Author's Note: I wish to thank the Social Science Research Council for making it possible to return to Tunisia in 1974 and 1976 in order to bring material collected during previous visits up to date. An earlier version of this study under the title ‘Medina of Tunis: Victim of Urbanization and Obstacle to Urban Planning,’ was presented at the Middle East Studies Association meeting in 1975.

¹ Association Sauvegarde, de la Médina, ‘Rapport de synthèse’ (Tunis, 02 1974), p. 28, mimeographed.Google Scholar

² This architectural patrimony has been fully documented by Jacques, Revault, Palais et demeures de Tunis (Vol. 1,16ème et 17ème siècles; Vol. II, 18ème et I9ème siècles) (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1967 and 1970.)Google Scholar

³ Christopher, Alexander, ‘A City Is Not a Tree,’ Architectural Forum, 122, 1 (04 1965), 58.Google Scholar

⁴ Roberto, Berardi, ‘Lecture d'une ville: La médina de Tunis,’ L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui 153 (12. 1970–01. 1971), 38. My translation.Google Scholar

⁵ The 1975 figures are drawn from preparatory unreleased studies done by the District of Tunis. Those for 1966 are the ones used by the Association Sauvegarde de la Médina for the reports cited in note 31.

⁶ The annual growth of Tunis from 1956 to 1966 averaged 5–6 percent versus a high of 3.5 percent for any other important city. Provisional 1975 census figures are showing a decreased rate of growth for the capital which can only be explained by increasing immigration directly to Europe. The former director of Aménagement du Territoire (the national regional planning board) estimates that at least 30 percent of the population of Greater Tunis is housed extralegally. According to the District of Tunis at least that percentage of the city's housing stock is in very poor repair with some 22,000 lodgings in the medina alone needing major repairs and another 5,000 facing certain demolition within a decade.

⁷ Jallal, El Kafi, ‘Croissance urbaine et modèles de croissance: la ville de Tunis, 1881–1970’ (Tunis: ASM, 05 1970), p. 6,Google Scholar mimeographed. El Kafi's figures are taken from Jean, PoncetLa colonisation et l'agriculture européennes en Tunisie depuis 1881 (Paris, Mouton, 1962).Google Scholar

⁸ Ibid., p. 23, quoting the architect and planner Bernard Zehrfuss.

⁹ Michel, Callens, ‘L'hébergement traditionnel à Tunis,’ Cahiers de Tunisie, 10 (1955), 165–179.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Jean, Poncet, ‘Syncrétisme urbain en Tunisie,’ in Les influences occidentales dans les villes maghrebines à l'époque contemporaine, études mediterranéennes, a (Aix-en-Provence: Centre de Recherches et d'Etudes sur les Sociétés Mediterranéennes, 1974), pp. 237–246.Google Scholar

¹¹ Ibid., p. 238. My translation.

¹² Ibid., p. 249. See also Charles Micaud, A., ed., Tunisia: The Politics of Modernization (New York: Praeger, 1964), pp. 140–167.Google Scholar

¹³ Pierre, George, La Ville (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1952).Google Scholar

¹⁴ The actual destruction of the inner walls around the central medina was achieved well before 1881. The land gained was subsequently made into circular boulevards. The outer fortifications, belatedly built to circumscribe the two faubourgs, were fully demolished only after independence and these too were replaced by wide boulevards. The city of Aix-en-Provence has undergone the same sort of modification with the circular boulevards forced to assume the full burden of traffic seeking access to the old city from the modern quarters and the suburbs.

¹⁵ Paul, Chemetov's report on architecture in Mise en valeur du patrimoine monumental de la région Tunis–Carthage en vue du développement economique, no. 1595 (Paris: UNESCO, 11 1969), p. 161.Google Scholar

¹⁶ ‘Schulze-Fielitz evolved the idea of a variable internally ‘mobile’ system of town planning, which within and together with the spatial grid could grow or vanish in accordance with the needs of the population. Yona Friedman projected such space cities into the air above the old, no longer functioning settlements’ (Conrad, Ulrichs, ed., Programs and Manzfestoes on Twentieth Century Architecture [Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1970], p. 175).Google Scholar

¹⁷ Published in Udo Kultermann, New Directions in African Architecture (New York: George Braziller, 1969), p. 94.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Even the troglodytes of the Matmatas in southern Tunisia open large communal courtyards to the sky. Construction of extra rooms in the courtyards of medina residences is one of the main causes of unhealthy conditions in these buildings.

¹⁹ Interviews with M. Amodei, originally an urban planner with Quaroni di Carlo and now with the District of Tunis, are the source for the ‘Italian’ period in Tunisian city planning.

²⁰ El Kafi, ‘Croissance urbaine,’ spells out the argument in full detail.

²¹ An oukala is a traditional rooming house. The term oukalisé is now used to describe residences that are rented out room by room to family units having no relationship to one another. This is true of the majority of medina properties.

²² Association Sauvegarde de la Médina, ‘Rapport de synthèse,’ p. 20.

²³ Hédi, Eckert, ‘Lea populations du Grand Tunis’ (Tunis: ASM/PTC, 11. 1970),Google Scholar mimeographed. Also, Eckert, and El, Kafi, ‘L'espace traditionnel de la ville de Tunis: La médina et lea deux rbat: faubourg ou gourbiville?’ in Les influences occidentales, pp. 211–235.Google Scholar

²⁴ Hédi, Eckert, ‘La médina de Tunis: faubourg ou gourbiville?’ (Tunis: ASM, 05 1970), mimeographed. This study and El Kafi's ‘Croissance urbaine’ were presented at a colloquium at Ax-en-Provence in May 1970. All papers presented were subsequently published in summary form in Les influences occidentales.Google Scholar

²⁵ Mise en valeur du patrimoine monumental.

²⁶ Ellen, C. Micaud, ‘Belated Urban Planning in Tunis: Problems and Prospects,’ Human Organization, 33 (Summer 1974), 130.Google Scholar

²⁷ This is best left untranslated. de Francesca's, R. report on tourism in Mise en valeur du patrimoine monumental, p. 84.Google Scholar

²⁸ Eckert, , ‘Les populations,’ p. 8. Figures now available from the 1975 census indicate no change for the better.Google Scholar

²⁹ The new ‘low-cost’ apartments in Hafsia I require monthly payments from 80–90 dinars making purchase price, including interest, close to the cost of an American tract house in 1970. (A dinar's worth hovers around $2.00). The architect attributes the cost overrun to chronic confusion on construction sites and to overly conservative building codes requiring in this case that all bearing walls be reinforced concrete.

³⁰ The Cafe M'rabet, Souk et Trouk, Passage des Oukalas, and areas leading toward the Place du Présidence. M. Revault was very satisfied with this restoration campaign which was carried out without any publicity or unusual funding.

³¹ These are: ‘Rapport de synthèse;’ ‘Note de synthèse et planning de travail’; ‘Protection du patrimoine monumental’ (Dossier 1); ‘Mise en valeur des monuments historiques’ (Dossier 2); ‘Patrirnoine immobilier’ (Dossier 3); ‘Hypothèse de financement’ (Dossier 4); ‘Activités opérationnelles de l'ASM’ (Dossier 5); ‘Réhabilitation de l'Ilot III E-50’ (Dossier 6); ‘Artisanat: Propositions de développement’ (Dossier 7); ‘Commerce: Principes d'une politique commerciale’ (Dossier 8). Together these constitute a complete ‘plan de sauvegarde’ for the quarter issued by ASM in June 1974. By mid-1976 this plan had not yet met the acceptance of the authorities. The nature of the difficulties can be discerned in a paper presented in Tunis at a seminar on the preservation and rehabilitation of historic cities by Daoulatli, M., ‘Principes pour une politique operationnelle’ (Tunis, ASM, 04 1976), mimeographed.Google Scholar

³² ASM, Dossier 6, and Rapport de synthèse. Figures for rents were furnished by the District of Tunis.

³³ For example, a proposal to create an agency for the revalorization of historical monuments which is based on a nuanced rezoning of the whole medina (Dossier 2, Annexe).

³⁴ Dossiers 5 and 6 make the method clear.

³⁵ Hassan, Fathy'sConstruire avec le Peuple (Paris: La Bibliothéque Arabe, Editions Jérôme Martineau, 1970),Google Scholar originally published in English under the title Gourna: A Tale of Two Villages (Cairo, 1969),Google Scholar has had considerable influence on recent planning theory as have the studies of John Turner on the squatter settlements of South America. While Fathy's book had an aesthetic impact, Turner's studies have led to a radical reevaluation of savage urbanism: (John) Turner, F. C., Housing by People: Toward Autonomy in Building Environments (London: Calder & Boyars Ltd., 1976);Google Scholar also John, F. C. Turner with Robert, Fichter, eds., Freedom to Build (New York: Macmillan, 1972).Google Scholar

³⁶ This term seems to have been coined by Jacques, Berque in ‘Médinas, villeneuves et gourbivilles,’Cahiers de Tunisie, 21–22 (1958), 40.Google Scholar

³⁷ Construction workers' pay doubled from January 1973 to January 1975, while in the same period most construction materials only went up about 50 percent in price. Source, data furnished by the Société Nationale d'Investissement Tunisienne.

³⁸ ASM, Dossier 6. Also Pierre, Bonte and Mohamed, El Bahi, ‘La médina de Tunis: mise en valeur et réhabilitation,’ Tunis, ASM, 04 1976, mimeographed. This ilot is not only within the former ghetto, but is more recently remembered as being a quartier reservé. It now serves as a relocation area for those hoping for access to public housing.Google Scholar

³⁹ Direction, de l'Arnénagement du Territoire, Tunis 72–76: composantes actuelles et object ifs quadriennaux d'aménagement (Tunis: Ministère de 1'économie Nationale, 10 1972). This excellent study makes no specific mention of the medina but groups the traditional and ex-colonial centers together as overly burdened with population and multiple functions.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Pierre, Bourdieu, ‘The Algerian Subproletariat,’ in Zartman, I. William, ed. Man, State and Society in the Contemporary Maghrib (New York: Praeger, 1973). Pp. 83–92.Google Scholar

⁴¹ ASM, Dossier 6, p. 9.