ABSTRACT
The historic centres of Moroccan cities – the medinas – have undergone social, urban, economic and political transformations since the 1980s that have contributed to rethinking these places through the prism of tourism development. From run-down areas of poverty and overpopulation, the medinas have gradually been revalorised and re-evaluated by a diversity of public and private actors. These ordinary places have become tourist hotspots, opening up new settling and investment opportunities for predominantly European populations in search of a better living environment. This enthusiasm has resulted in the rediscovery of the built heritage of the medinas through the acquisition and restoration of old houses perceived as being ““authentic” In this chapter, we focus on traditional Moroccan houses converted into guesthouses by European and especially French owners. This choice can be explained by the emergence of a new hybrid space-time phenomenon combining both work and holidays within these houses commonly referred to as riads. Through a study of the staging and involvement of European owners in their tourist accommodation establishments, our aim is to show how these Europeans contribute to the shaping of new “in-between” places where the rift between work time and holiday time no longer exists.
