Globalization Facing Identity: A Human Housing at Stake - Case of Bab Ezzouar in Algiers

Abstract

The commune of Bab Ezzouar is situated in the nearest periphery of Algiers and symbolizes a residential zone par excellence. The commune corresponded to a big place of accommodation with a predominance of rental public housings, social participative housings and particularly renting-sale housings realized by Housing Improvement and Development Agency (AADL). The aim of this housing policy is to establish equity and social cohesion. Nevertheless, it appears difficult to escape a repetitive architecture, considering the rigorousness of the economic system of the construction and the constraints due to the prefabrication process. The ideology of globalization would like that sooner or later no one escapes living in the same way, to satisfying some identical needs and to constructing similar cities. However, the real-life experiences prove to be more complex. Better, the inhabitants resist to the homogenization. Bab Ezzouar commune lets appear its fragility, the standardization proved to be maladjusted to aspirations of inhabitants. Does similar dwellings imply similar lifestyles and behaviours? Actually, the "standard" solutions led important modifications. The inhabitants have introduced transformations at the level of the internal distribution of the dwellings as well as the composition of the façades. Do some distinct identities suppose specifics dwellings?This paper will analyze the pros and the cons of architectural and urban innovations in matter of housing in Algiers, while observing their effects on the local identities, but particularly on the conception of one's home.