Marrakech is a city located in central Morocco, inland, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains4. It is nicknamed the “red city” or the “ocher city” in reference to the red color of a large part of its buildings and houses5.

The city was founded in 1071 by Youssef ben Tachfine, at the head of the Berber Empire of the Almoravids. In the past, Morocco was known in the East under the name of Marrakech (appellation still relevant in Iran) 6; the name Morocco itself comes from the distortion of the Portuguese pronunciation of Marrakech: Marrocos7.

Marrakech has 928,850 inhabitants according to the 2014 census, spread over an area of 230 km2. The population density reaches 350 inhabitants per hectare in the Medina. It is the fourth largest city in Morocco after Casablanca, Fez and Tangier8. The city is divided into two distinct parts: the historic city (ten kilometers of enclosure) and the new city whose main districts are called Guéliz, L'Hivernage (which concentrates many hotel complexes)