The partially unplanned infrastructure of East Amman’s neighbourhoods has created scarcity of POS, a lack of greenery, and inadequate connectivity of sidewalks, stair networks and streets. Access to public facilities and basic urban services is bound to long distances or sometimes completely cut off. Due to housing density, construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of POS is challenging. In some places, spontaneous growth, inadequate urban infrastructure, and waste removal has led to deteriorated social interaction and environmental hazards, such as flooding and soil pollution.

Green spaces mitigate heat and air pollution in the city and contribute to urban wellbeing. Thus, the main objective of the ILCA project is to improve participatory development of green infrastructure in poor regions of Amman.

In Phase one, three pilot sites in East Amman are selected to implement practical networks of green urban design and thereby illustrate different elements of GI. The participatory projects focus on greening and rehabilitation, walkability and access to transport, sustainable urban drainage systems, and improvement of existing infrastructure.

At the neighbourhood level, the aim is to counteract the degradation of urban spaces, improve social cohesion, and foster interaction between different population groups. On a broader level, the infrastructure networks showcase a comprehensive planning paradigm by filtering air and water pollutants, preserving local biodiversity, decreasing the impact of urban heat waves, and stabilizing soil to reduce erosion.

In Phase two, the strategy for implementation, developed jointly with partners and stakeholders, serves as a basis for replication. New locations and/or extensions of existing public open space networks are introduced to further demonstrate the benefits and added value of the proposed approach and streamline it as an integrated planning process within relevant institutions.

The ILCA project is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH as the implementing agency, the Ministry of Environment as the Jordan political partner, and the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM as the implementation partner). The original planned duration of the project was July 2017 to July 2021, and the original budget was 5 000 000 EUR.

With the support of GIZ, a strategy has been developed for the participatory development and planning of green infrastructure, thereby providing the necessary conditions for GAM to systematically develop green infrastructure in Amman. This measure has increased the capacity to involve local citizens in city planning as well, thus bringing multidimensional benefits for citizens: improved quality of life, mobility, and strengthened social cohesion. Additionally, this strategy supports the development of the city, traffic planning processes, and improved sustainability outcomes. Furthermore, GAM employees have been provided with guidance on integrating gender-sensitive aspects into planning.

Largely due to migration from conflict-prone neighbouring countries, the population of Amman doubled from 1.9 million in 2004 to over 4 million by 2015. Most new dwellers settle in the dense and poorer eastern parts of the city, stretching the capacity of already insufficient infrastructure.

This rapid urbanisation has brought with it many challenges including high densities and concrete-dominated areas with little to no access to public and green spaces. Covering only around 2.5 percent, the low proportion of urban green spaces places additional pressure on the existing biodiversity, and contributes to poor air quality, noise pollution, a higher risk of flooding through a lack of soil water retention, and an increase in the urban heat-island-effect.

These conditions are only set to increase in severity, as Amman faces the impact of a changing climate, which brings rising temperatures and an increase in extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, and heavy rains that flood parts of the city. Citizens of East Amman are among the most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change as these disproportionately affect the poor. 

Capacity building in parallel to implementation supports partners to develop similar urban greening projects and integrate them as a measure within comprehensive urban design and planning processes in Amman. In partnership with the Ministry of Environment (MoEnv) and the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), a guidebook for plant species selection- trees & shrubs has been prepared as an outcome of the ILCA project. The guidebook provides readers with a set of practical recommendations on how to select the right species for the right location to enhance their benefits for the POS.

The approach to the project adapts the Miyawaki method for the restoration and reconstruction of natural ecosystems, which focussed on creating native, ultra-dense, highly biodiverse, and multi-layered urban forests. This methodology, outlined in the manual prepared by Tayyun Research Studio and the Midorization Project team under the supervision of the GIZ, can be easily replicated in other cities around the world.

https://aiph.org/green-city-case-studies/amman-jordan/