urban displacement in its place

Watt,

Morris

2024

City

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Displaced but happy? Making sense of shantytown dwellers’ divergent views and experiences of resettlement in Casablanca

Cited by 6 publications

References 38 publications

FROM VISIBLE INFORMALITY TO SPLINTERED INFORMALITIES: Reflections on the Production of ‘Formality’ in a Moroccan Housing Programme

FROM VISIBLE INFORMALITY TO SPLINTERED INFORMALITIES: Reflections on the Production of ‘Formality’ in a Moroccan Housing Programme

The End of Inclusive Resettlement: Experiencing Unaffordability within State Housing Programmes in Salé, Morocco

Special Feature: Putting urban displacement in its place

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