Experiments on Urban Continuity through Collective Urban Housing: The Case of Oran in the 1930s

This study hypothesises that interwar collective housing complexes in North African cities generated urban continuity through morphological adaptation rather than formal planning. De signed at the block scale, these ensembles integrated housing, commerce, and leisure while articu lating transitional spaces—passages, courtyards, and inner streets. Combining archival research, field observation, and morphological modeling, the analysis reveals how these projects reconfig ured density and permeability to sustain urban coherence. Their success derived from a design phi losophy that transformed ordinary constraints into spatial richness, offering valuable insights for contemporary debates on housing, mixed-use development, and the regeneration of historic urban fabrics.