Amman Centennial Forum

Event: Transparency in Urban Governance

Host: Amman Institute
Type: Education - Lecture

Date:	Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time:	10:00am - 12:00pm
Location:	King Hussein Cultural Center
Street:	Ras Al Ain

Building Pedestrian Cities !

Think Green 2 Conference

Amman the city of Soul ?

According to amman plan you can notice the slogan: "a livable city is an organized city with a soul." I was navigating Monocle's published list of the most livable cities trying to find the features of a livable cities and I found the following:

# 1: Munich emerges as the most liveable city

#2: Copenhagen is Scandinavia's most desirable city

#3: For Zurich, new vibrancy in Switzerland's finance capital

#4: Tokyo's peace behind the glitter

#5: In Vienna, Mittel-European grandeur meets modernity

#6: Helsinki's western chic retains a Finnish edge

#7: Sydney creates urbanity by the beach

#8: Stockholm shows the big charms of a small city

#9: Honolulu is a truly global city

#10: Madrid emerges from Barcelona's shadow

#11: Melbourne's touch of old Europe

#12: Montreal mixes French flair and American urbanity

#13: Barcelona boasts a cosmopolitan mix

#14: Kyoto combines antiquity with style

#15: Vancouver is experiencing a boom

#16: Auckland slowly gets to know itself

#17: Singapore's newly blossoming cultural landscape

#18: Hamburg's hip, modern metropolis

#19: Paris - rainy, gray, still a great place to live

#20: Geneva's efficient savoir-vivre

Finally... We all need to work on executing Amman Plan. There is a lot of work ahead of us, and it won't happen if we didn't take the responsibility of building the city, to make it more livable. 

No to Abdali Project Nor to Abu Ghazaleh / A different perspective

Obviously, Abdali project was planned and created without being initially part of any development plans of the city. The new GMA Interim strategy, which was inspired by the vision of our beloved wise King Abdullah last year, came later after and the GMA took that project as the key element for the development of the city.

We need a more comprehensive study for the city of Amman development taking into the considerations all the Stakeholders for the city development, and everybody should cooperate.

I can say, the municipality started doing that by building the GMA interim strategy not by only talking to the community asking for suggestions but to be transparent in the process. There will be mistakes along the way that can be prevented. However, this debate is only the beginning but we don't need more mistakes and corruption. On the other hand, the GMA strategy need to be more comprehensive and careful of addressing such problems.

But why now after all this effort of producing such a plan we still see debates and corrupted actions like that? Is this the beginning only? Will the new city development plan cause debates? or can the municipality actions continue being transparent

Regarding the new GAM Interim Strategy

I am not sure if any of the architects/planners did or can criticize anything. The problem of the "Tower buildings" have different dimensions.
The study for Amman plan presented by the Mayor is not comprehensive, and there are few points I would like to mention:
1) It says: " We can partner with tower investors to achieve our vision" ... you represent the government and you enforce the city plan, you don't partner. If there is a plan, it should be implemented as it is.


2) Transportation. The problem is not just transportation accessibility, it's the increase in traffic congestions. New towers in the middle of the city will increase traffic congestions.

3) Environment...to ensure and promote. This is a weak statement for a global great concern. Green architecture, sustainability needs to be on the top list of priorities of future developments and you set rules and regulations based on them. it's the future.

4) Aesthetics "...Limestone, and metal materials. Some colors like white, peige are encouraged." We have enough stone that makes the city very pale now. Stone is beautiful, but we need variety of colors and new materials. For example: use Brick with its different colors and textures and it fits the proportion of the Human being since it's size is small.

5) "...Staggering buildings on slopes protecting views." This doesn't make since at all. a) What about the views of the tower itself? b) The tower is a tower, when you build it in the city it will still block the surrounding views.

6)"... Encourage taller and thinner over wider." Again: Encourage. Means nothing.

It was suggested to FILL 3 open areas to build Tower buildings in and arround Amman and I don't agree with that. Neither of the solutions presented solved anything.
1) We still have towers in the middle of the city.
2) We will have more traffic congestions in the city.
3) No environmental, sustainability plan.


A solution I might suggest:
1) Move all of the new towers to a new area, build a new modern city for all these new towers.
2) Build more Parks, we need to see more trees and playgrounds.
3) Encourage building with new materials and colors that brings more life to the city other than limestone, and the commercial metal.

One last thing, we don't only need a city plan we need new construction building methods, and building materials in Amman thats based on studying the available resources and the economical advantage of using new building technologies.