From smart city to adaptive resilience: a model for assessing the dynamic capabilities of Global South cities. A comparative case study: Dakhla and Marrakech

Abstract

This research addresses a specific theoretical gap: the classical dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), mainly developed for organizations possessing institutional memory and established routines, does not fully explain cities built ex nihilo, where part of the capability base must be designed before crises occur. The study compares Marrakech, a historically established city, and Dakhla, a planned ex nihilo city, to examine how sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capabilities emerge under contrasting urban trajectories. The research adopts an interpretivist stance and a qualitative comparative design, drawing on 32 semi-structured interviews (17 in Marrakech and 15 in Dakhla) together with a documentary analysis of 27 institutional planning documents. Thematic analysis identifies two distinct regimes of territorial dynamic capabilities: in Marrakech, a reactive and cumulative regime, structured around water stress, sector-based seizing centred on tourism, and a gradual, trial-and-error reconfiguration; in Dakhla, a proactive regime, grounded in instrumented anticipation, geostrategic seizing linked to port investment, and a reconfiguration designed ex ante through a modular institutional architecture. On this basis, the article proposes the exploratory Proactive Dynamic Capabilities of Cities model (PDCC), structured around six propositions: anticipatory resilient design, imported institutional memory, strategic narration, founding coalition, analogical learning, and governance adaptable by design. The Adaptive Resilience Index (ARI) is used as an exploratory qualitative comparison instrument, while acknowledging its methodological limitations linked to the small number of cases and the absence of formalized inter-rater validation. The contribution is twofold: it extends dynamic capabilities from the firm to the territorial level and specifies institutional conditions for proactive resilience in ex nihilo cities, while shedding light on territorial governance and advanced regionalization issues in Morocco.

JEL Classification: O18, R58, Q56, H83

Paper type: Empirical Research