Mobilising Women’s Participation in Urban Development in the Southern Mediterranean. Case Study of Algiers Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Algiers, like developing world large cities, has known a massive urbanisation wave, due an increasing birth rate and migration from the interior of the country, which provokes many urban problems such as housing, transportation, unemployment and environmental issues. Moreover, the government has implemented many programmes and plans to resolve those problems. All failed because they took a political approach based on centralised management which neglected the participation of local actors. Following the political openness in the early 90s, the government has made many efforts to develop a legal framework which empowers citizens’ participation, with the role of women especially emphasised. Although the principle of citizens’ participation in urban development has recently been disseminated in Algerian society, women’s participation is still poor. The main aims of the paper are to show the actual situation of citizen participation in an Algiers metropolitan area (AMA), to evaluate the role of women in the urban development process, and, finally, to illustrate the attempts of both civil society and government to involve women. This chapter considers this a particularly important theme because participation in development is one of the factors which can discourage or stimulate migration flux from southern Mediterranean cities towards the northern shore if better development is carried out through women’s empowerment.