Amman: Inhabiting water infrastructures (2018)

Photo by: Antonio Ottomanelli

Water has played an important role in determining the location, growth, and character of cities worldwide. The rapid transformation of urban waterscapes during the past decades led to a range of ecological, economic, political, and social changes. Today more than ever, the future of cities and their inhabitants is dependent on water supplies and infrastructure. Jordan, considered the fourth most water scarce country in the world, faces the threats posed by a crumbling infrastructure, climate change, and groundwater overdraft.

Historically, the city of Amman grew around a natural spring, which has been buried under the city’s road systems over the years. Today’s Amman, where almost half of the country’s population lives and works, relies heavily on centralised, large-scale infrastructure carrying water from long distances, primarily from the finite Disi Aquifer on the border with Saudi Arabia, around 350km from the city. Plans for the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance, a proposed large-scale infrastructure that would carry water from the Southern tip of the North along the rift valley to the Dead Sea and Amman have been debated and critiqued for their political, ecological, and economic cost. 

The Amman summerLab aimed to critically explore how water management and planning in Amman had significant implications for residents’ health, daily life, and sense of community. Participants visited central and peri-urban areas of the city – with a specific focus on the Zarqa River in Ain Ghazal – to investigate the impact of formal and informal water provision methods on local communities and their wellbeing.

Through interactions with residents, local stakeholders, scholars, and experts, the workshop exposed participants to the highly contested and political models of urban water provision and their implications for health inequality in urban contexts. Ultimately, participants were asked to devise strategies to tackle the challenges faced by the city of Amman and its residents, generating new trajectories for water sharing towards equality and urban health.