De l’îlot à la barre Configuration spatiale de l’ensemble d’habitat urbain Alger, le Champ de manoeuvres (1928 / 1958)

Abstract

The industrial revolution introduced significant changes at the city and housing level. These sudden and rapid transformations affected society, city and housing since the 19th century in the West. And it is during the first half of the 20th century that the urban housing block is introduced there. Two major types of housing have contributed to the evolution of “Les grands ensembles” (large housing blocks) to its current form: The HBM (cheap housing) and the HLM (low-income housing). While the HBM marked the institutionalization of housing and the beginning of social housing, it is the building’s industrialization and the need to accommodate a growing urban population that contributed to the implementation of the “grand ensemble” large housing block. In the 1970s, in Europe, the housing crisis and the calling into question of the “Grands ensembles” large housing blocks lead the reflection towards the research of new forms of housing development. Indeed, the urban housing issue raises many questions. Algeria, which was under French colonization between 1830 and 1962, inherited an important built heritage of that period. In Algiers, this built heritage includes sets of housing blocks built between 1926 and 1959. Moreover, housing developments invested throughout the territory of independent Algeria are often Western-inspired projects, even though; these housing blocks have been the subject of numerous researches that have raised their inability to adjust to the needs of their occupants. The main objective of this research is the understanding of the urban housing blocks of the colonial era through the study of its spatial patterns and its appropriation potentials. Our site is located in the neighbourhood of “Champs de manoeuvres” which consists of the housing blocks: the HBM and HLM groups. The urban housing block is a complex object of research, that’s why for its study we use a combination of approaches: a systemic structure of knowledge and morphological tools. We believe the results of this research will contribute to the knowledge of the housing blocks of the colonial era in Algiers. This knowledge is a prerequisite for any intervention on existing housing buildings. Thus, our research aims at participating in the development of conceptual bases of housing blocks in Algeria.