Renouvellement des espaces habités spécifiques aux régions sahariennes, l’exemple de Béchar

• Main Authors: Naima Hadj Mohamed, Mohamed Madani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2014-12-01
• Series: Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
• Subjects: Saharan habitat; Bechar; transformations; social practices; domestic spaces
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/remmm/8914

In earlier times, inhabited areas specific to Saharan regions of Algeria included typical habitats rooted in their environment, integrated human settlements such as "ksour". In contrast, the habitat produced by "modernization", represents a break with original habitat designs, in defiance of the Saharan environment. Today, contemporary living presents rationality conflicts and cultural confrontation reflected by the re-appropriation by users of their living spaces. Such dynamics unveil a desire to reduce the gap between exogenous architectural types imposed by modernity and the more subtle traditional modes of living to reveal the action of modernization factors. How do such practices contribute to the renewal of contemporary domestic spaces? A visit of collective housing and individual residences in the town of Bechar provides answers to this question.