The Built Environment of Historic Islamic Cities: Fez

The historic city of Fez, (Fès, Arabic Madinat Fas), was the first city in Morocco to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site (in 1981). It was built in 789 by Idris I on the right bank of the Oued Fez to be his dynastic capital and replace Walila (Roman Volubilis). Twenty years later (808), his son, Idris II, built al-‘Aliya (The Sublime) on the opposite side of the river to serve as seat of his government. The rise to power of the Almoravids marks a turning point in the urban history of Fez; in 1070, Yusuf Ibn Tashufin leveled the ramparts that used to divide the rival towns and united them with a single set of fortifications. These fortifications would be razed again in 1145 and built anew by the Almohad al-Nasir (1212) using cob work (Arabic tabiyya); the ramparts enclosing Fez today date to this period. Under the Marinid dynasty (1244–1465), Fez witnessed a period of unprecedented urban, economic, and intellectual growth. It reclaimed its former status as dynastic capital. The Marinids built al-Madina al-Bayda’ (1276), also known as Fas al-Jadid (New Fez). Fez has been the intellectual and spiritual capital of the country since then. The last important episode in the city’s urban history dates to 1912 with the signing, in Fez, of the treaty establishing a French Protectorate in Morocco. In line with the urban policy of French Résident-Général of Morocco (Le Maréchal Hubert Lyautey) to preserve the cultural identity and urban integrity of “la Ville Indigène,” Lyautey ordered the building of a new city (la Ville Nouvelle), south of Fas al-Jadid, with modern administrative buildings, European residential quarters, and a modern road network to accommodate motor traffic, newly introduced to Morocco. The historic city of Fez (the medina) has an area of 280 hectares and close to 14,000 buildings (10 percent of which were until recently at risk of collapse). There are 110 houses with historical significance. The medina has witnessed a steady growth in its population, from close to 70,000 inhabitants in 1921 to nearly 180,000 inhabitants by the end of 1970s (with an average density of 650 inhabitants per hectare). This alarming demographic pressure and its negative impact on the city’s historic urban fabric led to the creation in 1989 of the Agence pour la Dédensification et la Réhabilitation de la Médina de Fès (ADER) to carry out all government historic preservation projects at the city.