[4][5] All three developments were built atop land previously occupied by bidonvilles, an action allegedly motivated by a French desire to make the casbah more easily policeable.

The cité confort normal, originally reserved for Europeans, sits on the north side of Oulmane Khelifa boulevard, overlooking the bay of Algiers.

[6][8] This racial cohabitation was intended to work as a vehicle for social reform; in constructing an semi-integrated development, Chevallier hoped reinforce a sentiment of French-Algerian cooperation and gain loyalty from his colonial subjects.

Tensions reached a climax on December 11, 1960, when the Algerian residents of the district marched to join independence demonstrations at the rue de Lyon, Belcourt.

[8] Following Algerian independence, St. Jean Baptiste Church, built behind the historical Villa des Arcades as part of the French quarter, was converted into a mosque via the 1966 addition of a minaret.