Rethinking the Sustainable Regeneration of French Colonial Mass Housing Estates in Algiers: Insights from GIS-Space Syntax and Building Condition Assessment

French colonial mass housing estates built in Algiers between 1950 and 1962 constitute a substantial part of the city’s housing stock and continue to shape its urban structure. As aging residential environments, they present important challenges for sustainable regeneration. Despite their significance, the relationship between urban configuration and long-term physical deterioration remains poorly understood. This study establishes a georeferenced inventory of these estates by combining archival documentation and field surveys with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and space syntax analysis. Configurational properties were quantified using Normalized Angular Integration (NAIN) in DepthmapX, while the physical state of each estate was evaluated through a systematic assessment of structural elements, façades, and public spaces. The results reveal considerable variation in integration and a statistically significant relationship between its levels and physical quality. Estates occupying more privileged positions within the street network generally exhibited better maintenance and higher-quality public spaces, whereas more isolated estates experienced greater deterioration. The findings suggest that street integration is associated with estate performance, providing quantitative evidence to support sustainable regeneration planning by proposing a practical decision-support framework for identifying evidence-based resilience planning and governance priorities.

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Publication Details

Journal
Buildings
Published
2026-08-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16163309
Primary Topic
Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
Type
article
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article

Rethinking the Sustainable Regeneration of French Colonial Mass Housing Estates in Algiers: Insights from GIS-Space Syntax and Building Condition Assessment

Giovanni Santi, Bidjad Arigue, Valerio Cutini, Rym Merzelkad et al.
Buildings
Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
article

Rethinking the Sustainable Regeneration of French Colonial Mass Housing Estates in Algiers: Insights from GIS-Space Syntax and Building Condition Assessment

Giovanni Santi, Bidjad Arigue, Valerio Cutini, Rym Merzelkad, Hamza Benacer, Khadidja Khelilcherfi
article en

Abstract

French colonial mass housing estates built in Algiers between 1950 and 1962 constitute a substantial part of the city’s housing stock and continue to shape its urban structure. As aging residential environments, they present important challenges for sustainable regeneration. Despite their significance, the relationship between urban configuration and long-term physical deterioration remains poorly understood. This study establishes a georeferenced inventory of these estates by combining archival documentation and field surveys with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and space syntax analysis. Configurational properties were quantified using Normalized Angular Integration (NAIN) in DepthmapX, while the physical state of each estate was evaluated through a systematic assessment of structural elements, façades, and public spaces. The results reveal considerable variation in integration and a statistically significant relationship between its levels and physical quality. Estates occupying more privileged positions within the street network generally exhibited better maintenance and higher-quality public spaces, whereas more isolated estates experienced greater deterioration. The findings suggest that street integration is associated with estate performance, providing quantitative evidence to support sustainable regeneration planning by proposing a practical decision-support framework for identifying evidence-based resilience planning and governance priorities.

BuildingsVol. 16(16)
University of Pisa (IT), University of Biskra (DZ), Larbi Ben M'hidi University of Oum El Bouaghi (DZ), University of Blida (DZ)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Urban Design and Spatial Analysis
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