Food Retail & Built Environment in Algiers, Algeria
This research examines the Food Retail sector in Algiers in relation to the Built Environment, focusing on different urbanization phases. It identifies key shop forms like Mini- Supérette, Superétte, Supermarché, and Magasin de Proximité. Key questions include whether transformations of Food Retail associated with modern larger-scale Retail can be observed and how these manifest in urban design and architectural aspects of the Built Environment. A comprehensive inventory of 74 Food Retail units and their characteristics allows contextualization with idealistic operating forms and location rationales. Focusing on the Casbah, Rue Didouche Mourad, and El Mohammadia, the research assesses furthermore the design manifestation and architectural aspects of retail structures in the city. Central results are finding a traditional and atomised food retail landscape, little to none internationalization and a strong connection between the Built Environment and the outwardorientation of shops.
Algiers exhibits a spatially differentiated development of retail, which is shaped by various historical and socio-economic transformation processes. The transition from open markets and small craft stores to planned shopping streets and large-scale retail centers highlights the profound economic, social, and technological changes over the past centuries. To analyze the current retail structures, three research areas – the Casbah, Rue Didouche Mourad, and El Mohammadia – were selected based on a literature review and the inclusion of public data sources (Google Maps). These three areas represent different phases of urban development and retail structures, spanning from the Ottoman period through the colonial era to the socialist post-colonial period. The selection of these areas is based on their representative position within the urbanization process of Algiers, allowing for a comparative analysis of retail development.
While the Casbah, as the oldest district of Algiers, stands for traditional, historically evolved trading structures (Bauwelt, 2003, p. 28-29), the study area Rue Didouche Mourad represents colonial retail architecture and the influence of European urban planning as the most significant main shopping street in the early 20th century (Bauwelt, 2003, p. 30). In contrast, El Mohammadia embodies modern retail, strongly shaped by socialist planning strategies from the 1960s to the 1990s, which has more recently evolved through large-scale shopping centers and internationalized (westernized) retail structures (Messaadia, 2021).