National Dialogue on Urbanism and Housing: 12 regions consulted

On 16 September 2022 in Rabat, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, then Minister of National Territory Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy, launched the National Dialogue on Urbanism and Housing. Held across Morocco’s 12 regions, this broad consultation drew more than 4,000 participants. Its conclusions informed the reorganisation of the ministry and, later, the laws published in 2026.

A new roadmap for cities and territories

Launched less than a year after she joined the government on 7 October 2021, the Dialogue had a clear ambition: to build, with everyone concerned, a new roadmap for urban planning and housing, in line with the New Development Model (NDM). At its launch, the minister stressed what was at stake:

“This National Dialogue is of particular importance, because it will make it possible to implement a New Development Model (NDM) in housing and urban planning.”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, launch of the National Dialogue, Rabat, September 2022 (translated from French)

The approach built on a conviction she had set out as early as March 2022, in an interview with Médias24. She argued for going beyond basic infrastructure alone, saying that citizens’ dignity is not just a matter of a road or street lighting. In other words, the task is to think about the quality of the city and of people’s surroundings, and not only about its facilities.

Four themes

The work was organised around four themes:

• planning and governance;
• housing supply;
• rural areas and territorial gaps;
• the built environment and urban landscape.

Together they cover the whole chain of territorial development: how decisions are made, the housing offered to families, the balance between towns and countryside, and the quality of the places where people live.

Twelve regions, more than 4,000 participants

From 21 September 2022, regional consultations were held in all 12 of the Kingdom’s regions, bringing together more than 4,000 participants. Going to every region reflected an idea she already defended: needs differ from one territory to another, and the housing needs of Drâa-Tafilalet are not those of Casablanca. Holding the consultations region by region also meant hearing voices from well beyond the largest cities. The 12 regional urban planning and housing agencies created in 2026, one per region, now give this approach an institutional form.

In October 2022, she summed up the spirit of the exercise:

“our bet, through all these stages of consultation, is to ensure the effective and responsible participation of all Moroccans”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, on the National Dialogue consultations, October 2022 (translated from French)

From dialogue to reform

The Dialogue’s conclusions first informed the reorganisation of the ministry, set out in decree no. 2-23-751 of 21 December 2023, which followed an organisational audit of the ministry’s two former departments. The ministry is now organised around two directorates-general: national territory planning and urban planning on one side, housing and city policy on the other. Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri presented this reorganisation as a continuation of the New Development Model and of the Dialogue’s recommendations.

These conclusions then inspired two laws, passed unanimously at second reading by the House of Representatives on 7 July 2026 and published in the Official Bulletin on 10 August 2026: Law 64.23, which creates 12 regional urban planning and housing agencies, and Law 34.21, which modernises the rules on subdivisions.

Rural areas, one of the Dialogue’s four themes, also saw concrete progress. A joint circular issued by the Interior Ministry and her ministry on 28 April 2023 simplified rural building permits and extended free architectural and technical assistance to rural residents. The minimum plot size for a rural house permit was cut from 10,000 m² to 2,500 m². By November 2025, 3,144 douars (villages), home to about 1.4 million people, had been delimited to benefit from simpler building rules, and 84% of rural communes had planning documents. These measures are covered in our article on rural Morocco.

Finally, urban planning moved forward: 444 planning documents were approved during the term, bringing coverage to 90%, and new-generation planning documents are among the ministry’s priorities. From the 2022 consultation to the 2026 laws, the thread is continuous: listen to the territories, then turn what they say into rules and tools.