4.1.1. Land Use Changes

The results showed that there were gradual changes in land use between the years 1918 and 1953. The majority of the parcel uses in 1918 were agricultural and recreational uses (75%) and residential uses (24.3%) that was concentrated around the stream corridor (Table 1). During that period, the stream had one crossing bridge at the amphitheater site (Figure 6A).


**Table 1.** Land use change before and after the coverage of the stream.

In 1953, the city developed and expanded after it became a trade destination for the population from inside and outside Jordan, especially after the Palestinian war in 1948. The map shows a slight reduction of agricultural and recreational lands to about 47.4%, and increase in the residential lands (39.7%), which resulted in creating new land uses such as mixed use (8.1%) and public services (3.6%), in addition to a slight increase in the religious buildings (Table 1). Two additional bridges occurred in that year; one within the Al-Muhajereen neighborhood and another one midway between Al-Muhajereen and the amphitheater (Figure 5B).

The urbanization overtook agricultural lands where the proportion of the agricultural and recreational lands decreased. Residential and mixed land uses spread on the edges of the main streets along the corridor side (Figure 5B).

Upon the stream coverage, a street (Quraysh Street) was erected on top of its course. Most uses on both sides of Quraysh Street converted from residential, recreational and agricultural uses to commercial and mixed land uses to inflate from 8.1% in 1953 into 34.8% by 1978. The proportion of agricultural and recreational uses decreased to 30%, and the proportion of residential use to about 15.3%. Mixed uses increased to about 34.8% (Table 1). Accordingly, the municipality added governmental services upstream consisting of 18.6% of parcel areas (Figure 6C). The view was to turn these into central business districts to support the economic development in the CBD. The watercourse is covered between the Al-Muhajereen and the amphitheater. This stretch of the stream is about 1.4 km long.

In 1967-1992 governmental acquisition started to take place upstream; houses were demolished and a part of the stream was covered and converted to a culvert. The area (land acquisition) was later transformed to the Greater Amman Municipality headquarters (Figure 6D). The agricultural and recreational uses decreased from 75% in 1918 to 23.4% in 1992. The mixed land use stayed almost the same, but the land acquisition consisted of about 29.6% (Table 1).

Table 1 shows the summary of the comparison in land use change before and after the coverage of the stream.
