Casablanca’s municipal council is preparing to adopt a comprehensive urban aesthetics regulation that will impose strict visual standards on building facades, commercial fronts, and all structures visible from public thoroughfares — replacing a framework that has been in place since 2014. The move reflects the city’s ambition to project a more coherent and modernized image befitting its status as Morocco’s economic capital.
Under the incoming rules, building and commercial property owners will be required to clean and repaint their facades using a tightly restricted color palette. Only white, light grey, and light brown will be permitted for exterior surfaces, while doors and windows must conform to the same scheme. Aluminum fixtures are required to maintain their natural silver finish. Facade maintenance will be mandatory every five years, with the possibility of earlier intervention if a building’s condition deteriorates or falls out of compliance.
The regulation also targets what is placed on and around buildings. Air conditioning units, satellite dishes, and any equipment visible from the street will be banned from facades. Balconies and windows must remain visually unobstructed. Owners of vacant plots will be required to erect enclosing walls and maintain them in acceptable condition.
Enforcement will be handled by municipal agents empowered to issue formal notices, giving non-compliant owners one month to rectify violations, followed by a fifteen-day final warning. Persistent non-compliance will allow the municipality to carry out the required works directly and recover costs through standard public debt collection procedures.
While the regulation has been broadly welcomed as a step toward urban modernization, its practical implementation is already generating debate — particularly regarding enforcement capacity, social equity across Casablanca’s uneven urban fabric, and the impact on professionals in the painting and real estate sectors. Balancing regulatory ambition with social reality will be the defining challenge of the rollout.
