Publications /
Opinion

Back
The Case of Rabat as a Sustainable City 
November 20, 2024

This blog was originally published in the book Urban Sustainable Development: Governance, Finance, and Politics, a collaborative effort by the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) and the Rio de Janeiro City Hall. The Policy Center for the New South has contributed as a Knowledge Partner to this work.

 

I belong to a city that has been evolving positively for 20 years. Rabat has one of the world’s highest rates of green space per square meter per capita. This focus on sustainability is linked to the city’s heritage and geographical position. A forest surrounds the city, the world’s largest natural cork oak forest, which is a significant asset.

Greening cities through urban green spaces is critical, and Rabat has one of the world’s highest rates of green spaces. This has been a long tradition since the early 20th century, but it has been strengthened recently, especially with the “Rabat, City of Light, Cultural Capital” vision. Here in Rabat, there is a dialectical link between interest in history, culture, and the environment.

The environment concerns both the past and the future. Still, if we connect it to culture and root it, it gives a kind of essential legitimacy to any pro-environmental policy.

Rabat has an environmental and historical dimension, and as a capital, it promotes partnerships with other cities. Since its designation as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Heritage Site in 2012, Rabat has had a dual obligation: to safeguard its cultural heritage—Roman, Almohad, Marinid, and Alawite—and to preserve its space. Rabat has always tried to create a dialogue between the heritage of the past and the spatial determinants between geography and history.

In the Moroccan context, like other cities in developing economies, the big issue is that cities lack financial resources. Therefore, the state needs to transfer financial resources to cities. Still, it is also important to have tax reforms that provide local authorities with the resources they currently lack to introduce the sustainability factor. There needs to be mediation between state financing and city financing; otherwise, cities will remain in a state of dependence, waiting for state support for their budgetary policies.

The first challenge is that poor and developing countries do not have the means to adapt to the risks of climate change. Therefore, developed countries must transfer resources to developing countries to help them participate in the sustainability of the economy, especially since these countries are not responsible for pollution or environmental degradation. There has been an international commitment on this issue since 2015.

Additionally, the issue of slums is crucial. In a city like ours, there are two types of pollution: pollution from development (industrialization, transport, etc.) and pollution from poverty, which comes from slums and marginalized neighborhoods. Addressing sustainability means tackling both types of pollution.

RELATED CONTENT

  • March 20, 2025
    Le marché du travail marocain traverse des défis structurels majeurs, avec un taux de participation relativement faible (43,5 %) et encore plus marqué chez les femmes, dont la participation reste inférieure à 20 %. Le chômage, quant à lui, est élevé, particulièrement parmi les jeunes diplômés, atteignant 30 %, et une grande partie de l'emploi urbain se trouve dans le secteur informel, représentant entre 20 et 40 % des emplois. Ce marché est également marqué par des d ...
  • March 18, 2025
    كشفت المندوبية السامية للتخطيط في نتائج البحث الوطني الأخير حول معيشة الأسر المغربية معطيات تثير النقاش، أبرزها وضع الطبقة الوسطى التي تُعد ركيزة أساسية للاستقرار الاقتصادي والاجتماعي ومحركًا رئيسيًا للنمو. لكن هذه الطبقة تواجه اليوم تحديات غير مسبوقة، وأهمها تصاعد غلاء المعيشة. فما هو ...
  • Authors
    Mohamed Elmagbri
    March 13, 2025
    Libya faces a paradox: it has a bloated public sector employing millions, yet a crippling unemployment crisis, especially among young people. According to the Libyan Audit Bureau’s 2023 report[1], over two million people work for the government, a figure that excludes state-owned enterprises such as oil companies, banks, and utilities companies. With a total labor force of 2.5 million[2], out of every ten Libyan adults, eight are employed by the government. This massive public workf ...
  • Authors
    March 7, 2025
    Chaque jour, en moyenne, les femmes marocaines consacrent près de cinq heures à des tâches domestiques (cuisine, ménage, courses, soins aux enfants, etc.). Elles assurent plus de 90 % du temps total consacré aux tâches domestiques par l’ensemble des hommes et des femmes. Ce travail non rémunéré représente des services indispensables qui participent au bien-être matériel des personnes et des foyers sans pour autant apparaître dans la production nationale, telle que mesur ...
  • Authors
    Soukaina Raoui
    December 2, 2024
    This paper was originaly published on muse.jhu.edu   This study analyzes the influence of local labor market characteristics on student dropout pathways in Morocco. Beyond individual determinants, early school leaving may depend on dropouts’ local environment. This study mobilized original empirical material that combines individual and spatial data from Morocco’s 75 provinces. First, we conducted a cartographic analysis of 10- to 14-year-old children who left the education system ...
  • November 20, 2024
    This blog was originally published in the book Urban Sustainable Development: Governance, Finance, and Politics, a collaborative effort by the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) and the Rio de Janeiro City Hall. The Policy Center for the New South has contributed as a Knowledge Partner to this work.   I belong to a city that has been evolving positively for 20 years. Rabat has one of the world’s highest rates of green space per square meter per capita. This focus ...
  • Authors
    Zakaria Elouaourti
    Mohammed-Ali Bougzime
    November 15, 2024
    This paper was originally published on springer.com Wage subsidy policies’ impact on access to the first job is crucial for workers; however, their influence on job quality holds greater significance for society as a whole. This paper evaluates the impact of the “IDMAJ” wage subsidy program on job quality, extending beyond the traditional focus solely on job placement. Utilizing the complete database from the IDMAJ program survey conducted by the Ministry of Employment, this study ...
  • Authors
    November 12, 2024
    This paper was originally published on thebrenthurstfoundation.org   Situated at the northwest borders of the continent, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, Morocco has established itself as a stable and dynamic economy and a gateway to Africa. A part of the Maghreb and Arab world, the country has for many decades embraced a policy of economic and financial openness, aiming to integrate its economy into global markets. According to the United Nations Conference o ...
  • November 5, 2024
    في هذه الحلقة من برنامج حديث الثلاثاء، نستعرض مستجدات مشروع قانون المالية لعام 2025، الذي يأتي في ظل سياق اقتصادي أكثر إيجابية مقارنة بالسنوات الماضية، مع انخفاض معدلات التضخم واستقرار أسعار المواد الأساسية. بصحبة ضيفنا بدر الزاهر الأزرق، سنقدم قراءة تحليلية لهذا السياق وللفرضيات التي ب...
  • Authors
    November 1, 2024
    Using panel data from a large group of developing economies and a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator, we examine the effects of trade and other factors on female labor-force participation and wage employment. We focus particularly on comparing the effects of trade openness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The empirical results indicate that trade openness affects female labor-force p ...