Publication: Unblocking Transformative Development in Amman: A Way Forward for Planning Law Reform
Loading...
Published
2023-05-31
ISSN
Date
2024-06-12
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Amman sits at a crossroads. The city's growth presents new opportunities for development that can be both efficient and sustainable. However, rapid urbanization also strains public infrastructure and services, and could result in unsustainable urban patterns that can only be fixed later only with great effort. The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) needs the right tools and systems to properly guide new development and recoup sufficient revenues to re-invest in meeting the needs of residents and businesses. Unfortunately, the current legal framework governing land development in Amman is outdated and does not meet the city's current needs. Recent legislation has provided GAM with the opportunity to put in place much needed legal structures at the local level, while the national government works on implementing broader reforms. But this work has to be focused and efficient if it is to be effective. Unless GAM makes critical legal changes the city will continue to face significant challenges in guiding urban growth or raising revenues to pay for services and infrastructure. GAM is currently working on these reforms, which are critical to setting Amman on the right path towards more sustainable development. This report reviews the Greater Amman Municipality’s (GAM) urban planning, land use and governance legal framework to identify any gaps and propose ways in which the laws could be improved, so that GAM can better meet the development demands of Amman.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Berrisford, Stephen; Alexander, Christian; Jonker, Vivienne; Kaw, Jon Kher. 2023. Unblocking Transformative Development in Amman: A Way Forward for Planning Law Reform. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41700 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO
.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods in Amman(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-11)This synthesis report examines the potential for urban design solutions to facilitate transit-oriented development (TOD) and enhance first-last mile connectivity in selected neighborhoods in Amman, leveraging municipal lands and assets, and through innovative use of public space enhancements across various scales to address neighborhood livability, inclusion and safety; greenery and urban heat islands; and access to public transit nodes, jobs and services.Publication The Welfare and Productivity Effects of Transit Improvements in Amman(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-13)This paper studies the long-run welfare and productivity effects of transit improvements in the Greater Amman Municipality. The paper builds a rich quantitative spatial model that includes many aspects of the economic geography of Amman. It studies the effects of new bus rapid transit lines that improve the connection of more peripheral areas to the city center, in two phases: phase 1 (approximately) connecting the north-eastern and north-western regions, and phase 2 adding the southern and south-westerns regions. It finds that the bus rapid transit increases output by 4.4 to 5 percent in phase 1 and 7.2 to 7.6 percent in phase 2. Workers in manufacturing benefit the most, and they also lived farthest from the city center before the bus rapid transit was established. Welfare in all neighborhoods increases, with the largest increases at the outer ends of the new bus rapid transit lines. Phase 1 generally promotes densification and welfare in already dense locations, while phase 2 encourages additional densification to the south. Our preliminary analysis of the interaction of zoning restrictions with the bus rapid transit suggests that legal zoning limits are binding in a few locations where excess demand for real estate after the expansion of bus rapid transit is expected to be large.Publication Future Amman Positioned at a Juncture(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-12)In "Future Amman Positioned at a Juncture: Three Strategies Toward Climate-Smart Spatial Transformation," the intricate dynamics of Amman's urban landscape are meticulously studied to offer a comprehensive roadmap toward spatial transformation. With a focus on growth dynamics, resource allocation, asset management, and planning reforms, the book lays out three strategies crucial for Amman's future development. Strategy 1 delves into the necessity of leveraging spatial planning to manage growth effectively and foster synergies across various sectors. Strategy 2 emphasizes the urgency of strategic sequencing and prioritization of actions to optimize limited resources within Amman's evolving landscape. Finally, Strategy 3 underscores the untapped potential of Amman's public land assets and enterprises in driving economic development and sustainable land value capture. Through insightful analysis and pragmatic recommendations, the publication offers a compelling narrative for policymakers, urban planners, and stakeholders invested in shaping Amman's future as a vibrant, inclusive, and resilient city.Publication Amman Urban Growth Scenarios(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-12)Although Jordan is a small contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, its emissions have rapidly increased in the last four decades. Transport and energy prove to be the two sectors with the highest GHG contribution. The increase in GHG has also been related to the rapid population growth and urbanisation process. The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has been transitioning towards climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. It has developed a comprehensive Climate Action Plan and climate change measures to reduce exposure to environmental hazards and reduce GHG emissions. These strategies have the objective to achieve a resilient city and promote sustainability in the city. The objective of this project was to provide analytical insights into the Jordan Climate Change Development Report (CCDR), focusing on the urban, transport, and energy sectors.Publication Supporting Private Sector Development in Iraq(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-11)While Iraq is a middle-income country it faces challenges which are more commonly found in low income countries. These include dependence on one primary commodity (crude oil); significant infrastructure reconstruction and rehabilitation needs; and poorly performing regulatory policies, institutions and processes. Iraq's recent success in stabilizing its macro economy and budget was an important step towards reversing this situation. However, much more needs to be done. For example, oil revenues generate over 95 percent of budget revenues but the oil sector employs only one per cent of the labor force. Developing a strong and healthy private sector is necessary for Iraq to develop a diversified and resilient market economy with rising living standards. Furthermore progress is needed in diversifying its economy and creating healthy competition in markets to generate employment and sustainable livelihoods for the majority of its growing population. Iraq's transition to a more diversified market economy continues to take place in a fragile political, security and institutional context.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.