Planning formalization and its consequences: The socioeconomic impacts of slum resettlement

This paper explores the socioeconomic consequences of slum resettlement through the resettlement of the Lebrahma slum to Al Marouwa in Casablanca, Morocco. Intended to enhance housing quality and urban order, the Villes Sans Bidonvilles program underestimated the importance of informal economies and social relations that sustained everyday life in Lebrahma. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the study shows how resettlement disrupted home-based livelihoods, weakened neighborhood solidarities, and constrained residents’ access to informal employment. These changes reveal the limitations of urban planning models that impose formal structures without engaging with the lived practices and adaptive strategies of low-income communities. The paper argues that informality should not be viewed as a problem to be eliminated, but as a dynamic system of survival and innovation that urban policy must recognize and incorporate. By centering residents’ experiences, the study highlights the need for inclusive planning approaches that build on local knowledge and strengthen, rather than displace, the socioeconomic networks that sustain urban life.