In this presentation I explore how modernist mass housing and urban planning in the Maghreb is a central site not only in the global history of architecture, but also for the exploration of the links between aesthetics, built environment and political constitution. Building on the argument present in Colonial Modern: Aesthetics of the Past, Rebellions of the Future (2010) the first part of my paper examines how mass housing architecture simultaneously emerges from colonial capitalism in North Africa and frames the decolonial process. How do bidonvilles participate in movements of political self-constitution? How do brutalist apartment buildings become instruments of nation-building? The second part of my paper explores how contemporary artists from the Maghreb engage the aftermath of these buildings and life in modernist built environment. Why do artists like Kader Attia recreate bidonvilles in galleries? What does it mean for a Moroccan architecture association (MAMMA) to create merchandise like posters and mugs documenting brutalist office buildings and mosques? What do videos of life in high-rise buildings in the www.this-was-tomorrow.net project work to communicate about the past and future? I hope to show how the Maghreb was not only a key element in the global history of mass housing, but should be read as a central site of discussions of its future.