Casablanca Between Land Speculation and Heritage Preservation: Issues of an Urbanization Under Tension

This article investigates the interplay between land speculation and heritage preservation in Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital, where urbanisation has long been driven by speculative logics. From the colonial period to the present, rising land values, regulatory loopholes, and real estate-led redevelopment have profoundly reshaped the city’s central districts, notably Sidi Belyout and Anfa. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach—ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews, spatial and archival analysis, and land price data from 2015–2024—the study reveals how speculative practices exert increasing pressure on built heritage. Anchored in critical urban theory (Harvey, Lefebvre, Smith), the research highlights that patrimonial mechanisms (Davallon, 2023), while formally acknowledged, are often fragmented, selectively applied, and subordinated to short-term market interests. As a result, heritage is less a safeguard of architectural memory than a vehicle for capital accumulation and symbolic revalorisation. The findings underscore a structural tension between urban development and preservation, questioning the capacity of regulatory frameworks to mediate between economic imperatives and cultural values. The article calls for stronger institutional coordination and renewed reflection on the political economy of heritage in rapidly transforming cities of the Global South.