Reactions 'From Below' to Big Urban Projects: the Case of Rabat

摘要

This paper shows how Rbati civil society has decided not to accept being left behind or faced with a fait accompli in the development of urban mega-projects. The examples discussed - of the Bou Regreg Valley and Rabat Corniche - are emblematic of this new trend, leading to social movements and the birth of new rules such as negotiation and compromise, all of which were rare in the old management practices. To enforce the rights of citizens, the associations mobilized in response to these projects, have benefited from their undoubted skills in affecting a transformation of their objectives (from socio-cultural concern of proximity, to legal and environmental concerns at the national scale) and their modes of action and organization (national pleading, cooperative, group and network association).