The Difficult Choice between Exurbanization and Coexistence of the City and the Gas Industry in the Gas Field of Hassi R'Mel, Algeria

This paper seeks to address the issue of urban planning in high-risk industrial areas. It focuses on the observation and the assessment of the interaction between one's risk perceptions in and one's attachment to a locality (as place of birth, residence or work), by analyzing a project of exurbanization and relocation of the urban infrastructures of the industrial city of Hassi R'Mel in Algeria, towards the new town of Bellil, created as a new urban entity 35 km north of the current city centre to relocate residents since Hassi M'Rel has been classified as a risk area.

An empirically-oriented approach was carried out based on fieldwork, official statistics, questionnaires and semi-directive interviews with local residents and public actors. The results obtained from the informants' data analysis show a strong attachment to the locality of Hassi R'Mel despite identified risks.