Villes marocaines et migrations
Swiss partners
- Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne EPFL: Jerôme Chenal (main applicant), Salifou Ndam, Jean-Claude Baraka Munyaka
Partners in the MENA region
- Université Internationale de Rabat, Morocco: Nawal Benabdallah (main applicant), Mariame Chahbi, Youssef El Ganadi, Zineb Himeur, Lamiae Moujoud
Presentation of the project
The research project “Villes Marocaines et Migrations - VMM” constitutes a collaboration between the Urban and regional planning community of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (CEAT-ENAC-EPFL) and the African Cities in Transition research team of the Center For Global Studies from the International University of Rabat (ACT-CGS-UIR). This interdisciplinary initiative aims to understand the complex dynamics of urban migration, showing the shared commitment of both institution to collaborate in order to solve global challenges.
The project is based on a holistic approach, integrateing various disciplines such as geography, urbanism, sociology, economics and political sciences. It explores interactions between urbanisation and urban migration flows in Africa. By encouraging dialogue and collaboration between researchers, the project aims to analyse the strategies of stakeholders, particularly the way migrants make the space their own, their responses to urban governance and their spatial integration strategies.
Supported by the HES-SO and the MESRI, this research and cooperation project tackles a major challenge: the lack of integrated data on migration and urbanisation. Although the relationship between these phenomena is well-established, data sources combining these two crucial elements are scarce. This data gap bars cities to manage efficiently migration flows, especially external migration flows.
The short and long term objective is to give local authorities necessary information to estimate the needs and expectation of migrant populations. Furthermore, this data will allow various organisations to evaluate the progress made in complying with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) related to cities and migration. By filling this information gap, the “Villes Marocaines et Migrations” project aims to contribute significantly to a better understanding and management of urban challenges related to migration, while reinforcing international relations and improving local and global relations.
Article published in Afrique(s) en Mouvement (2024)