This serial property is a testimony to a settlement pattern that developed on the island of Djerba around the 9th century CE amidst the semi-dry and water-scarce environment. Low‑density was its key characteristic: it involved the division of the island into neighbourhoods, clustered together, that were economically self-sustainable, connected to each other and to the religious and trading places of the island, through a complex network of roads. Resulting from a mixture of environmental, socio-cultural and economic factors, the distinctive human settlement of Djerba demonstrates the way local people adapted their lifestyle to the conditions of their water-scarce natural environment.

Brief synthesis The serial property of Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern in an island territory is an eminent example of spatial organization based on a dispersed settlement pattern and associated socio-economic system that evolved between the 9th and 18th centuries and reflected a symbiotic relationship between communities of diverse cultures and faiths who coexisted peacefully in Djerba and adapted their way of life to the conditions and restrictions of their water-scarce natural environment. This distinctive human settlement pattern, which was neither totally urban nor totally rural, developed in response to a combination of environmental, socio-cultural and economic factors, and spread throughout the entire island. At the heart of this system was the combination of dispersed, low-density rural-type settlements (neighbourhoods organized according to the menzel-houma system, typical of the Ibadis, combining living quarters with family economic activities) and denser urban-type clusters (residential neighbourhoods inhabited by Jewish communities and the market district dedicated to commercial exchanges), which together formed a unique township on the island. The houma (neighbourhood), made up of a number of menzel (family estates), was an economically self-sustaining entity that hosted agricultural and craft activities, representing on a small scale the social and economic organization of the island as a whole. The houma were linked to each other, as well as to the…