Inside Bab Aguenaou, the street leads into a neighborhood of the old city of Marrakech, or what we call collectively, the "medina." A sign for a dentist leans out over the street. A small school supply shop displays a window chock full of stuff!

In Morocco, many aspects of life have a dual nature: there are modern versions, and old-fashioned, local versions. There are types of oranges, for example, that are old-fashioned Moroccan varieties. And then there's that wonderful orange called the "navel," imported from California in the 1930s, that is the biggest variety grown for export. The navel is the modern version.

The same is true for dentists. This dentist is an old-fashioned, local, neighborhood type. His sign shows this. He would have only traditional dentistry tools, a plain chair, and probably is only able to make extractions. He wouldn't have a modern dentist's chair or use novocaine. Ouch! This is like dentistry 200 years ago!

Something else to note in this image is the clean-up cart on the left. This man is a city employee, who has a broom and a push-cart into which he empties the dirt and debris he finds on the street. Not exactly a high-tech operation! But as you can see in these images of Marrakech, the city is very clean.

The level of technology that you are seeing here has often been called appropriate technology. Appropriate technology is low-tech, little modernized, and small scale. It often employs a lot of people. It is technology that fits small, irregular spaces.