The conference, held at the Hotel les Ambassadeurs in downtown Tunis, was opened by CEMAT director Dr. James Miller, who spoke of the central and growing importance of cities in the life of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Miller, who organized and convened the conference, introduced His Excellency Mohamed Aziz Ben Achour, the Minister of Culture of Tunisia, who underlined the lasting significance of Tunis as a city within the context of Islam and the Arab-Mediterranean world as he welcomed the conference visitors to Tunisia. Characterizing Tunis, and Maghreb cities in general, as "harbors of tolerance" and "lights of learning," the Minister of Culture joined the participants in a mid-morning ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of CEMAT, the Centre d'etudes maghrebines a Tunis and AIMS' first research center in the Maghreb. AIMS President Dr. Ken Perkins (University of South Carolina) cut CEMAT's birthday cake, and invited participants, as he did throughout his presence at the three-day conference, to develop and maintain scholarly relations and research projects through CEMAT.

Paper presentations were organized chronologically across the two days of scientific deliberations. The growth of cities in Antiquity was followed by cities in early Islam; the Islamic middle ages, and then cities in the 16th to 19th centuries followed; the expansion of cities in the colonial period across Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco was then examined; cities in the early independence years and then the growth of cities in the Maghreb today closed the conference. In all twenty-seven papers and one poster presentation were made. In the section on Antiquity, Khadija Qamch of Rabat (Faculty of Letters, Mohammed V University) filtered through the evidence from the earliest historical records to analyze when and where the first cities may have been established across North Africa. Nacer Bensiddik of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Algiers presented a paper outlining the Roman praetorian military foundations of Lambasesis in the Second Century A.D., and then laid out the dire threats to the integrity of the ancient site in today's Algeria. Cities were compared and contrasted over different periods in their long and successful lifespans. Such were the contrasting papers concerning Tetouan by Adriana Valencia (Architecture, U. California, Berkeley) and Mimoun Aziza (History, U. Meknes),and by Mohamed Kerrou (Sociology, Ibn Charif, Tunis) and Rebhi Ali (URBAMA, Tours) over Kairouan. A vivid portrait of expanding cities in the French occupation of Algeria in the mid-19th century emerged: Farid Khalil (Ecole Polytechnique d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme, Algiers) detailed a chronology of change in Algiers; Badia Belabed-Sahraoui (Mentouri University, Constantine) described the brutal re-organization of Constantine; Laala Boulbir (Badji Mokhtar University, Annaba), described the main themes of a very different colonial city, Bone (Annaba).

The conference was marked by the application of new technologies to the presentation of papers on cities, with computerized maps, charts, and photos illustrating the papers themselves. Dalila Khiat-Senhadji (Architecture, Mohamed Boudiaf University, Oran) presented an engaging paper on how the expansion of colonial Oran can be traced through the organization of the Catholic Church and its hierarachy across the urban landscape. Christophe Giudice (History-Geography, Lycee Lyautey, Casablanca) thrilled the conference with his presentation of Tunis and the growth of its European city through the 1940s. In all, computer PowerPoint presentations and the ease of presenting urban data and illustrations on screen created what was, in effect, a high-tech conference in addition to what conference organizers had originally conceived of as simply a conference on the pressing issue of urban growth in the Maghreb.

The aftermath of colonialism also figured strongly in the two-day conference. Mustapha Chouiki (Geography, Hassan II University, Casablanca) outlined the changing nature of central Casablanca and its transformation following the slow but steady departure of the European population. Madani Safar-Zitoun (Sociology, University of Algiers) spoke of the rapid rupture of the urban fabric of Algiers following Independence in 1962. Finally, today's cities and the development of new urban phenomena capped the conference. From the High Horticulture Institute of Tunisia at Chott Meriem, Moez Bouraoui and Hichem Rejeb (landscape architecture) spoke of the problems of maintaining green space in the advancing frontier of Tunis and Sousse. Chabane Benakazouh (Law, University of Algiers) closed the conference with his discussion of how cities in the Maghreb, and especially those in Algeria, are governed and mal-governed and the problems of civic organization.

The participants had several group activities. On Wednesday evening, May 25th, CEMAT held a reception at Dar Cemat, the 1891 Italianate villa that is CEMAT's home in downtown Tunis. An evening meal on May 26 at the port in Sidi Bou Said took place in the fine weather that graced the entire conference. And on Saturday May 28, an all-day excursion to two of the locales of the various papers presented at the conference, Kairouan and Sousse, became a cross-country intellectual odyssey in urbanism past and present. The excursion was hosted by two of the conference presenters themselves. In Kairouan, the affable intellect of Mohamed Kerrou brought the holy city alive for the conference goers. Moving on to Sousse and the burgeoning coastal region, Moez Bouraoui and several of his students and local officials presented the problems and prospects of a stunningly beautiful Tunisian landscape under the onslaught of mass tourism and the expansion of towns and cities through vacation homes and the general rise in wealth in modern Tunisia.

AIMS looks forward to next year's conference at the end of May at its new center, CEMA, in Oran.