Casablanca developed from 1917 under the authority of Henri Prost, Director of the special architecture service from 1917 to 1922. He designed the first extensions of the city and transformed the small fishing village into a large economic and industrial center that responded to France's colonial ambitions.

From 20,000 inhabitants in 1900, the white city grew to 658,000 inhabitants in 1950. The Prost Plan was outdated, with the shortage of housing and the proliferation of shanty towns and unsanitary housing.

In the 1950s, urban planner Michel Ecochard was called in as reinforcement and designed a new expansion and organization plan for Casablanca, following the Prost Plan of 1915. It planned the extension of the city on the Casablanca-Mohammedia axis and gave birth to a new form of housing, in the form of an evolving individual house of 8 meters by 8. He dedicated the east of the city to industries and launched the creation of workers' cities. He imagined them as real medium-sized cities: Aïn Chock, Hay Mohammadi, Sidi Bernoussi and Sidi Othmane.

Ecochard's goal is to provide affordable housing to middle-class Moroccans and to resettle the inhabitants of sprawling shanty towns. After Independence, the experiment continued in other districts of Casablanca: Lalla Meryem, Hay Hassani, Al Qods, Sidi Moumen, Moulay Rachid, etc.

These cities are experimenting with new forms of housing designed to eliminate shanty towns.. Renowned architects imagine cities, markets, mosques, hammams… for these districts which quickly experience massive influx.

Places of architectural experimentation, these neighborhoods are also places of social, cultural, sporting and political effervescence. Let's discover them through guided group or audio-guided tours which will take us through the east of Casablanca, from Sidi Othmane to Aïn Chock.