Preserving and valorizing the settlemen system of southern Morocco

Earthen architecture, using different methodologies in various countries, is expression of diverse place identities and peculiar cultures. The system of ksour and kasbah along the valleys, strictly linked to the oasis, and the fortified citadels in the mountainous areas, are typical in South Morocco. By the oases, since the Middle Ages, majestic fortified villages had been settled, entirely built in earth, basing their economy on trade, by caravans going through the desert to Central Africa. Every village was equipped with the well, the wash-tub, the barn, the mosque and the Koran school. Within some ksour, besides the ordinary houses, there were the fortified residences of the wealthy families (named Kasbah). Nowadays many ksour, among 250 ksour (and more) included in the census, are degraded or collapsed. The phenomenon is due mainly to the abandoning of resident population, since the middle 20th century. Protecting and handing down earthen architectural assets are fundamental, not only for the preservation of the building culture, but above all as acknowledgment of one of the best sustainable ecological systems in the history of humankind. The aim of the paper is contributing to improve the poor knowledge of the huge architectural, planning and artistic heritage, in order to promote the conservation, protection and valorization of one of the most interesting expressions of past civilizations.