Building Biographies: Housing in Algiers and Marseille

Comparative Study

Housing is a topic that affects us all, and one of the pressing concerns of contemporary society. As more and more people live in cities, the question of decent dwellings in urban places is ever more fraught. The quality of urban accommodation is shaped in the coming together of social, cultural and economic values in relations within and beyond the household: with neighbours, landlords, local public services, private actors, national bodies, national and international norms, rules and regulations. How urban dwellings are built, cared for, and used reflects past development, present negotiations and future plans for the city. In short, residential buildings in cities are a topic of societal interest, and a rich entry point where to explore the complexity of urban change across time and space.

As part of a larger study to explore urban transformations around the Mediterranean, this project brings together the photographer Abid Abidat and the architect Anys Merhoum to investigate together with the AGYA project partners Dr. Claire Bullen and Prof. Dr. Lilia Makhloufi the social live of housing in the central Algiers (Algeria) and Marseille (France).

One of the interesting results of this comparative approach is that, as you place photos, interview data and archives side by side, you are always forced to question your assumptions of what and where is north and south and what is a European or Algerian way of living.

Claire Bullen, AGYA member

In both cities, two residential buildings have been selected for investigation, due to their urban and sociological interests. In Marseille, the buildings are located along Boulevard National, a two-kilometre artery that joins the central train station to the city docks. In Algiers, the focus is on residential buildings along Rue Hassiba Ben Bouali (ex-Boulevard Sadi Carnot). Both streets were laid out during the colonial era and have undergone modification in the wake of wars, decolonisation, and the reorganisation of the political economy around the region.

The story of buildings

Combining ethnographic interviews and observation, archival research, cartography and photography, the team brings their diverse perspectives to shed light upon the stories of the buildings, the lives of their inhabitants, and how these are embedded both within the urban fabric and wider social connections.

The first goal of the project is to bring to the fore the different actors, processes and forces affecting the meanings and values of these buildings, and diverse modes of living. As the project develops, the challenge will be to think comparatively between and across the two cities, to make more visible some of the similarities and variations affecting urban life in these cities.