Moroccan cities to host 2 million new families in 2012

Moroccan cities will host in 2012 around 2 million new households, Moroccan Housing and Town Planning Minister Mohamed El Yazghi said Thursday.

The minister, who was speaking at a conference on "dialogue on cities," said in 2013 urban population in the world will be two fold that of rural areas.

The management of cities is a stake and can also be a frame for learning democracy and relations between local powers and civil society, he said.

El-Yazghi added that Morocco has a centuries-old tradition in architecture and warned that this civilizational heritage is now threatened and prey to distortion.

He highlighted his department's efforts to reform existing laws on urbanism and create architecture schools to safeguard the national heritage.

He announced that his department's architecture division will launch a plan to rehabilitate Morocco's ancient medinas and historical urban fabric.