http://doi.org/10.65281/661176
Dr. HADDOUCHE Karima*1, Badji Mokhtar Annaba University ; Algeria, haddouchebet@gmail.com
Laboratory : LABTERDIR, Dynamic, Intelligent and Resilient Territories
DJEGHAR Aicha 2, MCA, University of Constantine 3. Algeria, aicha.djeghar@univ-constantine3.dz
Abstract
The study of urban growth in the Town of Souk Ahras aims to identify the phases of sprawl throughout history as well as the main elements that have marked these phases of development by giving a brief historical passage on this city known as a native of augustin healthy city. This study was conducted from a collection of documents and maps alumni who were allowed to view the progress of this growth. This work is part of the development of my thesis in development entitled:
« Urban mobility in medium-sized cities in Algeria ; Case of Souk Ahras. »
Keywords : Urban growth, planning, evolution, Souk Ahras
Introduction
We can easily see, through the reasons advanced for the revision of several pdau [1] From the wilaya, which the first instruments established during the 1990s suffered from a number of gaps and were quickly exceeded [2]. These causes invoked at the wilaya and the state services in charge of town planning more particularly are due to several factors :
- dazzling development of agglomerations and urban centers of the wilaya, in terms of consumed land area and speed of these developments.
- The Anarchy of this extension. Indeed, the spreads of urban centers in the wilaya of Souk Ahras produce urban spaces that no longer meet urban quality standards, because often the districts located in these importance urban spreads suffer from several deficiencies: under equipment, lack of viability, lack of consistency with old districts and most often become the support of social plagues.
- The security conditions that the country has crossed during the 1990s, also had an impact on urbanization within the wilaya. The PDAUs established for the municipalities of the wilaya during the 1990s experienced a low participation of the municipalities concerned and their respective assemblies in the development.
Method
The basic methodological approach recommended in the context of the elaboration of this article is based on a multi-level approach: first a brief history of the city in question and then its urban evolution according to the various urban planning instruments such as the PDAU, POS[3] , PAW[4], SNAT[5] and SRAT[6] etc…..
Brief history of the genesis of the city of Souk Ahras
Thagaste, an ancient Numidian city on the ruins of which the present city of Souk Ahras, in Algeria, was built. It is mainly known for being the birthplace of Saint Augustine. It is located 100 km southeast of Annaba, ancient Hippo, a city of which he was bishop.
During the French colonization, a period that lasted a little more than one hundred and thirty years and which had caused the country and its population to undergo many upheavals. this period is undoubtedly to be compared to those of the Vandals or that of the Byzantines on the temporal level, but it will be the one that greatly disrupted the space and whose effects and influences still remain. [7]
French troops came for the first time to the Souk Ahras region in 1843; The ‘Hanencha’, particularly restless and dominated by the influence of two great rival indigenous families, the Rezgui and the El Hessenaoui, struggling to maintain supremacy in the country. Their power extends over a vast territory that must be strictly monitored.[8]
A detachment of French troops arrived from Bône and chose a hill to camp, which was located 100 km south of Bône, and set up a camp near an important cattle market which was important and frequented by tribes from far away and was held on Sundays. These soldiers had the mission of controlling the penetration routes to Tunisia and Tébessa which General Négrier had just taken possession of. Only one house exists; it is spacious but almost in ruins. It belonged to the sheikh of the ‘Hanencha».
« On May 25, 1843, the French had just laid the first stone of the future city of Souk Ahras? »[9]
At the end of 1851 and the beginning of 1852, the engineering services erected an important building, a bordj-fondouk, to serve as a refuge in the event of a revolt, the Grand Bordj (see map N°01). An administrative annex attached to the circle of Guelma was finally created in 1853 under the name Annexe de Souk Ahras. Colonel de Tourville, commander of the Bône subdivision, decided after some hesitation; or one thinks of Tiffech or Ain Seynour; that the location would be that of Souk Ahras, a junction of essential roads and an obligatory place of stay for the columns, then he would draw up the plan of the future centre which would quickly become an agglomeration of housing with the arrival of many families of farmers and traders. The great flow of emigration and the rapid growth of the population pushed the colonial administration to declare Souk-Ahras a population center in 1855.[10]
The development of a civil administration encouraged more and more the settlement of settlers, and the village became a small town within the limits extended to Oued Trab and Oued Zerga. This period is also characterized by the arrival in the village of the Arab community who come from the neighboring mountains and settle beyond the two wadis.
The growth of the village in this period is characterized by the fact that the extensions were a direct extension of the parts already built. Within a very specific boundary (the two wadis). These boundaries have favoured significant densification, resulting in the formation of a highly structured core and the urban fabric gradually taking on a checkerboard layout.
The two major lines of this growth are the rue de Tunis (which starts from the Allées de Tunis and extends beyond the square). And the rue Victor Hugo (which originates in the square and ends in Oued Trabe). The intersection of its two axes gives rise to a singular point (Thagaste Square) which will later become a central pole and a place of concentration and animation.
Map n° 01: City of Souk Ahras in 1870.
Source : M.Léon Deyron 1953 improved by the author.
1870-1962: Crossing of boundaries
The city crosses the two wadis and spreads over the three hills: that of Sidi Messaoud, the northern plateau, and the mixed commune where the Arab community is settled. This crossing of the physical limits of the agglomeration strongly marks the constitution of the fabric, and the latter loses its checkerboard organization. Three important suburbs began to appear, those of the station, Saint Charles and Constanville. A large number of facilities were built, such as the 1887 town hall, the 1927 village hall, the 1931 theatre, the 1934 school complex and the 1938 Mahkama.
Map n°02: Growth process 1870 -1962
Source : Urban[11] Souk Ahras Enhanced by the Author.
After 1962 The Break-up of the Urban Fabric: The Beginning of a Break in Spatial and Social Homogeneity.
After independence, Algeria has experienced several urban policies that have led to quantitative development that lacks embellishment. With a single objective: ‘to house as many people as possible’. This policy, which has abandoned and ignored the colonial heritage of our cities, has caused urban shifts and ruptures in the lines and forms of our urban fabrics.
The growth of the city took place in the periphery and went through two different periods, the first was the emergence of the phenomenon of illegal dwellings which was grafted onto the area around the colonial core; and the second was the period of planned urbanism. The urban structure of the city centre of Souk-Ahras is articulated around its central core (Independence Square). The latter represents the main node of the structure and a point of convergence, gathering and meeting. It is the product of the intersection of the two major axes of the urban structure. In the crossing, a third axis is added, it is the old current of the ‘Oued Trabe’ which puts an end to the checkerboard layout and imposes new directions on the urban fabric.
Map n°03: Growth process 1962-1970 source
Source : Urban Souk Ahras Enhanced by the Author.
Planned mode of occupation: Conquest urbanism of the Z.H.U.N[12] and Housing estates
In 1970. Souk Ahras, an urban commune of more than 50,000 inhabitants, is part of the wilaya of Annaba It is the political, administrative and commercial capital of one of the six dairates that make up the wilaya of Annaba. Its population represents about 25% of the population of the Daira and nearly 5% of the population of the wilaya.[13]
in March 1972; The Algerian Territorial Development Fund, a public industrial and commercial establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Works and Construction, has developed a study on the urban plan of the APC site of Souk Ahras with the primary objective of identifying areas favorable to possible urban development.
In a first phase called ‘phase A’, the task of spatial planning was undertaken on cities in eastern Algeria, leading to the study of all the cities in this space. The objective of the study is that the city is not an isolated element, but rather is linked to other cities through economic exchanges, migration, national investments and the need to align decisions about the cities of the region with national planning options; These are new collective housing programmes, adopted for 3 main advantages: modernity, socialist character and speed of implementation. This type of housing which, through its architectural and urban characteristics, has produced a well-structured, airy fabric, where the public space is well defined, as is the case of: the Hamma Loulou estate, 26 April, 1700 housing units, the GEFEC and the ZUHN 1,2,3. But also, the individual housing made up of a considerable number of housing estates such as: the Diar Zerga, Bendada, Chahid and Annaba 1 and 2 housing estates; to promote self-construction in order to respond to the proliferation of illegal housing which had taken a considerable proportion in terms of space consumption and which had become dominant in the urban fabric of the city.
These subdivisions seem to be well structured in their fabric and where the framework is well defined, however the architectural and urban planning product does not seem to have responded in a coherent and harmonious way to the standards and rules of construction and this by the lack of respect for the regulatory plans established by the technical studies carried out beforehand and this by the absence of rigorous control in the act of building. Indeed, we are witnessing an occupation that contradicts the plans suggested by the supervisory authority and where, in particular, the COS[14] and CES[15] do not correspond to those authorized and the total absence of green spaces is striking (although this is planned) and the built blocks seem to be denser, as for the type of architecture it certainly has no reference, Because in the realization of these constructions the concern of personalization of the facades is to the taste of the owners, amalgam of color, absence of reference elements and absence of architectural harmony.
In 1985; The economic crisis has led to a reorganization of policy towards real estate development, this is presented by a fairly rapid pace of spatial growth through the launch of other housing estates, collective housing programs and the launch of the industrial zone in an area of 48 hectares. The development option consists of the measured and controlled urban expansion of adjacent land of lower agricultural value.
Map n°04: Growth process 1970-1990.
Source : Urban Souk Ahras Enhanced by the author.
The period 1990-2004: space consumption with the programming degraded by the urban planning instruments PDAU and POS:
In the early 1990s, the saturation of the urban perimeter defined by the old P.U.D led the authorities to carry out a revision, the production of P.D.A.U planning and urban planning plan, which led to new extensions in the form of P.O.S (soil occupation plan) concerning: Snic (P.O.S1), Jnen El Toufeh (P.O.S2) Barral Salah (P.O.S3), Galoussi (P.O.S4), Ibn Rocked (P.O.S5), Skanaska (P.O.S6), Le (P.O.S7) is private land and finally (P.O.S8).
The 2004 exhaustive survey of the PDAU revision recorded a number of accommodation of 25,055 with a number of precarious 1109. Most of the urbanization was done in the sites occupied by the barracks or a large rehousing operation was established by the local authorities in the various sites.[16]
Conclusion
Urban planning is one of the most developed sectors in Souk Ahras. Beyond the pressures on land and the ever-increasing demand on the part of the population first and the activity sectors then and which result in the continual spreads in built tissues, this increase can constitute, if it is well regulated, an asset for the wilaya in terms of activities and housing. The initiation of urban planning instruments, notably PDAU and POS, in the early 1980s were to allow local authorities to acquire management and control tools for their urban development. The wilaya of Souk Ahras, like the other wilayates in the country, has set itself early on these instruments.
Map n ° 05 : 1990 and more growth process.
Source : Urban Souk Ahras improved by the author
Map n ° 06: Synthesis card of urban growth.
Source : Urban Souk Ahras improved by the author.
List of symbols and shortcuts
- CENEAP : Centre nationale d’études et d’analyses pour la population et le développement, Plan d’aménagement du territoire de la wilaya de Souk Ahras, rapport n°1 évaluation territoriale et diagnostic, Novembre 2012.
- Deyron. L. SOUK-AHRAS, préface du Maréchal JUIN de l’Académie française, éditions BELLENAND. 1953.
- DPSB : direction de la programmation et du suivi budgétaires, Monographie Souk Ahras, Edition 2014.
- MEHALLAINE. N. La politique d’habitat et son impact sur le cadre urbain Cas d’étude : la ville Souk-Ahras.2015.
- Raham.D. Les Structures Spatiales de l’Est Algérien. Les maillages territoriaux, urbains et routiers. Geography. Université de Constantine, 2001. French.
- URBAN : Centre d’études et de réalisations en urbanisme d’Annaba.
Annexe
References
[1] PDAU : Plan directeur d’aménagement et d’urbanisme.
[2] CENEAP : Centre nationale d’études et d’analyses pour la population et le développement, Plan d’aménagement du territoire de la wilaya de Souk Ahras, rapport n°1 évaluation territoriale et diagnostic, Novembre 2012.
[3] POS : Plan d’occupation des sols
[4] PAW : Plan d’aménagement de la Wilaya
[5] SNAT : Schéma National d’Aménagement du Territoire.
[6] SRAT : Schéma Régional d’aménagement du territoire.
[7] Djamel Raham. Les Structures Spatiales de l’Est Algerien. Les maillages territoriaux, urbains et routiers.. Geography. Universite de Constantine, 2001. French.
[8] Les familles Resgui et El Hessenaoui. L’histoire des « Hanencha » est contée, depuis ses origines les plus anciennes ; dans la Monographie de la commune mixte de Souk Ahras, du docteur Paul Rouquette, ancien médecin chef de l’hôpital militaire de Souk Ahras, publiée dans le bulletin de la Société de Géographie d’Alger et de l’Afrique du nord, 1er et 2e trimestres 1904.
[9] Citation du M.Léon Deyron dans son live SOUK-AHRAS, préface du Maréchal JUIN de l’Académie française, parue en 1953 aux éditions BELLENAND.
[10] En annexe le rapport à l’empereur le 12 septembre 1858
[11] URBAN : centre d’études et de réalisations en urbanisme d’Annaba.
[12] ZHUN : Zone d’habitat urbain nouvelle.
[13] Direction de la programmation et du suivi budgétaires, Direction étatique, une structure de Wilaya rattachée au Ministère des Finances qui dresse des rapports d’évaluation et d’analyse budgétaire et élabore annuellement des rapports intitulé Monographie Souk Ahras, celle-ci est prise à l’Edition 2014.
[14] COS : Coefficient d’occupation des sols .
[15] CES : Coefficient d’Emprise au Sol.
[16] MEHALLAINE Nabila ; La politique d’habitat et son impact sur le cadre urbain Cas d’étude : la ville Souk-Ahras.2015.