Real estate dynamics and ordinary urban fabric in Algiers: Tactical adaptation,anticipation and land transformations

Abstract

While academic research on the mechanisms of production of the built environment has often focused on large-scale real estate projects in alliance with public authorities, the nature and scale of micro-projects and small-scale investors are rarely explored. This article proposes to examine the ‘ordinary fabric of the city’ through these micro real estate projects, which oscillate between formal and informal practices, based on a qualitative study conducted with mainly resident investors and small-scale developers in a peripheral municipality of the Algerian capital, Algiers. Our starting point is the hypothesis that urban production is increasingly moving towards more insecure and unpredictable cities as a result of private initiatives that are less visible, but nonetheless decisive in urban transformation. The study examines the conditions under which these investments emerge, in undervalued urban spaces and in a partially or wholly informal context. It also focuses on the bricolage of the ordinary fabric, analyses forms of ‘tactics’ used by actors to mimic legality, takes into account the conflictual aspects of emerging projects and bears witness to the emergence of a quasi-informal property market. The findings point to a strong potential for policy to formalise informal practices. The results also indicate that a significant part of the city depends on free market mechanisms that are partially free of constraints, where non-conforming transactions and constructions shape a mixed urbanisation.