The argan: social urban development

Located on the outskirts of Agadir, the city of Anza, an old industrial city, offers an opportunity to rethink the relationship between its economy, its organization, and its insertion in the landscape. Starting from an anarchic development on its littoral zone and a more industrial development in its upper zone.

The idea starts from using and valuing the Argan tree for three reasons: its great adaptability (resistance to drought and generator of ecosystems), to give visibility to the traditional work of women in the collection and production of Argan oil.

The urban development of the city we imagine it as a system of "archipelagos", several "urban islands", each of them with their own identity will be connected through a productive belt (the buffer) and a park for recreation and leisure. This system will bring as consequence countless interactions that will boost the experiences in Anza.

At the urban level, after the study and identification of the different urban typologies, different solutions are established to densify between the limits, establishing the Argan crop as an ecological-productive buffer. Generating a strip that marks a limit to the urban and slows desertification.

1. Connect the settlements of the mountain and the coastal developments using the old cement factory as a cultural center associated with the knowledge, study and research of the argan tree.

The open spaces generated around the factory will be social interaction point of the community.

2. Restoration of old quarries becoming in agricultural research centers around the Argan.

Experimental centers focused on local practice and the management of water resources.

3. Create a structure for urban development

Understanding the function of each urban typology, we established flexible intervention parameters for its densification without negatively influencing the public space.

4. Argan as buffer, ecological and productive connector.

Its densification will produce economic resources and will also help to combat desertification being a great tool for local climate control.

5. Management of water resources

A network of Phyto Purification channels will filter the gray water produced by the urban islands. The filtered water will be used in agricultural crops and in urban areas. Some underground tanks will collect the water and redistribute it through the different zones.