Oran 1732-1912

Foreword 13 Acknowledgements 19 Introduction The research objective 21 Theoretical and methodological framework 23 Part One: Oran as a model of a Western city. A prelude to urban modernity, 1732–1792 Chapter 1: The physical aspects of the urban site 35 The dominant features of the topography 35 The site and its urban development 39 Chapter 2: The urban structure 45 The urban fabric within the city walls 45 The districts outside the city walls 50 Elements of the urban structure 51 Major urban developments 54 Chapter 3: Oran, a Mediterranean port 73 An Andalusian maritime stronghold until 1509 73 A flashpoint in the Spanish-Ottoman conflict 74 The port of Oran, a major trading centre in the Mediterranean 75 Major port works 79 Conclusion to Part One 82 Part Two: Reconquest and repopulation from 1792 onwards Chapter 4: Origin and formation of the new settlement 87 The political context of the reconquest of Oran by the Algerian-Ottomans 87 The repopulation policy 90 Origins of the influx of people 93 Chapter 5: The new legal status of land and property 99 The city’s status in the aftermath of the reconquest 99 Forms of urban land acquisition 101 Chapter 6: Bey Mohamed-el-Kébir: conqueror and urban planner 113 The urban landscape on the eve of the 1790 earthquake 113 The difficult conditions of settlement 115 The need to create a ‘New Town’ (1792) 117 Chapter 7: The reconstruction of the c

Adopting a political sociology of the urban phenomenon, this study analyses the Algerian city by using Oran as both a primary subject and an analytical category. This approach necessitates an investigation into how urban policies are articulated and identifies the various political actors, whether collective or individual, institutional or informal, operating within the historical field of urban action. The city’s spatial reconfigurations and landscape transformations are examined through three distinct periods of planning and resettlement policy, spanning a period (in the Braudelian sense of the term) of over two centuries (1732–1912), the analysis moves through three successive historical sequences: Spanish, Ottoman, and French.