Luxury real estate in Casablanca, Rabat and Fez

Casablanca is like no other. It has few, if any, traditional Moroccan clichés. No long ramparts, a small Medina compared to the size of the city; the white city experienced its real architectural boom with the art deco style a century ago. Vestiges of a past splendour of which only a small number remain, inexorably destroyed in favour of recent constructions in the city centre.

This is the heavy price paid to make Casablanca the economic lungs of the Kingdom: Casa Finance City on the site of the former Anfa airport, the new towns of Bouskoura and the seaside resorts to the south and north have spread Casablanca out like an ink stain on a blotter.

Construction sites are still underway all along the Corniche, where the monumental Hassan II mosque stands, and in Anfa, a luxury residential district where century-old villas are gradually giving way to modern art experiments. Projects that reflect the financial influence of the White City.

Built in the 12th century by the Almohads around a ribat (fortress), the origin of the name Rabat, the city, allied to its neighbour Salé, was a city-state until 1912. The French made it the capital of Morocco, a status that has been confirmed since independence in 1956.

The Hassan Tower, an unfinished example of the Koutoubia trilogy in Marrakech and Ghiralda in Seville, the Kasbah of the Oudayas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Roman site of Chellah all remain from this period.

Under the impetus of the Alawite rulers, a movement that has accelerated since the advent of Mohamed VI, Morocco's capital has been transformed into a green star in the country's firmament.

The transformation of the capital has been spectacular, with new tree-lined districts such as Agdal, the Cité des Océans, and the tourist and residential area of Bouregreg, home to the Mohamed VI Tower, soon to be joined by another edition of the Royal Mansour palace hotel, the flagship of Morocco's influence.