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In Tangiers, shanty towns are in a minority and are steadily being eradicated: a third of the Tangiers population live in permanent durably-built dwellings in non-regulation quarters, whereas spontaneous peripheral settlements of Casablanca are still mostly in the form of shanty towns. This article attempts to shed light on the systems of logic that govern the way urban margins function by examining the operations geared to further their absorption. How does the city’s management vision become translated into measures to implement public policies aiming at shanty-town elimination? What is the place accorded to families evacuated from the shanty towns in the urban spaces that are planned? The study highlights the gap that exists, on the one hand, between the inhabitants’ life experiences and aspirations and, on the other, the prevailing political conceptions and modes of action deployed in programmes to remove insalubrious housing.