The Pseudo Smart City in Morocco Possibilities, Potential and Opportunities for a New Regional Development Model

Abstract

Morocco, like other countries in the world, is on the one hand facing a number of challenges linked to the growth of its population and the extension of its urbanisation (mobility, housing, environment, etc.) and, on the other hand, the increasing scarcity of available natural resources, which makes urban management and meeting the needs of citizens an increasingly difficult task.

In such a context, it becomes necessary to rethink the governance of the city and its organisational structure in order to guarantee a better performance of the quality of life of its citizens. The development of new information and communication technologies (NICT) now offers better prospects in the context of Smart Cities, enabling intelligent management of available resources to better meet the requirements of today's cities. Interest in smart cities in Morocco has been growing steadily among both public authorities and private players looking for smart solutions that will enable the development of the territory and the fulfilment of its citizens. Despite the efforts made, the results still fall short of expectations. The development of a Moroccan model that capitalises on the country's assets and takes account of the specific features of the Moroccan model is essential if this experience is to bring real added value to the management of Moroccan territories.

In this paper, we will discuss the conceptual notion of the pseudo smart city, which represents a flexible version of the notion of a smart city, as well as the possibility of its implementation in Morocco while exploring the existing potentialities and opportunities so that we can converge towards an adequate economic and regional development model.