Meknes, princess of Olives



This renovation plan for l’avenue des FAR, is an opportunity to reflect on the future of the urban landscape for the city of Meknes. The planning of the area subscribes to the principles of sustainable development. The plan implements a balanced approach to promote economical vitality, social justice, urban mix, preservation of the environment, respect of the future generations’ needs, and at the same time, values heritage and pays tribute to the past.
 

The plan reckons on a wide variety of administrative, commercial and recreational activities, in order to reduce distances between places of residence and services. Shops and services will be on buildings ground floors and will be organized hierarchically according to their use. This will foster pedestrians’ comfort, make business more dynamic and increase residents’ sense of belonging.
 

The renovation plan considers a consistent, constructed and continuous front in GF+10. This will solve the problem of discontinuity at the front and the fragmentation of the urban landscape.

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In order to combat anarchic occupation of the public domain, especially on both sides of the railway, the rails have been covered to make room for pedestrians on the claimed space.
 

Motivated by ecological concern, the plan increases the use of public transport by launching a tramway along the avenue, and at the same time treats tram stops as aesthetic havens.
 

In order to mitigate the metallic aspect of the framework, an adjacent forest with a bicycle path will run along the renovated area on the railroad side. This green belt will be a lung for the city, a space for walking and a screen of vegetation buffering railway noises.
 

The tram rail system has been restructured to improve traffic flow, increase pedestrians’ safety and improve spatial visibility. Parking problems are solved by underground and open air parking lots. New major facilities such as a school and a recreation center have been launched to meet Meknessi youngsters’ needs.
 

The plan builds the future, and is contemporary even to the point of detailed drawings of aesthetic street hardware. However no one can build a viable future without reference to the past, which is why we have warranted the enhancement of both heritage and the city’s memory by ensuring continuity between the avenue and the Médina with a bridge over the Boufekran River, which will provide a visual link between yesterday, today and tomorrow.
 

The value of the three existing squares has been enhanced to give each one its own character and identity.