Kenitra from the Village to the Douar: The Expansion of the Urban Environment and the Emergence of the Moroccan Proletariat (1912 - 1975)

Abstract

The contemporary history of Kenitra represents a model of Moroccan cities that underwent social transformations as a result of their reliance on market-oriented economic production. The city functioned as a host for Europeans and Moroccans alike, within which social groups of diverse backgrounds and classes coexisted. The city took shape in two distinct sections: the European quarter known as the Village, and the local quarter known as L'Mdina, with a clear disparity in housing patterns, the social composition of residents, and ways of life. The Village developed within a framework of orderly urban planning, whereas L'Mdina and its outskirts underwent gradual transformations, evolving from a local neighbourhood into something resembling a douar , a predominantly rural residential settlement. Upon independence, the outskirts became a destination for rural migrants, who settled in constantly evolving douars . This interaction between human and spatial dimensions gave rise to a proletariat that data indicates constituted a driving force behind the expansion of the city's urban fabric and a key productive force by virtue of the human resources it supplied. This proletariat later also became an important electoral reservoir for left-wing parties and trade unions. Accordingly, this study argues for approaching the monographic history of cities through an analysis that brings together their spatial and human components.