The inverted city: challenges and dysfunctions of urban planning in new towns in algeria: the case of ali mendjeli in constantine

Terms such as sustainability and spatial intelligence prevail in the debate on urbanism in Algeria. These indeed reflect a wish to fall in line with international trends in urban development; however, there is also an important gap between what is proclaimed and what is actually being done. This gap becomes most evident during the transition from planning to actual construction, where the objective often shifts towards simply maximizing the number of housing units. The following section details this disconnection, focusing on the cases of planned new cities and, more particularly, the case of Ali Mendjeli. Based on a mix of field observation and bibliographic analysis, we discuss the difficulty in bringing together project stakeholders and the causes that have led to the divergence from expected urban goals. It will also underscore the deficit that characterizes or exists between the principles defining urban development in Algeria and the actual realities of spatial production, which can give an indication of the shortcomings of current planning practice.