Geneva and Casablanca: two approaches to globalized urban development

For his PhD thesis at EPFL, Kamil Hajji compared urban development projects in two major cities - each a business and financial hub, but in countries with very different societies and political systems. He found that democracy can significantly influence how globalization plays out at the local level. Geneva and Casablanca loom large in people's imaginations, but for vastly different reasons. Geneva sits on the tranquil shores of Lake Geneva; it's known as the birthplace of Calvinism and is the archetypal international city. Casablanca, the "White City," faces the unbridled Atlantic Ocean and was immortalized in Michael Curtiz's eponymous movie. But there's one thing these two cities have in common: they've both been shaped by the forces of globalization, which have been gaining momentum since the late 20th century. In a landscape marked by neoliberalism, competition between metropolises, and the cross-border flow of people, goods and capital, both Geneva and Casablanca can be called globalized cities, and both are vying to increase their appeal through major urban development projects.