URBAN  CROSSROADS 

Introduction

Urban Crossroads is a regular column published in The Jordan Times, Jordan's English-language daily, and written by Mohammad al-Asad, the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) in Amman.  The 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 on April 15, 2004.

Contents

  • Urban Crossroads #1: 

Introduction: An Anatomy of the City

  • Urban Crossroads #2: 

The Domination of Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #3: 

Urban Sprawl

  • Urban Crossroads #4: 

Zoning

  • Urban Crossroads #5: 

Cities of the Arab East

  • Urban Crossroads #6: 

Public Transportation

  • Urban Crossroads #7: 

Beirut

  • Urban Crossroads #8: 

Property Rental Laws

  • Urban Crossroads #9: 

Riyadh

  • Urban Crossroads #10: 

Sidewalks of Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #11: 

Apartment Living

  • Urban Crossroads #12: 

The Shopping Mall

  • Urban Crossroads #13: 

To Commute or Telecommute

  • Urban Crossroads #14: 

Time Zoning

  • Urban Crossroads #15: 

Parking in Amman: Privilege or Right

  • Urban Crossroads #16: 

Airport Road

  • Urban Crossroads #17: 

Soundscapes of Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #18: 

Amman Street Maps

  • Urban Crossroads #19: 

Amman's Most Beautiful District

  • Urban Crossroads #20: 

Empty Plots Everywhere

  • Urban Crossroads #21: 

Signs of the City

  • Urban Crossroads #22: 

Surfaces of the City: Concrete

  • Urban Crossroads #23: 

Nooks and Crannies

  • Urban Crossroads #24: 

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

  • Urban Crossroads #25: 

A Tale of Two Shops

  • Urban Crossroads #26: 

The Growth of Buildings

  • Urban Crossroads #27: 

Sweifieh: A Case of Urban Deterioration

  • Urban Crossroads #28: 

Energy Consumption in the City

  • Urban Crossroads #29: 

Amman’s Urban Fabric: What Went Wrong?

  • Urban Crossroads #30: 

Urban Solutions: Easier Said than Done

  • Urban Crossroads #31: 

Fixing Sweifieh

  • Urban Crossroads #32: 

Underpasses Everywhere

  • Urban Crossroads #33: 

City Infrastructure

  • Urban Crossroads #34: 

The Street Where I Live

  • Urban Crossroads #35: 

Taking the Bus

  • Urban Crossroads #36: 

Buy Now, Pay Later

  • Urban Crossroads #37: 

Disposable Buildings

  • Urban Crossroads #38: 

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

  • Urban Crossroads #39: 

The Landscaping Challenge

  • Urban Crossroads #40: 

Rehabilitating Old Aleppo

  • Urban Crossroads #41: 

Exploring the Early Islamic City

  • Urban Crossroads #42: 

Ever-growing Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #43: 

What if...

  • Urban Crossroads #44: 

Educating Architects and Planners

  • Urban Crossroads #45: 

To Centralize or Decentralize

  • Urban Crossroads #46: 

Model Streets

  • Urban Crossroads #47: 

Sweifieh Revisited

  • Urban Crossroads #48: 

Searching for the Inoffensive Gas Station

  • Urban Crossroads #49: 

Moving Around the City

  • Urban Crossroads #50: 

Moving Around Amman

  • Urban Crossroads #51: 

Building Communities

  • Urban Crossroads #52: 

Exploring a Traffic Intersection

  • Urban Crossroads #53: 

What Happened to My Neighborhood

  • Urban Crossroads #54: 

Whose Street Is It Anyway?

  • Urban Crossroads #55: 

Have To vs. Want To

  • Urban Crossroads #56: 

Goodbye Nature

  • Urban Crossroads #57: 

Staking Territory

  • Urban Crossroads #58: 

The Demands of the Few and the Rights of the Many

  • Urban Crossroads #59: 

Zero Tolerance

  • Urban Crossroads #60: 

The Urban Planning Moment

  • Urban Crossroads #61: 

Desperately Seeking Amman

(by guest contributor Babar Mumtaz)

  • Urban Crossroads #62: 

Smart Growth

  • Urban Crossroads #63: 

Where Should All the Garbage Go?

  • Urban Crossroads #64: 

Sharing the Road

  • Urban Crossroads #65: 

Urban Planning and Daily Stress

  • Urban Crossroads #66: 

The Dubai Model

  • Urban Crossroads #67: 

The Trans-Jordan Trail

  • Urban Crossroads #68: 

To Kill the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg

  • Urban Crossroads #69: 

The Municipal Three-Legged Stool

  • Urban Crossroads #70: 

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

  • Urban Crossroads #71: 

Cairo: A Ray of Hope

  • Urban Crossroads #72: 

Managing Amman’s Traffic

  • Urban Crossroads #73: 

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

  • Urban Crossroads #74: 

The Amman Report Card

  • Urban Crossroads #75: 

Wakalat Street … Again!

  • Urban Crossroads #76: 

Celebrating Water

  • Urban Crossroads #77: 

Architecture for the Rich; Mere Shelter for the Poor

  • Urban Crossroads #78: 

Urban Change:  Management and Resistance

  • Urban Crossroads #79: 

Urban Life and Rising Commodity Prices

  • Urban Crossroads #80: 

Bottom–Up Urban Development

  • Urban Crossroads #81: 

A New Amman, for Better and for Worse

  • Urban Crossroads #82: 

The City’s Creative Energies

  • Urban Crossroads #83: 

Public Art

  • Urban Crossroads #84: 

Amman's Heart and Soul: The Downtown Area
 
     
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