Urban Planning Response to Population Growth in Jordanian Cities (Irbid City as Case Study)

Abstract

Jordanian cities witnessed a rapid growth in population in recent years which affected their urban fabric to large extent. This population growth whether natural, or compulsory-through migration from neighboring countries due to wars and political conditions or internal migration from rural communities to large cities like Amman, Irbid and Zarqa-led to awareness of strong need to assess the current planning strategies implemented in these cities and how suitable and responsive they are to these developments. The study aims to shed light on the methods used in urban planning in Jordanian cities and the response of this method to population growth in Jordanian cities through its ability to interact with urban problems. This rapid urbanization growth led to some urban organizational problems in Jordanian cities demonstrated best in increasing pressure on public services and infrastructure in these cities which shows clearly stagnation of planning ideas of officials and decision-makers, more over it showed the inability of officials to solve these problems or adopt more contemporary strategies taking into consideration the uniqueness of characteristics for each city. The study aims to shed light on the methods used in urban planning in Jordanian cities and the response of this method to population growth in Jordanian cities through its ability to interact with urban problems.