The Checkered Urbanism of Amman: Life Interweaving a Neo-liberal Landscape

This doctoral research suggested reconsidering the value of atypical open space in the contemporary neo-liberal city through the way it is incorporated in the collective and individual everyday life. The research’s area of interest is Amman, the Capital of Jordan, which comprises a little less than half the country’s population. The city’s unique shock-wave growth pattern caused by turbulent regional conditions has shaped its dual morphological structure of built and open. Officially, this structure is considered as fragmented and in need for development intensification strategies. Yet, the undeveloped seems to substitute for some deficiencies in the production of the city’s urbanizing identity and public space. The research proposed that by inversing the map and looking at the open parts of the city as an important and underestimated component of Amman’s urbanization both physically and socially, rather than a dispersed set of empty plots. The research, therefore, focused on understanding the interaction between the different forces that produce this urbanity, and understanding the role of the un-built and the way they are appropriated to produce this urban identity. This exercise revealed that the open and the built form an interconnected and co-dependent dual structure that both work to give Amman its urban identity - hence, the name ‘checkered urbanism’ was given to characterize this dual but equally strong condition of urbanity. The research used mapping as a tool to confront the different forces of economy, planning and culture that produce checkered urbanism across the period of the city’s growth, informed by multiple data resources including literature, archival reviews and fieldwork. Photography was also used to understand checkered urbanism is incorporated in the city’s everyday patterns.status: publishe