ENG |
The project was part of a cooperative effort between the Libyan and French governments to address strategies for the future urbanization of Libya. With a finite amount of water available in a non-renewable water table, the cities in the Libyan desert faced a critical question of survival. The urbanization of Sabha, capital of Fezzan and the northern desert, was the result of a conscious decision to concentrate the limited resources of water on one city while programming the future disappearance of other towns. Water itself became the primary dimensioning measure of a new form of reverse urban planning. This project, which planned the expansion of one territory while simultaneously planning the obsolescence of others, questions the limits of existing tools of urban planning which are based solely upon the premise of urban growth.
