Urban Transport and Environmental Quality

This research report, produced within a working group on urban transport in Casablanca, rigorously examines the interactions between motorised transport systems and urban environmental quality in a global context characterised by a vehicle fleet exceeding 400 million and rapid urbanisation. The author demonstrates that while the automobile has become a symbol of modernity and social aspiration, it is also the primary source of urban environmental degradation through air pollution (carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides), noise nuisances, space and energy consumption, and traffic accidents. The legal analysis inventories the normative instruments available in Morocco to control the environmental impact of urban transport and evaluates their effectiveness against international standards and comparative practice. The author advocates an integrated regulatory approach combining binding technical emission standards, economic instruments such as eco-taxes, and urban planning policies promoting public transport and non-motorised modes of travel, in order to reconcile urban mobility with environmental quality imperatives.