Arab cities top survey on quality of African life

Casablanca, Rabat and Fez joined Marrakesh - nicknamed the Ochre City for the walls surrounding its old medina district - at the top of the list published on Tuesday.

"They are cities that are not huge, where real work has been done to improve infrastructure, people's quality of life (and) housing in a stable political context," said Swiss urban sociologist Jerome Chenal, who directed the survey.

The study of 100 cities, which included all of the continent's capitals and its largest urban centres, was based on criteria including social and living conditions, infrastructure, governance and environment.

Egypt's coastal Alexandria and capital Cairo also held two positions in the top 10 focusing on life in African cities for ordinary people.

"Until now, rankings for Africa were done for investors and expatriates," Chenal told Afrique Mediterranee Business, the Paris-based magazine that commissioned the study.

"We never asked how people lived, whether young or old, rich or poor," he told AFP.

In sixth place, Tunis also made the list conducted by Swiss research body Communaute d'Etudes pour l'Amenagement du Territoire at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).

EPFL says it will conduct the study each year in the hope of standardising data on African cities.