4.1.2. Urban Morphology

The results of the urban morphology analysis showed the following:

In 1918, the corridor dominated the configuration of the urban fabric. The urban blocks (fill) consisted of about 3.4% of the study area; the urban blocks and street pattern were shaped organically and intertwined with the stream corridor. There was only one main street parallel to the stream now called (King Talal Street). In addition, there was a bridge which connected the Roman Amphitheater and the agricultural fields on that side with the residential areas and mosque (Figure 6A).

In 1953, the corridor was still the most dominating element on the urban morphology, despite that the urban blocks increased (15.3%) and the number of streets and bridges increased over the corridor. The number of buildings significantly increased (about fivefold since 1918) on both sides of the corridor with the presence of urban spaces between buildings, which promoted the social activities of the residents (Figure 6B). The stream at this stage is still taking its course despite the fact that the green body of trees and agricultural fields have decreased to half. No stream sit backs were maintained to protect the course of its running stream.

In 1978, a large part of the stream (almost half) disappeared, and was replaced by a wide main street (Quraysh Street). The urban blocks consisted of about 21.3% of the study area, and these urban blocks and the streets were shaped in a loose grid pattern. The numbers of streets increased while the bridges over the stream disappeared, since the stream no longer existed for the most part. The transportation networks gave the priority in shaping the urban fabric to the vehicles. The stream coverage policy enforced land acquisition and building demolition processes, changing land use along the stream bank (Figure 6C).

The morphology of 1978 is much denser now, leaving fewer spaces between buildings (Figure 6C). The places that look vacant are those that will be obtained by land acquisition acts in the future. More very dense areas surround the watercourse at this time. This is due to the large number of immigrants coming from Palestine at this time fleeing the wars.

In 1992, Quraysh Street was the most dominant element in the urban morphology of the study area. At Ras Al-Ein, part of the remaining stream was transferred to a culvert which led to a discontinuity of the corridor (Figure 6D). In that year, the urban blocks consisted of about 25.7% of the study area, although there were demolitions of existing buildings for the purpose of governmental acquisition. Table 2 showed the summary of the comparison in urban morphology change before and after the coverage of the stream


**Table 2.** Urban morphology changes before and after the coverage of the stream.

## 4.1.3. Public Perception

To understand the public perception's comparison between 'before the coverage' and 'after the coverage', the researchers interviewed two groups: group A and group B. Group A resulted from a target group of interviewees of 30 persons of elder people (above 65 years old), who used to live or work in the downtown of Amman before the coverage of the stream. Group B resulted from 200 persons of visitors and residents in Amman aging 20–75 years old who witnessed Amman after the coverage of the stream. Group A, who were mainly men, used to live in the downtown, except 5% of them who used to live somewhere else, but they were working in the downtown since the 1950s. They used to work in handicrafts, agriculture, ranching, carpentry and leather tanning, and some people worked in the railway station. Although the education at that time did not exceed the middle or high school, they were learning their crafts by practice.

In describing the history and the city character features, group A described the old city of Amman as a small village, intermediated with a small river, i.e., the stream of Amman. They also described the stream banks containing orchards and some houses with a low number of population. In their opinion, the most important features of the city were the Roma Theatre, The Nymphaeum, and the Roman Arches over the stream that were removed upon covering the stream. Although they remembered the life around the stream, but they did not consider it as a main feature of the city.

On the contrary, the majority of group B considered the stream a historical value that played a significant role in the emergence of the city, and considered that the character of Amman had changed after covering the stream. They acknowledged the change of the land use and they considered it as a negative impact of covering the stream. They complain about the possibility of mixing the wastewater with rainwater. Only 41% of group B saw that covering the stream solved the transportation problem.

Concerning the social and cultural characteristics, group A expressed that social life was more intimate, simple and enjoyable then. The community consisted of groups of extended and nuclear families with strong social ties, and Amman was described "as a center of social mix and cultural gathering," where the community was a mix of Jordanians, Palestinians, Circassians, Syrians and Yemenis. In addition, they pointed out that the existence of the railroad (with traders and pilgrims) had an impact on the generated milting pot.

On the other hand, the majority of group B considered the downtown of Amman a cultural and touristic destination, and they believe that the present social life of the people in Amman is different from the past social life. Yet, they believed that there were insufficient places downtown for cultural activities, and they deemed that the stream provided an opportunity for people to meet and socialize.

When group A was asked to describe the city of Amman in the spring, they were evoked to describe the stream's nature and significance for the city; they described it then as "a green paradise" referring to the local trees surrounding the stream. The only negative image they recalled was the winter floods of the stream, and the pollution caused by discharging wastewater into the stream by residents.

Group B could not see any paradise, and most of them suffered from the lack of green spaces in the downtown. They deemed that there were no suitable places for relaxing and recreation downtown. However, they saw in the restoration of the stream a potential for a linear park that could reintroduce the nature into the downtown of Amman, and they believed that restoring it may improve the water management, reduce the runoff in the winter, reduce the air pollution and reduce the urban heat island effect.

The awareness of the land use change was recognizable in both groups A and B; group A indicated that until the seventies of the last century, Amman was an agriculture-dependent city with land orchards and fields. The shops scattered only along King Talal Street, and the residential land uses concentrated around the stream.

Group B touched the land use change and considered the rapid processes of urbanization, transportation and migration hindering land use and environmental planning processes. Most of them supported the idea of restoring the covered stream; they believed that it would provide a recreational development instead of the limited small and light industries in the area.

Both Group A and Group B agree that crossing the stream or the street is an issue; although the number of cars and streets were few before the coverage of the stream. They recognized the difficulty in accessing the other side of the stream bank; residents used to cross on wooden and metallic bridges to reach the stream banks, and to carry out their daily activities. Group B believed that covering the stream did not solve the problem, because crossing Quraysh street is still difficult.
