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This research examines the strategic role of marketing-oriented urban planning and design in enhancing the city's visual image, using Ghardaïa, a UNESCO World Heritage city in southern Algeria, as a case study. The study highlights the problem of the city's eroding visual image, which is a result of the poor integration between urban planning and city marketing. The clarity of a city's visual image generally reflects the interaction between its urban formation elements—buildings, urban blocks, and internal and external spaces—and the background of the visual scene, such as topography and climate. However, the focus of this study is on the formative structure of the city's visual image, which is the combination of physical planning elements and the natural background. This can be conceptualized as the sum of two mathematical functions influenced by a primary variable, time (t). This is not necessarily a quantitative measurement of the visual image's clarity, but rather a qualitative assessment and interpretation of this image's significance, achieved by using strategic urban planning, innovative architectural design, and an effective marketing mix.

This thesis explores the sociocultural continuity and residents’ adaptations to 21st-century conditions within a community-led housing project undertaken by the conservative Mozabite community in the M’zab Valley, Algeria. Using Ksar Tafilelt as a case study, which is a community-led housing project, the research examines the established co-production process to develop a new housing settlement that addresses the needs of the contemporary Mozabite community. It also identifies key lessons in sustainability that can be drawn from this unique and fully realised community-led housing project by examining the relationship between social behaviour and the built environment. The study methodology relies on a combination of questionnaires, interviews, a research diary, and records of physical traces. A sample of 70 residents was interviewed, and various indicators were employed to examine the different types of adaptive transformation changes needed in residents’ homes and neighbourhoods to better meet their contemporary needs. The use, organisation, and occupation of space at both the domestic scale of the house and the urban scale of the neighbourhood have been analysed. Residents’ evaluations and satisfaction with their dwellings and neighbourhoods have also been investigated and assessed in relation to various physical and non-physical features of their housing environments, with a focus on sociocultural factors. The findings of this research indicate that the sociocultural values transmitted from the indigenous Ibadi community remain deeply entrenched in the contemporary Mozabite community, significantly expressed architecturally in Ksar Tafilelt. Thus, these findings suggest that the sociocultural needs of residents must be regarded as equally important as environmental and economic factors. Furthermore, the research iii outcomes have yielded several lessons and principles that can be derived from this settlement, which may inform future housing provision and design practices in Algeria and beyond, particularly in regions with similar geo-cultural characteristics. These lessons can be summarised as highlighting the importance of involving the local community in the creation of urban dwellings to enhance living conditions, as long as the design aligns with their sociocultural and religious beliefs. Additionally, it is crucial to consider the role of sociocultural factors in fostering a more socially and culturally sustainable built environment.

The ksour of the M’Zab Valley, located in southern Algeria, were founded in 1101 by the Mozabites. These fortified villages, in their original configuration, incorporate exemplary architectural and urban planning elements, promoting sustainable habitation that is perfectly adapted to the Saharan context while reflecting local cultural identity. In recognition of their outstanding universal value, UNESCO introduced specific preservation and protection measures as early as 1982. Architect André Ravéreau described this valley as a true “lesson in urban planning”, highlighting a remarkable balance between functionality, sustainability, and respect for the Saharan ecosystem. However, the recent urbanisation transformations in the M’Zab Valley, which are the subject of my doctoral thesis, reveal significant changes. New development projects, located outside the walls surrounding the ksour, are multiplying to meet a growing demand for housing. Although necessary, these interventions create a rupture with the urban landscape and the Saharan architectural identity. A chronological analysis of architectural samples makes it possible to trace the elements that have been abandoned, reproduced, or transformed over time, while questioning how these developments reflect Saharan identity and impact the built heritage.

Cette proposition a pour cadre géographique la vallée du M’Zab, au Sahara algérien, occupée initialement par les Mozabites. La région est connue pour ses ksour historiques, au caractère architectural et paysager exceptionnel, ainsi que par des institutions propres, promouvant une auto-organisation multiséculaire et une forte solidarité sociale, qui ont joué un rôle primordial dans la survie du groupe et dans la création de « nouveaux ksour ». Les nouveaux ksour – des extensions nommées en analogie avec les ksour historiques, puisqu’ils s’en inspirent – sont des extensions urbaines dont la construction a été entreprise à partir des années 1990. L’idée était née au sein de la communauté elle-même, promue et soutenue par les notables. Il s’agissait de trouver une solution à la crise du logement aussi bien au plan quantitatif que qualitatif. La particularité de ces projets réside dans le rôle joué par la communauté et la solidarité sociale depuis la naissance de l’idée, le choix de la population, la conception des projets, la gestion du chantier, les montages financiers, jusqu’à la gestion du projet après son occupation. L’idée est donc de revenir sur la façon dont une communauté (avec ses institutions traditionnelles) a pu répondre à un besoin (le logement) qui est à la base parmi les prérogatives de l’État ? En mettant en place quels dispositifs, et en engageant quels compromis ?

The concept of citizen participation emerged towards the end of the twentieth century as part of the new democratic paradigms of the Western countries of America and Europe.  However, citizen participation is an ancient principle that has guided the political, economic and social management systems of many ancient indigenous social groups. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of citizen participation and the mechanisms implemented in the management of the environment and daily life in traditional Algerian societies, through the study of two cases: the experience of the new ksour in the M'Zab in Ghardaïa, and the project to classify the village of Ait El Kaid as a protected sector in Tizi Ouzou. The results of this study reveal the particularities of the participatory processes in each case, such as tajmaat in the Kabyle villages and twiza in the process of building the new ksour, while highlighting the similarities and differences specific to each.

The human settlement of M'zab is a traditional habitat located in the Sa-hara of Algeria; it considered by its richness in bioclimatic elements and distinguished by a typological variety. This study aims to discover the traditional habitat in the Sahara of Algeria, by shedding light on the con-structive richness in the habitat of M'zab according to its natural context. We used an analytical approach to examine the fundamental aspects: the natural context, the morphology, housing and the construction. To carry out this study, we carried out numerous field visits, including taking pho-tographs, direct surveys and in-depth discussions with specialists. These initiatives have enriched our understanding of the specificities of the habitat studied. The habitat of M'zab opened the doors to the discovery of traditional habitat in Algeria, which harmonizes perfectly with its cli-matic and natural environment. In addition, it allowed us to understand in more depth the intervention strategies in the heritage areas of the Sa-hara, while drawing valuable lessons from the past.

تتميّز المدن العتيقة في وادي مزاب بنمطها العمراني والمعماري الإسلامي المتميز من حيث وحدتها المتجانسة وتخطيطها المحكم، فكل مدينة قد بنيت على أعلى قمة الجبل لغرض دفاعي محض، يتوسطها المسجد الذي تعلوه مئذنة هرمية الشكل وتلتف حوله منازل تتخللها أزقة ضيقة وملتوية مشكلة بذلك حلقات دائرية حول المسجد، وفي سفح المدينة ساحة السوق للتعاملات التجارية، وكل مدينة محاطة بسور دفاعي تتخللها أبراج للمراقبة تمّ تصميمها وتخطيطها بهذا الوضع للحصانة الدفاعية وأن تكون في مأمن من سيلان الوادي وأن تحافظ على الأراضي الزراعية القليلة، وإنّ القيم الدّينية والفكرية، والطبيعة المناخية والجغرافية التي تتميّز بها منطقة سهل وادي مزاب لها تأثير كبير في تشكّل النسيج العمراني للمنطقة وفي التّصاميم المعماريّة المكوّنة له. العمارة بوادي مزاب تتميّز بعدة خصائص، المتانة والجمال والوظيفية والبساطة والاقتصاد في الوسائل، فليست هناك مدنا مشيّدة بل هناك نظم وأعراف تتّبع وتطبّق، قائمة على التّدرّج في تقسيم المجالات حسب أصنافها وعلى حسب الهيكلة الاجتماعية المتشبّعة بالفكر الإباضي الذي يعتمد أساسا على مبادئ وقيم الدين الإسلامي الحنيف. The ancient cities of valley M’zab are characterized by their distinctive Islamic urban and architectural style in terms of their homogeneous unity and tight planning., Every city has been built on top of the mountain for a purely defensive purpose, The mosque, which is surmounted by a pyramidal minaret, is surrounded by houses with narrow and twisted alleys, creating circular circles around the mosque, And at the foot of the city is the market square for business transactions, Each city is surrounded by a defensive fence interspersed with observation towers designed and planned in this situation for defensive immunity, safe from the flow of the valley and maintaining few agricultural land, Religious and intellectual values, The climatic and geographical nature of the valley M’zab plain area has a significant impact on the composition of the urban fabric of the area and in its architectural designs. Architecture in the M’zab Valley has several characteristics, Durability, beauty, functionality, simplicity and economy in means, There are no cities built, but there are systems and customs that follow and apply, Based on the gradual division of areas by their types and on the social structure saturated with ibadite thought, which is based mainly on the principles and values of the Islamic religion.

The M’Zab valley (Algeria) is known for its historic ksours which are of exceptional architectural and landscape character, a heritage that has maintained its integrity and homogeneity for centuries through the establishment of a construction ʻorf. A set of rules have been developped over time and accrued experience in the architectural design of Ksours. This ʻorf relies in its application on an institution termed the oumanas. This institution ensures its transmission, evolution and its application in the field. This paper presents this institution, its organization, its financing, and its role in the management of traditional building in the M’Zab area.

The human settlement can be considered as a specific historical creation; it has not always existed however appeared at a certain moment in the societies evolution, and can disappear, or be radically changed at another moment. The anthropology of space is interested in the representation, production and social use of human space, just like the cognitive sciences. In this regard, we attempt over this study to analyze the anthropology of Saharan human settlement (The city of Ghardaïa). The results reveal that social ties and human needs are determining factors in the morphology of Saharan human settlements.