URBAN  CROSSROADS 

Introduction

Urban Crossroads is a regular column written by Mohammad al-Asad, the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) in Amman.  Its articles address issues relating to the urban built environment, with an emphasis on Amman and other cities in Jordan.  The articles explore the various dynamics that shape our cities, including the physical, geographic, cultural, social, economic, and political, and examine how such dynamics may be harnessed to bring about improvements in the quality of urban life.

The first Urban Crossroads article appeared in The Jordan Times, Jordan's English-language daily, on April 15, 2004, and continued to be published there until August 2011.  Following that, it has been published through the online portals www.tareeq.me and www.7iber.com in both Arabic and English.

Contents

  • Urban Crossroads #122: 

Three Public Spaces in Amman (in Arabic or English)

  • Urban Crossroads #121: 

Hostile City (in Arabic or English)

  • Urban Crossroads #120: 

Save Amman's BRT (in Arabic or English)

  • Urban Crossroads #119: 

City Clusters

  • Urban Crossroads #118: 

Nine Per Cent Parking

  • Urban Crossroads #117: 

Gallery 27: Rethinking the Architectural Exhibition

  • Urban Crossroads #116: 

The University and the City

  • Urban Crossroads #115: 

Managing Amman (in Arabic or English)

  • Urban Crossroads #114: 

Tales from Two Cities: Tunis and Cairo

  • Urban Crossroads #113: 

Commemorating Oleg Grabar (1929 – 2011)

  • Urban Crossroads #112: 

Peeking into the Future: The 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture

  • Urban Crossroads #111: 

City Components

  • Urban Crossroads #110: 

Too Many Short Trips

  • Urban Crossroads #109: 

Memories and the City II: The Personal Past

  • Urban Crossroads #108: 

Memories and the City I: The Collective Past

  • Urban Crossroads #107: 

Managing the Traditional Arab City

  • Urban Crossroads #106: 

The Nimby Reaction

  • Urban Crossroads #105: 

The End of Globalization?

  • Urban Crossroads #104: 

Connecting with the Built World

  • Urban Crossroads #103: 

Building Challenges: Urban Transportation

  • Urban Crossroads #102: 

Building Challenges: Housing Affordability

  • Urban Crossroads #101: 

Building Challenges: Energy Efficiency

  • Urban Crossroads #100: 

The Bilbao Effect

  • Urban Crossroads #99: 

Tomorrow’s Designers of the Built Environment

  • Urban Crossroads #98: 

Amman’s Garbage Problem

  • Urban Crossroads #97: 

Rethinking Public Transportation: Bus Rapid Transit Systems

  • Urban Crossroads #96: 

Moving in Amman: the Pedestrian Experience

  • Urban Crossroads #95: 

Bringing Nature Back into the City

  • Urban Crossroads #94: 

Urban Charters

  • Urban Crossroads #93: 

Aspiring for the Car-Free City

  • Urban Crossroads #92: 

Actions: What You Can Do With the City

  • Urban Crossroads #91: 

Good and Bad Urban Density

  • Urban Crossroads #90: 

Istanbul Today

  • Urban Crossroads #89: 

The Sustainable Human Settlement

  • Urban Crossroads #88: 

Linking the Cities of Jordan

  • Urban Crossroads #87: 

Amman: How Big Is Too Big?

  • Urban Crossroads #86: 

Preserving Amman’s Heart and Soul

  • Urban Crossroads #85: 

Amman’s Heart and Soul II: Jabal Amman’s First Circle Area

  • Urban Crossroads #84: 

Amman's Heart and Soul: The Downtown Area

  • Urban Crossroads #83: 

Public Art

  • Urban Crossroads #82: 

The City’s Creative Energies

  • Urban Crossroads #81: 

A New Amman, for Better and for Worse

  • Urban Crossroads #80: 

Bottom–Up Urban Development

  • Urban Crossroads #79: 

Urban Life and Rising Commodity Prices

  • Urban Crossroads #78: 

Urban Change:  Management and Resistance

  • Urban Crossroads #77: 

Architecture for the Rich; Mere Shelter for the Poor

  • Urban Crossroads #76: 

Celebrating Water

  • Urban Crossroads #75: 

Wakalat Street … Again!

  • Urban Crossroads #74: 

The Amman Report Card

  • Urban Crossroads #73: 

Architecture Serving Humanity:  The Winning Projects of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

  • Urban Crossroads #72: 

Managing Amman’s Traffic

  • Urban Crossroads #71: 

Cairo: A Ray of Hope

  • Urban Crossroads #70: 

To Tax or Not To Tax:  Amman’s Empty Land Plots

  • Urban Crossroads #69: 

The Municipal Three-Legged Stool

  • Urban Crossroads #68: 

To Kill the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg

  • Urban Crossroads #67: 

The Trans-Jordan Trail

  • Urban Crossroads #66: 

The Dubai Model

  • Urban Crossroads #65: 

Urban Planning and Daily Stress

  • Urban Crossroads #64: 

Sharing the Road

  • Urban Crossroads #63: 

Where Should All the Garbage Go?

  • Urban Crossroads #62: 

Smart Growth

  • Urban Crossroads #61: 

Desperately Seeking Amman

(by guest contributor Babar Mumtaz)

  • Urban Crossroads #60: 

The Urban Planning Moment

  • Urban Crossroads #59: 

Zero Tolerance

  • Urban Crossroads #58: 

The Demands of the Few and the Rights of the Many

  • Urban Crossroads #57: 

Staking Territory

  • Urban Crossroads #56: 

Goodbye Nature

  • Urban Crossroads #55: 

Have To vs. Want To

  • Urban Crossroads #54: 

Whose Street Is It Anyway?

  • Urban Crossroads #53: 

What Happened to My Neighborhood

  • Urban Crossroads #52: 

Exploring a Traffic Intersection

  • Urban Crossroads #51: 

Building Communities

  • Urban Crossroads #50: 

Moving Around Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #49: 

Moving Around the City

  • Urban Crossroads #48: 

Searching for the Inoffensive Gas Station

  • Urban Crossroads #47: 

Sweifieh Revisited

  • Urban Crossroads #46: 

Model Streets

  • Urban Crossroads #45: 

To Centralize or Decentralize

  • Urban Crossroads #44: 

Educating Architects and Planners

  • Urban Crossroads #43: 

What if...

  • Urban Crossroads #42: 

Ever-growing Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #41: 

Exploring the Early Islamic City

  • Urban Crossroads #40: 

Rehabilitating Old Aleppo

  • Urban Crossroads #39: 

The Landscaping Challenge

  • Urban Crossroads #38: 

"If You Can't Maintain It, Don't Build It"

  • Urban Crossroads #37: 

Disposable Buildings

  • Urban Crossroads #36: 

Buy Now, Pay Later

  • Urban Crossroads #35: 

Taking the Bus

  • Urban Crossroads #34: 

The Street Where I Live

  • Urban Crossroads #33: 

City Infrastructure

  • Urban Crossroads #32: 

Underpasses Everywhere

  • Urban Crossroads #31: 

Fixing Sweifieh

  • Urban Crossroads #30: 

Urban Solutions: Easier Said than Done

  • Urban Crossroads #29: 

Amman’s Urban Fabric: What Went Wrong?

  • Urban Crossroads #28: 

Energy Consumption in the City

  • Urban Crossroads #27: 

Sweifieh: A Case of Urban Deterioration

  • Urban Crossroads #26: 

The Growth of Buildings

  • Urban Crossroads #25: 

A Tale of Two Shops

  • Urban Crossroads #24: 

The Economics of Zoning: Jabal Amman’s First Circle Area

  • Urban Crossroads #23: 

Nooks and Crannies

  • Urban Crossroads #22: 

Surfaces of the City: Concrete

  • Urban Crossroads #21: 

Signs of the City

  • Urban Crossroads #20: 

Empty Plots Everywhere

  • Urban Crossroads #19: 

Amman's Most Beautiful District

  • Urban Crossroads #18: 

Amman Street Maps

  • Urban Crossroads #17: 

Soundscapes of Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #16: 

Airport Road

  • Urban Crossroads #15: 

Parking in Amman: Privilege or Right

  • Urban Crossroads #14: 

Time Zoning

  • Urban Crossroads #13: 

To Commute or Telecommute

  • Urban Crossroads #12: 

The Shopping Mall

  • Urban Crossroads #11: 

Apartment Living

  • Urban Crossroads #10: 

Sidewalks of Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #9: 

Riyadh

  • Urban Crossroads #8: 

Property Rental Laws

  • Urban Crossroads #7: 

Beirut

  • Urban Crossroads #6: 

Public Transportation

  • Urban Crossroads #5: 

Cities of the Arab East

  • Urban Crossroads #4: 

Zoning

  • Urban Crossroads #3: 

Urban Sprawl

  • Urban Crossroads #2: 

The Domination of Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #1: 

Introduction: An Anatomy of the City
 
     
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