Today, housing remains central to Morocco’s ongoing transformations, as the country positions itself within international agendas—be they cultural, sporting, or geopolitical—that are reshaping urban priorities through large-scale flagship projects. These initiatives aim to present new showcases of a postmodern Morocco striving to affirm its role as a bridge between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
At a time of multiple climate urgencies, dwelling challenges need to be addressed in the context of multiple challenges including migration, digitization or the provision of water and energy. Considering this, in this programme, dwelling should be framed as a multi-scalar phenomenon, that transcends fixed disciplinary boundaries. It considers aspects that include, but are not limited to, spatial design (e.g. architecture, urbanism, landscape), anthropology (e.g. social ethnograpgy), policy (e.g. housing and development stuydies) and environmental sciences (e.g. biodiversity and sustainability).
This layered approach to dwelling bridges the macro and the micro: from public policy to domestic intimacy, from planning instruments to informal practices, from material choices to neighborhood configurations. Thus, researching current and projecting new dwelling environments in contemporary Morocco opens up a rich field of critical inquiry, grounded in territorial realities and societal shifts, to better understand the tensions and aspirations shaping lived space.
More details on the themes and possible research questions are provided in the booklet below.
Individual Thesis assignments or themes
Main Challenge
How can housing, landscapes, and water systems be reimagined to support sustainable dwelling in Morocco?
Programme
Online and physical preparatory meetings between November 2025 and January 2026. (tentative dates tbd)
10-14 days excursion, with mini-lectures, field visits and exchange with local students. Tentative planning dates: end of January - beginning February 2026
If your MSc study programme requires you to do longer fieldwork for your thesis, we can support 2–3-month fieldwork with peer support from students and check-ins with Morocco-based partners.
Post-fieldwork sessions and end event: after the excursion, we aim to include this thesis lab in the program of the NL-based thesis labs, including
#5 Pressure cooker day: LEGO, 1 April 2026
#7 Bootcamp Day, 29 April 2026
#10 Prepare for the Final Event and 10 June 2026
#11 Final event, Jun 29, 30, Jul 1, 2 or 3
Costs
During the 10-day excursion you will stay at local guest families in the Medina of Rabat. The costs of accommodation during this excursion are covered by LDE.
We ask you to pay your own transport (flight tickets, train, local transport) to Morocco and meals.
If you extend your stay beyond the 10-day excursion, i.e. if this is required for your individual MSc thesis research, then you cover any additional costs for accommodation, meals, or other expenses yourself.
You can check for yourself if you qualify for a subsidy to cover (a part of) the costs, for instance via Fonds op naam, Students4Sustainability, Universiteitsfonds TU Delft or via another organization.
Organisation
This Thesis Lab is a collaboration between NIMAR and LDE Global.
The Netherlands Institute in Morocco (NIMAR) is an institute of the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University, with a nationwide remit, located in Rabat, Morocco.
The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus alliance is in the perfect position to contribute in an interdisciplinary way to the urgent global challenges we nowadays face. Not only locally, but worldwide. LDE Global closely collaborates with partners in Africa, South- and Southeast-Asia and Latin-America on topics such as Health, Water, Energy, Housing, Climate, Migration, Heritage and more.
