**3. Methodology**

This research reviewed the process of land use and city character changes induced by the policy implementation of covering the watercourse and converting it to Quraysh Street. The process of evaluation went through two main stages: before and after the coverage of the stream and the assessment of the current conditions. In each stage the land use change, urban morphology change and public perception were explored.

Land use was acquired from the municipality archives, which has a collection of old maps. This research is using Bartholomew land use classification (first level) which identifies eight different land uses; residential, commercial, industrial, public and semipublic, public parks, railroads, streets and vacant land [69]. The comparison is based on land use area changes and percentage change using cad drawing area calculations on parcels. The areas are compared excluding street areas.

The morphology was registered using aerial photos by digitizing the built areas in the different years. The comparison assessed the footprint changes in terms of proportional areas of infill and fill. The research used CAD drawings to calculate the areas of the footprints.

The public perception was induced from interviews, one-to-one on-street questionnaires and online questionnaires. The three methods provided a good base for assessing changes on the city character: (1) The demonstration of opinions regarding the interviewed elderly who witnessed watercourse character changes provided the old city character; (2) the one-to-one on-street questionnaires explored stakeholders (who spent the most time at the study area) and visitors at the location; (3) the online questionnaire focused on the city character and perception of the study area by local residents and city visitors. Overall, the three methods provided a wholesome assessment of the public perception of the study area.

The first part of the first stage, the study reviewed the land use and urban morphology of the aerial photographs for the years 1918 and 1953 (Figures 5 and 6). The land use information was obtained from Amman Municipality archives. The morphology was digitized from the aerial photographs obtained from the Royal Geographic Center for these years. In order to pursue a comprehensive understanding of the situation before the coverage of the corridor, the researchers conducted interviews (N = 30) following snowball sampling with elder people (≥65 years) who lived in the period before and after the coverage of the stream (those who witnessed changes in the 1960s to the present). The sample, which was primarily from men, is especially comprised of elderly residents and workers in the downtown, especially those located in King Talal Street and Quraysh Street, who mainly manufactured small crafts or mended furniture. The first interviewee linked the researchers to another, and the second forwarded them to the third, and so on. They were tested on their perception of six characteristics: demography; history and city character; social and cultural characteristics; environment, landscape and green spaces; land use planning; and satisfaction with transportation and pedestrian networks.

In the second part of the first stage, the study reviewed the land use and urban morphology of the aerial photographs for the years 1978 and 1992 (Figure 5C,D). The Land use information was obtained from Amman Municipality archives. The morphology was digitized from photographs acquired from the Royal Geographic Center for these years. In addition, this stage succeeded in assessing public perception of the formulated character changes based on questionnaires concerning: population growth and land use change, character change, potential rehabilitation ideas and prospect solutions for the current conditions. The study conducted one-to-one, randomly distributed on-street questionnaires (N = 200) with diverse age groups (20–75) including everyday users, workers and residents of downtown. The poll took place during the month of November 2018. In the end, 65% of the sample was collected from shop visitors on both sides of Quraysh Street and King Talal Street. The shoppers' testimony concerning infrastructure, land use change and character changes were valued in this research.

In this stage, the study analyzed land use and urban morphology based on the information and illustrative plans of these periods. Maps and plans were obtained from the Greater Amman Municipality archives and publications sometimes, and then analyzed by the authors.

The second stage reviewed the current situation. This included a comparison between the existing and planned uses, to determine the extent to which municipality policies improved land use. In order to assess land use change, researchers conducted a manual land use classification of current conditions based on field observations (2018). They compared the current land uses to the previously specified land uses by the municipality policy (1960s). There were limitations in this issue due to the inaccessible municipal data concerning building permits.

In addition, the researchers prepared an online questionnaire (N = 681, ages 18–65) to explore the current perception of city character changes among people who did not witness the location prior to the corridor coverage. Due to the previously faced difficulties with volunteers to answer the on-street questionnaire, the online was foreseen to access more people willing to take the time to answer a short survey. This was done online through posting it on Facebook. It included residents of Amman and outsiders. Residents comprised 45% of the subjects. The collected responses were in the months of February and March, 2019.

**Figure 5.** Land use, **A**: 1918, **B**: 1953, **C**: 1978, **D**: 1992 (Greater Amman Municipality archives, analyzed by researchers).

**Figure 6.** Urban morphology stages, **A**: urban morphology of 1918, **B**: urban morphology of 1953, **C**: urban morphology of 1978, **D**: urban morphology of 1992 (Aerial photographs purchased from the Royal Jordanian Geographic Center and modified by the authors).
