"Living like a pasha in the Medina" is the way local and international real-estate agencies have been advertising the purchase of a house in the old towns of Marrkakesh, Fhs or Essaouira in recent years. This slogan and similar are astounding, as according to scientific publications of the 1990s, the basic fabric of many residential buildings in the old cities of the Maghreb are falling into varying degrees of decay. This deterioration has also not been able to be hindered, neither by city planning suggestions nor the nomination of old cities to the UNESCO world heritage list. This presentation firstly aims to illustrate an urban geographical perspective of the intensive reconstruction of the architectural urban design in the Medina of Marrakesh, spanning from the end of the 20th century until today, due to the increase of foreign immigrants from far less than 100 in the early 1990's to more than 2000 in 2009. Secondly, with a social geographical focus, I will establish the different effects this gentrification process has had on the social structure in the old city and discuss the self-images of the new Medina residents. Thirdly I will address in what manner Marrakesh serves for the new inhabitants as a paradise on earth, a place where all wishes seem to be fulfilled. This paper is based on the research project "Gentrification in old towns of the Maghreb" which has been undertaken since 1999. In the last ten years the foreign-owned houses in the Medina of Marrakesh have been mapped and about 200 qualitative interviews were conducted with "New-Marrakshi" and local representatives. The interviews have been evaluated by way of a qualitative content analysis.