Khaberni - Dr. Ahmad Khalifat wrote:
The new city project "Umrah" is one of the most important modern urban experiments recently announced by the Jordanian government. It does not constitute a new urban or demographic expansion at the edge of existing cities, but it is a project that represents a new civilizational dimension that meets the needs of the present without impairing the rights of future generations in a moderate way. It reflects the perspective of sustainable development as a well-studied strategic planning step to build a sustainable city facing the challenges imposed by population growth and pressure on infrastructure in the cities of Amman and Zarqa.
Sustainable development in its content is not limited to the economic dimension only but relies on the integration of environmental, urban, and social dimensions, which decision-makers can incorporate within a scientific and practical framework for its achievement. Proper guidance of its shape and growth trajectory is essential.
How can the city of Umrah be a sustainable city?
The new location of the city of Umrah is a planning model built on scientific foundations and comprehensive urban studies that urban planners can analyze through the lens of sustainable development.
The economic dimension of the city of Umrah, which represents significant importance in founding the city. Work must be done to optimally use resources and strive towards creating a market economy city that supports local economic projects in addition to focusing on entrepreneurship. The presence of such activities within the urban fabric of the city contributes to transforming it into a productive city rather than a consumptive one.
Sustainability is linked to the city’s ability to generate local job opportunities and reduce its inhabitants' dependence on neighboring cities.
The environmental dimension gives the city of Umrah a strategic opportunity to build a sustainable urban city that manages its resources independently, especially water and energy. It has the opportunity to implement rainwater harvesting techniques and reuse greywater, which represent the most important tools of water sustainability in modern urban planning, constituting 55-74% of water used in households. This can be done by establishing a greywater network connected to homes and neighborhoods, separated from sewage, which contributes to addressing water and environmental challenges faced by Jordan as it suffers from water and natural resource scarcity. Additionally, it alleviates pressure on the freshwater network and lowers water costs for families. Efforts can also be made to establish sustainable traffic management by identifying safe pedestrian paths and developing public transport while reducing future dependence on private cars, contributing to reduced emissions and improving the sustainable urban environment of the city.
The urban dimension represents the city of Umrah as a modern step based on sustainable foundations. It comes with prior planning, enabling it to build a fundamental base for sustainability, manifested in the regulation of land uses, limiting random urban growth, and reducing spatial waste. Organized urban planning helps to increase population density in the future in an easy and studied manner, with the development of mixed land use patterns, which aids in sustainable mobility (efficient and low-impact), considered one of the most important pillars of urban sustainability.
The social dimension provides the city with an opportunity to achieve sustainable social development and promote justice and equality. It is a suitable environment for social cohesion through the balanced provision of basic services within neighborhoods and offering varied housing options for all community segments, ensuring access to education and healthcare levels and creating public spaces fairly.
Therefore, the city of Umrah forms an organized and planned urban model that can be built upon to achieve the core of a sustainable green city that meets the goals and dimensions of sustainable development if the loops of execution, planning, and management are completed within a clear and comprehensive vision. It is not considered a separate urban project but a real opportunity for decision-makers in Jordan to rethink how to build cities.
A city built on humanitarian foundations that preserves resources and anticipates the future, capable of being a model to be emulated in the path to more efficient and just green sustainable cities.
