Prospects for historic neighborhoods in atypical Islamic cities: the view from Amman, Jordan

Abstract

What is the function and future prospect for older and more historic neighborhoods in an atypical Islamic city? This study case from Amman, Jordan, identifies three main factors that have circumscribed the neighborhood's urban development: changes to landuse, rent-control bylaws, and processes of land succession. A survey of the ownership registry for 666 plots for the period 1946–2002 reveals that inheritance plays an important role in the processes of land succession. Such processes, based as they are on Islamic thinking about inheritance, are expected to be the most persistent factor affecting the future form and function of the neighborhood. The effect of such processes of land succession may be compared to the function observed elsewhere for waqf property in terms of contributing to the sustainability of traditional crafts and trades in old bazaars; in the case presented here, however, processes of land succession, are contributing to the creation of opportunities for development and redevelopment by freeing a sizeable percentage of available land, built or unbuilt, with the passing of every generation. Thus, in contrast to the often cited adverse effect such processes have in rural areas when leading to the fragmentation of agricultural farming areas, the same processes are here found to be conducive to urban regeneration and redevelopment.