Problems and risks

Population growth and conservation of medina houses

As most of the big Moroccan cities, Marrakesh has expanded quickly during recent years. The increase is particularly important in the case of Marrakesh because this is one of the first cities reached by the emigrants coming from the South. In 1912 at the beginning of the French protectorate, the population of the medina was about 100 000 inhabitants and presently the population reaches 300 000 inhabitants.

As extension of the build-up area inside of the medina walls is nearly impossible (no free space left and the gardens and orchards are usually protected) a densification is observed. This means that houses initially occupied by one family are transformed into houses for several families. As the standard of living decreases, the maintenance of these historic houses is not always assured. At the opposite, some houses are transformed into luxurious hotels.

In the October 14th, 2002 edition of the "eMarrakesh.info" webmagazine, we are informed that rehabilitation work of the Marrakesh sewerage would have led to the collapse of several houses in the medina. On the whole total, the number of houses which would be ruined is 37 units since the local water and electricity companies had begun the drainage works in 2000. (Click here to read the full article).

Comparison between images recorded in different seasons and with different spatial resolution

The same area recorded by SPOT2 (XS+P) of SpotImage (09/19/1991) and by QuickBird2 (XS+P) of DigitalGlobe (04/21/2002) is showed in false colour composite (vegetation is displayed in red).

You can click on the number in the image above for further explanations.