Beyond the Historic Enclave: Configurational Analysis and Selective Metropolitan Reconnection of the Casbah of Algiers

Historic medinas across the Maghreb constitute fundamental components of urban identity, embodying centuries of cultural, social, and spatial continuity. Yet in many cities across the Maghreb region, historic urban fabrics have progressively become marginalized within rapidly expanding metropolitan structures. Modern planning interventions, infrastructural transformations, and colonial legacies have often produced spatial and functional disconnections between historic centers and contemporary urban growth. As a result, historic districts are frequently perceived as constraints to urban development rather than as active components of the evolving city. This research argues that the sustainable future of historic medinas lies not in their isolation or crystallization as heritage enclaves, but in their strategic reintegration within the contemporary urban system while preserving their spatial identity and morphological coherence. Focusing on the Casbah of Algiers as an analytical case within the broader Maghreb context, the study employs space syntax analysis to examine the relationship between historic urban fabrics and surrounding modern networks. Through this approach, the research seeks to identify structural opportunities for reconnecting historic centers with contemporary circulation systems without disrupting their intrinsic spatial logic. By proposing an integrative framework that reconciles heritage preservation with urban accessibility and connectivity, the study demonstrates that historic medinas can function not as obstacles but as catalysts for sustainable urban development. In doing so, the article contributes to current debates on heritage urbanism by reframing historic centers as active structural components of contemporary metropolitan systems rather than isolated relics of the past. In this perspective, the reinsertion of historic centers becomes a generator of urban vitality capable of guiding future growth while maintaining the cultural and spatial intelligibility that defines the historic cities of the Maghreb.