*1.2. Developing Amman; Plans and Policies*

Amman has witnessed different development plans over the years 1955, 1968 and 1970 by many authorities and organizations. These plans were a reflection of the frequent demographic and infrastructure changes in Amman. The plans focused on the city kernel by the stream, and its surrounding urban areas, and proposed changes to the stream based on the plan objectives.

In 1955, the United Nations (UN) field planners and consultants, King and Lock, prepared the first comprehensive development plan for the city of Amman (Amman Municipality archives, 2019) (Figure 2). This plan aimed at achieving objectives for housing and employment sectors according to the big flow of refugees after the Palestinian–Israeli first war in 1948. The plan aimed to preserve and enhance the nature through the establishment of self-contained mountain neighborhoods. It embraced the concept of "green fingers", which fringed from the stream corridors and into the heart of the city, creating public open spaces. The plan proposed a "central park" in the city center, which included the municipal building, library, theater and arts gallery [9]. Clearly, this plan followed Ebenezer Howard's Garden City ideas, and the British town planning innovations of the 1640s [9]. Based on later plans by the municipality, this idea was not implemented or developed any further in terms of land use management or spatial planning processes. The green fingers and the ecological city core did not see the light. Piecemeal additions that responded to the boom cycles of building activity replaced the 1955 visionary plan.

**Figure 2.** Development plan, 1955 source: [9]. For clarity purposes, the authors colored the green fingers and future mountaintops that are planned to become future urban areas.

In the 1960s, the Planning Department was established in the Jordan Development Board (JDB), where they affirmed the need to improve the agricultural and tourism sectors, and to achieve evolution and development in both sectors through a Seven Year Program for the Economic Development of Jordan (1964–1970). However, according to the decline of the Jordanian economic situation during the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the Civic Center Development Plan (CCDP) in 1968 has been prepared to focus mainly on tourism 148 redevelopment of the CBD of Amman. The proposed plan consisted of a linear park along with other administrative, commercial, recreational and service land uses [9].

The growth witnessed unplanned population mutations (1967–1970) because of neighboring political factors, which resulted in urban expansion and urban mutations in the city. These urban mutations increased the need for infrastructure, the need for new land uses and the need for urban expansion at the expense of agricultural lands and natural resources. This urban expansion led to jeopardizing the stream and the natural resources associated with it which mediated the city, giving it a unique character throughout history. Because of this transformation, the uses that existed on both sides of the stream had changed, causing a character transformation.
