Sensitivity Through Invisible Water, Marrakech as a Multifaceted City

Marrakech is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco, declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. The city centre was once surrounded by a vast palm groove which is called the Medina or the ‘red city’. The urban area has been expanding beyond its Medina walls moving towards globalisation. This city is also famous for its rich water artefacts such as Water fountains, Khettaras, Riads, Hammams etc. which are among the main tourist attractions as well. With this strong character, set in the centre of the fertile, irrigated Haouz Plain, south of the Tennsift River, the city is also called the ‘Oasis city’. In recent years, with climate change, water scarcity and globalisation, the expansion of the city has left many multi-layered problems. One major issue is represented by the urban voids in between the city centre and the recent developments, acting as neglected spaces that together with water scarcity fades the character of the Oasis city and its heritage.  Through an urban design exploration point of view, the research understands the city’s main character of water, its accessibility, and its importance for the community.  An investigation of the value and state of the water artefacts in the city using GIS data, existing literature, and possible approaches to bring back the Oasis City in the ‘in between’ urban voids of the city have been explored. The research aims to metaphorically evoke the idea of water in urban design to bring an intangible notion of water.