Urban Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Jordan: Case Study of Amman City

ABSTRACT

Urban planning has always reflected the major crises and technological developments. Throughout history, the most noteworthy advancements and innovations in urban planning have occurred in reaction to serious public health pandemics. The Covid-19 pandemic affected our negligent strategy to resilience in urban planning. The Covid-19 outbreak has touched everyone internationally and has caused us to rethink our lifestyle. This current crisis sheds new light on a number of challenges regarding urban planning. The Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to significantly change urban planning and the existing way of living. This situation demands understanding the obstacles faced, the mistakes, and the undiscovered opportunities in order to allow the construction of epidemic resilient communities. Therefore, this research is set out to investigate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on urban planning. Taking into consideration several problems brought by the crisis, with an emphasis on the urban planning context and the changes taking place in the planning sector, this study followed the case study approach focusing on Amman – the capital city of Jordan. Urban planning in Amman has witnessed many spatial planning issues during the recent pandemic. Results indicated that we should rethink the current urban design and planning strategies to bring forth a new phase of sustainable and resilient urban cities which will enhance resilience to emerging future disease outbreaks.