1. This chapter does not claim to be a comprehensive survey, but an outline that explains the essence of city-building activities under the French. For a thorough and meticulous survey of urban history on Algiers that covers the years 1830 to 1930, see Lespès, Alger. For a well-illustrated but brief summary of architecture and urbanism in Algiers under French rule (until the 1960s), see X. Malverti, "Alger: Meditérranée, soleil et modernité," in Institut Français d'Architecture, Architectures françaises outre-mer (Paris, 1992), 29-64. I have not dealt with the history of the harbor of Algiers. On this topic, see Yves Layes, Le Port d'Alger (Algiers, 1951).

2. Quoted in Pasquier-Bronde, "Alger," 33.

3. The term à la Vauban is used in 1951 by M. Molbert, chief engineer of the city of Algiers, who criticized the short vision of the first French planners in Algiers and who mocked the fact that the fortifications had to be demolished a century later "without having received a single gunshot." See M. Molbert, "L'Urbanisme et son application à Alger," Bulletin municipal officiel de la ville d'Alger 5 (May 1951): n.p. On fortifications, see Lespès, Alger, 235-237.

4. "Extraits du Journal des Débats du 18 juin 1842," SHAT, Génie. Alger. Art. 8, section 1, carton 7.

5. Lespès, Alger, 223, 336-337.

6. Molbert, "L'Urbanisme et son application à Alger"; Lespès, Alger, 251-257.

7. François Béguin, Arabisances (Paris, 1983), 106; Lespès, Alger, 255.

8. Lespès, Alger, 263-265.

9. Pasquier-Bronde, "Alger," 36-37; Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 13; lespès, Alger, 357-364.

10. Lespès, Alger, 265-266.

11. Ibid., 325-329, 355; Louis Presse, Algérie et Tunisie (Paris, 1888), 12, 14-15. The location of a new casino was a much debated affair. Eugène de Redon proposed to place it in Bab el-Oued, with a commanding view of the sea; among other locations considered were the Boulevard Gambetta, Boulevard de la République, and Square Bresson. See Lespès, Alger, 425. The British interest in Algiers as a place of hivernage was short-lived.

12. Lespès, Alger, 340-42.

13. Ibid., 349-352.

14. Ibid., 376-383.

15. Ibid., 398-399.

16. Ibid., 400-401.

17. Ibid., 405-406.

18. Ibid., 411-413, 417.

19. Ibid., 413-414.

20. Ibid., 430-435; J. Alazard, ''L'Urbanisme à Alger,'' Le Monde colonial illustré 80 (April 1930): 92.

21. Lespès, Alger, 408-409. The increase by 22,000 in the indigenous population of the intra-muros between 1896 and 1926 is especially noteworthy. The overall population increase in the same area during these three decades was 34,000.

22. Molbert, "L'Urbanisme et son application à Alger."

23. Alazard, "L'Urbanisme à Alger," 93; Lespès, Alger, 438-439.

24. "Vers un meilleur aménagement," Chantiers (March 1935): 180; Molbert, "L'Urbanisme et son application à Alger"; Lespès, Alger, 8-9.

25. "Vers un meilleur aménagement," 180-183; Lespès, Alger, 16-18. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 19-20.

26. Lespès, Alger, 13.

27. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 20.

28. Literature on Le Corbusier's projects in Algiers is extensive. For an indepth discussion, see McLeod, "Le Corbusier and Algiers," 55-85. For the projects, see Le Corbusier, Ouevre complète, 1938-1946 (Zurich, 1964). Curiously enough, Le Corbusier was challenging Prost and Danger's proposals in another Mediterranean city at the time. With the support of Turkish modernist architects, he had taken on the design of an alternative master plan for Izmir. See Izmir Files, FLC.

29. Le Corbusier, Poésie sur Alger, 17, 11-13.

30. Le Corbusier, La Ville radieuse, 233.

31. Le Corbusier, Quand les cathédrales étaient blanches (Paris, 1937), 46-47.

32. Le Corbusier, Poésie sur Alger, 38, 44.

33. Cotéreau quoted in Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 12.

34. Reynaud quoted in Girardet, L'Idée coloniale en France, 176-99.

35. Resituating Le Corbusier within the historic context of colonial urban design, R. Cozzolini and A. Petruccioli argue that Le Corbusier's viaduct scheme is derived from Chassériau's arcades. See R. Cozzolini and A. Petruccioli, "Algeri--Le Corbusier--Algeri," Spazio e Società 15-16 (September-December 1981): 110. Le Corbusier himself expressed his fascination with the arcades in numerous sketches and acknowledged their influence on his own designs.

36. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 18.

37. McLeod, "Le Corbusier and Algiers," 73.

38. An outstanding example that makes reference to the viaduct of Obus A is the Immeuble-Pont Burdeau from 1952. The long and narrow building is situated in a valley and is designed to connect the two hills on two sides. Its asphalt roof acts as a portion of a major traffic artery. For Le Corbusier's influence on architects practicing in Algiers, see Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 41-52.

39. M. Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984: Stratégies et enjeux urbains (Paris, 1986), 18.

40. René Maunier, Sociologie coloniale (1932), quoted in Robert Descloitres, Jean-Claude Réverdy, and Claudine Descloitres, in L'Algérie des bidonvilles (Paris, 1961), 21.

41. Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 24-25.

42. Ibid., 29; Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 55.

43. Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 29.

44. Ibid., 29-30; Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 55, 57.

45. "Plan d'urbanisme de la région algéroise," Chantiers 2 (1951).

46. "Les Grandes lignes du Plan d'Urbanisme de la région algéroise," Chantiers 7 (1952).

47. The population of Algiers had increased from 308,321 in 1948 to 355,000 in 1954, pushing the overall density from 224 to 258 people per hectare. The change in the European population was from 179,546 to 192,890, whereas the Muslim population had grown from 128,775 to 162,150. it was noted alarmingly that within nine years, the number of Muslims living in Algiers would equal the number of Europeans and the total number would reach 460,000. See "Alger, ville dont la population s'accroit [chaque année] de 10,000 habitants," Algerrevue municipale (May 1955). According to computations by Sgroi-Dufresne, 99.2 percent of Hussein-Dey's population was Muslim, followed by 76.5 percent of Bouzarea, 70-71 percent of Algiers and Maison-Carrée, and 61.6 percent of Kouba. In contrast, the communes of St.-Eugène, Birmandreis, and el-Biar were heavily European. See Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 36.

48. Descloitres, Réverdy, and Descloitres, L'Algérie des bidonvilles, 30-31, 39-43, 52-53; "Alger, lutte pour resoudre le douloureux problème de la casbah et des bidonvilles," Alger-revue municipale (May 1955); Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 36. The segregation was especially striking in certain quarters. For example, in 1954, in Bab el-Oued 92 percent of a total population of 45,905 consisted of Europeans, and in the Rue Michelet area, where 52,674 people lived, this percentage was 94. In contrast, 97 percent of the 41,467 residents of the upper casbah were Muslims, and Mahieddine was 100 percent Muslim. See Descloitres, Réverdy, and Descloitres, L'Algérie des bidonvilles, 41.

49. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 63.

50. Jacques Chevallier, Nous, algériens (Paris, 1958), 141.

51. For the organization and personnel of the agency, see "Le Bureau du plan de la ville d'Alger," Alger revue (May 1955). Among the members of the team was Robert Descloitres, who studied the bidonvilles and later published the results of his studies.

52. Chevallier quoted in Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 48.

53. Association pour l'Etude du Développement de l'Agglomération Algéroise, Alger, méthode de travail, étude du site (Algiers, 1958), 4-5, 13.

54. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 64-65; Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 48-49.

55. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 66-67; Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 48-49.

56. L'Echo d'Alger, 7 May 1958. The first is in the ravine of the Femme Sauvage and reaching to Diar el-Mahçoul; the second is the Boulevard Aquilina between Climat de France and Boulevard Lettre-de-Tassigny. For the construction of the 500-meter-long boulevard Aquilina, named after a military commandant whose widow had provided the funds, a shantytown was bulldozed. A stela, placed at the entrance of the avenue, paid homage to Commandant Aquilina, to the "'apostle of bidonvilles, ' . . . who knew how to use the treasures of his endless goodness on these lands formerly occupied by bidonvilles, and deserves the respect and the affection of the disinherited."

57. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 101-102.

58. République Française, Délégation Générale, Plan de Constantine, 348.

59. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 105-106.

60. Ibid., 102; République Française, Délégation Générale, Plan de Constantine, 352. The concept of ZUP has survived in French urbanism to the present day and become identified with working-class neighborhoods with largescale housing projects. Today, immigrants from North Africa are concentrated in ZUPs of French cities.

61. L'Echo d'Alger, 26 February 1959.

62. For tram and trolley lines, see L'Echo d'Alger, 3 March 1959; for the subway project, see ibid., 19 November 1959.

63. Sgroi-Dufresne, Alger 1830-1984, 100.

64. See L'Echo d'Alger, 28 February 1959, 4 March 1959, 6 March 1959, and 11 March 1959.

65. Deluz, L'Urbanisme et l'architecture d'Alger, 106.