The morpho-structural and functional effects of Constantine’s historical urban restructuring, from the Ottoman era to the contemporary period.

Abstract

The current urban form of the city of Constantine is the result of a long historical transformation process, evolving from the dense and compact medina with clearly defined boundaries to a vast metropolitan area composed of multiple centers. The city has gradually been shaped by interventions carried out during the Ottoman period, the colonial era, and more recently by political decisions adopted by the Algerian state, materialized from the early years of independence through extensive housing projects that generated rapid population growth. Successive reconfigurations have profoundly disrupted the historic spatial order, leading to extensive urban expansions and ultimately to the gradual relocation of populations and activities towards new growth poles. This long and gradual development has deeply transformed the city’s morphology, structure, and centrality system.

This paper provides a diachronic analysis of Constantine’s urban evolution from the Ottoman era to recent years. It aims to illustrate the effects of morpho-structural transformation resulting from various construction and demolition operations that the city and its center have experienced, and how these interventions have influenced the city’s growth model and current functioning, as well as that of its metropolitan area. The central research question addressed is: How have the successive historical morphological reconfigurations of the city of Constantine transformed its urban structure and redefined its centrality system?

It aims to identify the morphological and political processes that have shaped this urban restructuring and to assess the extent of the relocation of central activities towards emerging peripheral centers and their impacts on population practices. The adopted approach is based on the concepts of center and centrality, examining the central attributes of the city’s centrality system through field observations, historical readings from various research works, and surveys capturing recent changes in individual practices influenced by the city’s morphological transformation. A questionnaire survey, conducted among 384 residents between 2015 and 2016, collected data on daily mobility practices.

The findings clearly demonstrate that Constantine’s structural transition is the outcome of a process deeply rooted in history. Successive urban policies have had clear and evident effects on the city’s development model, in the absence of controlled planning. The findings highlight the gradual relocation of populations to emerging centers, accompanied by extensive decentralization of activities and services, particularly towards the new town of Ali Mendjeli, which remains a powerful center. The study also shows that the historic center is still the main functional reference for the metropolitan area, even with these changes. The study ultimately suggests that local policymakers facilitate this polycentric transformation by creating a network of cities founded on complementarity rather than competition.

Keywords: Centrality, Urban restructuring, Urban functioning, polycentric area.