Created millennia ago, the imperial city of Fes in Northern Morocco has an invaluable tourist potential. Indeed, what a pleasure it is to walk through the alleys of Fes and follow the life of its 70,000 inhabitants through the open shops offering all kinds of displays. These assets for tourism, being entirely pedestrian, can however cause longer-term problems for its restoration and maintenance.
Spread over 250 hectares and dating back several centuries, the maintenance of these buildings with their Arab-Andalusian architecture faces certain difficulties in staying in good condition. The costs involved in renovation are not in line with the limited means of the inhabitants. Especially since most of these houses are occupied by several families and rented out rather than owner-occupied, in the form of rental.
Fes el Bali and Fes El Jdid, two opposites for a single historic city
The city of Fes is therefore launching projects to combine the history and charm of this medina with a normal life for people of the 21st century. For these reasons, local officials must manage to combine practical life and professional life. The medina of Fes is impenetrable by car, and parking can only be done outside: what means of transport can be invented?
The new city, also called Fes El Jdid, must help transfer part of its inhabitants by offering work within its very alleys, along with all the daily life of a Morocco fully rooted in the 21st century. Issues such as parking, the telephone network, the antennas of Fes’s administrations, and restoration must be addressed so that this medina retains its life, culture and architecture in good condition.
The Moroccan administration is not sitting idle, as it observes initiatives around the world—take the example of Cordoba, which has built underground parking to allow residents to move around, work and live in the medina. Another interesting example is Medellín, which installed a cable car between its new city and its old town.
The future will be bright for Fes, provided it keeps pace with modern comfort so that this magnificent story can continue to be written;
Riad Jamaï
