21st Century (2000–present)

Rabat Bouregreg Valley Development

2006– · Morocco · North Africa · Post-industrial regeneration and waterfront urbanism · Planned by Agence pour l’Aménagement de la Vallée du Bouregreg
Structure diagrams for the Bouregreg Valley plan between Rabat and Salé: soft-mobility, green, blue, programmatic and urbanisation frameworks.
Structure diagrams for the Bouregreg Valley plan between Rabat and Salé: soft-mobility, green, blue, programmatic and urbanisation frameworks. · © JNC International — used with credit · JNC International (landscape and urban planners for the Bouregreg Valley development)

Core idea

Twin-city riverfront redevelopment

Why it matters

Integrates heritage and new infrastructure

Description

A programme launched in 2006 under a dedicated state agency, the Agence pour l'Aménagement de la Vallée du Bouregreg, to redevelop the Bouregreg river valley between the twin cities of Rabat and Salé in Morocco. Sequenced phases introduced the Bab Al Bahr quarter at the river mouth, a marina, a tramway linking the two cities, and later cultural landmarks including the Zaha Hadid-designed Grand Theatre, while engaging with the valley's ecological setting and the adjacent historic medinas and Kasbah of the Udayas.

Significance

The Bouregreg project is a leading North African example of state-driven riverfront regeneration, combining royal patronage, a special-purpose agency and international designers to reposition the Rabat-Salé conurbation. It is cited in debates on heritage-sensitive modernisation in Maghreb capitals and on the governance of exceptional planning regimes that bypass ordinary municipal control.

What shaped it

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.