Amman Blog

Street Maps of Jordan is provided by an Israeli based company!!!

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:07:00 +0000

After a long wait and lots of debates we finally entered the civilized Geo world. Thank's to Navteq and of course google maps for providing the service to the Jordanians. Now we can play with maps and build different solutions around it, and of course driving directions.

The delays for not publishing the maps came from some laid back officials whom I am sure they don't think outside their "square meter" were they take the Maps issue as a strategic, or political decision. Well... I was laughing on that but this finding I am talking about is even more funny.

Street Maps of Jordan ( look at the information in the map at the bottom) provided by google maps, were you can navigate for our streets and buildings, is been provided by an Israeli based company called MAPPA GISrael. The leading geographic database and GIS company in Israel.

I am not sure how this happen. How can our geodata been provided by an Israeli company.

The satellite maps can be easily provided by Digital globe or others, but data collection and Geo codding is being built and published by Navteq, while google provide the platform in a very simple to use way. I know they might subcontract a local company to collect the data but how did an Israeli based company collected the information about our streets and buildings?

Amman Centennial Forum

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Event: Transparency in Urban Governance

Host: Amman Institute
Type: Education - Lecture

Date:	Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time:	10:00am - 12:00pm
Location:	King Hussein Cultural Center
Street:	Ras Al Ain

Building Pedestrian Cities !

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:03:00 +0000

Architectural week

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Event: الاسبوع المعماري - Architectural Week
Target: Architecture, Architects, Landscape, Construction Materials, Tourism, Resorts
Start Time:
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 5:00pm
End Time:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 5:00pm
Location:
Jordan Contractors Association - Abdoun
Phone:
0796456115
Email:
info@sadda.jo

Lecture " Noise Pollution & Environment"

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:29:00 +0000

Host: Be Aware of Noise Pollution effects on Human Health
Date: Monday, June 15, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: YWCA - Main Hall - Jabal Amman / 3rd Circle
Street: Mithgal Al-Fayez
City/Town: Amman, Jordan
Phone: 064641119

Description: This Lecture is the first event in support of Be Aware of Noise Pollution effects on Human Health campaign to avoid noise pollution hazards on human health.
This event is supported by The Jordan Hashemite Fund For Human Development.
The lecturer is Dr. Mahmoud Al-Asad a specialist in health and related environmental hazards.

Think Green 2 Conference

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:33:00 +0000

Amman city street curb

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Street curb height is tolerable when it's between 2 and 4 cm. Most of the street curbs in Amman city are very problematic, unpleasant and even dangerous.

It is interesting that in many cities arround the globe most of the street curbs are built at the height of 0 cm or 1 cm which is much better solution, more accessible, and less dangerous. Also, it is much more pleasant and “normal” to cross the street with such curbs.

As for street crossings, the standard for building lowered curbs at street crossings should be 0 cm; not only for obvious reason.

Most of Amman street curbs are built with a 20 cm height, even higher, with a disconnected network of pedestrian movement.

Street curb form an important element in the urban design of the city. With a more appropriate curbs the pedestrian network will be improved, and the citizens will have a more pleasent pedestrian movement.

We keep investing our resources in building our pedestrian network and it still fail to serve the pedestrians. The problem have many dimentions but a proper street curb height need to be enforced in order to get a friendly height for the pedestrians.

Voidz Studio - Production House based in Amman

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Voidz Studio is a creative production house based in Amman. Check this video that I just got from Ghassan Aqel, the creative founder of Voidz Studio.

For high quality video go to : http://www.vimeo.com/4178362

Enjoy... and good luck Ghassan .

Type rest of the post here

The Road Safety Center OF Excellence Won Al-Hasan Bin Talal Award for Scientific Excellence

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:36:00 +0000

April 12th, 2008 Amman/Jordan

The Road Safety Center for Excellence of the German Jordanian University recently won Al Hassan Bin Talal Award for Scientific Excellence for the year 2009, for its achievements in the Road Safety Auditing and for projects implemented in this field.

Holding workshops and starting a diploma program in road safety were the best projects that drove RSCOE to the award. In addition to other projects that were creatively provided by the center; such as case studies of some relevant streets and intersections in Amman prepared by local experts and students. At a later stage, and in cooperation with traffic engineers from the Greater Amman Municipality, these study-cases were formulated and several sites in Jordan were visited by the center's teams. Consequently, the " Road Safety Auditing level 1 " workshop has been launched by the center as a second step following the documentation of each case into reports. This workshop took place at the facilities of GJU and on the streets of Amman Recently; the center prepared three workshops covering three regions in Jordan: the north, middle, and south in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipalities and Rural Affairs.

Mr. Emad Salameh, the Director of RSCOE, stated: "our center has a clear vision to become a center of excellence by combining education, scientific research and advanced knowledge in a national strategy for road safety, and that was our path to this precious award, which we are all proud of ".

RSCOE is a pioneering center and first of it’s kind in the region, founded by Hikmat Road Safety in cooperation with German Jordan University, Greater Amman Municipality, and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

The center’s main objective is to qualify experts in Road Safety targeting governmental and non governmental professionals covering all of Jordan. The center began establishing a database by developing standards and guidelines for road safety auditing adopted from other countries and adjusted to suit Jordan's regulations.

Creative Speed Reduction Solution

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:51:00 +0000

Amman City growth needs to be controlled

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:52:00 +0000

Amman City needs to take serious measures towards controlling the growth and not adapting the growth.

Amman is growing fast and it's population is expected to increase up to 6 million in year 2025. We've seen reactions toward this expected growth from different organizations and one of them were Amman growth plan introduced by GAM.

Amman city is developing rapidly, but it's development is taking the shape of expansion and or adaptation. On the other hand, more measures needs to be taken towards containing the growth, Urban Sprawl, increase in population, immigration ( Jordan have high immigration rates according to CIA Factbook), and immigration from less developed cities to the capital.

Land expansion and increase in population has it's danger to the identity of the city, the environment, and the economy in general and sometimes it must be contained rather than being adapted. On the other hand, less developed neighbourhoods in the city, and other less developed cities in Jordan needs more development.

Our resources are scarce and need to be used for development and not growth, otherwise we will loose the opportunity of development.

Building what and why Amman?

Amman Streets

From an out of place architecture to an out of place identities.

Unfriendly Streets

World Car Free Day

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Every September 22nd, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighborhood blocks to remind the world that we don't have to accept our car-dominated society. Amman city suffers from Urban Sprawl and the domination of cars, our lifes became car dominated and we rarely enjoy nature and the environment. Shouldn't we become part of this global day?

"World Carfree Day is the perfect time to take the heat off the planet and putit on politicians and planners to give priority to cycling, walking and publictransport," says Randall Ghent, initiator of the first World Carfree Day in 2000. The global day of action now takes place annually on September22. On September 22, 2007, World Carfree Network and its member organizations around the world call for permanent changes to make cities more environmentally and socially sustainable 365 days a year. In more than 1,500 cities and 40countries, liked-minded active citizens around the world will call for measuresthat actively reduce car use, with carfree street festivals, bicycle parades,street closures and other special events.For individuals, the network and its supporters will distribute a condensed one-month version of its Autoholics Anonymous 12-step programme, to give people the support they need to kick the car habit.For municipalities, the network and its supporters will encourage implemention of the infrastructural and policy changes necessary to reduce our society’s car dependence and increase our quality of life. As a separate project related to World Carfree Day, the network has put out a call for submissions for its 2nd Annual Street Conversion Design Contest (www.worldcarfree.net/contest/), challenging people to come up with cutting-edge designs to transform existing areas to create lively people-oriented spaces free of traffic. They are encouraged to implement the designs on the ground on September 22.

Amman City Streets

Mechanisms to reduce traffic accidents

Activism .. Actions Not Words

Al-Weibdeh carnaval

Amman City Parade

Amman City Street Block Celebration

Lecture at Beit-Almemar: "Pedestrian Road Safety"

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:30:00 +0000

As part of our efforts in building the capacity of Road Safety professionals in Jordan. The Jordanian Architects Society with cooperation of The Road Safety Center of Excellence is holding a public lecture at the "Jordanian Architects Society", targeting the architects and engineers.

The lecture titled: "An Architectural Perspective on Pedestrian Road Safety "

Who: Architect Emad Amin Salameh, RSCOE GM

When: Saturday, March 21st at 6:00 PM

Where: Beit ALMemar ( Jabal Alqal3a )

Invitation is open for the public.

Amman the city of Soul ?

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:41:00 +0000

According to amman plan you can notice the slogan: "a livable city is an organized city with a soul." I was navigating Monocle's published list of the most livable cities trying to find the features of a livable cities and I found the following:

# 1: Munich emerges as the most liveable city

#2: Copenhagen is Scandinavia's most desirable city

#3: For Zurich, new vibrancy in Switzerland's finance capital

#4: Tokyo's peace behind the glitter

#5: In Vienna, Mittel-European grandeur meets modernity

#6: Helsinki's western chic retains a Finnish edge

#7: Sydney creates urbanity by the beach

#8: Stockholm shows the big charms of a small city

#9: Honolulu is a truly global city

#10: Madrid emerges from Barcelona's shadow

#11: Melbourne's touch of old Europe

#12: Montreal mixes French flair and American urbanity

#13: Barcelona boasts a cosmopolitan mix

#14: Kyoto combines antiquity with style

#15: Vancouver is experiencing a boom

#16: Auckland slowly gets to know itself

#17: Singapore's newly blossoming cultural landscape

#18: Hamburg's hip, modern metropolis

#19: Paris - rainy, gray, still a great place to live

#20: Geneva's efficient savoir-vivre

Finally... We all need to work on executing Amman Plan. There is a lot of work ahead of us, and it won't happen if we didn't take the responsibility of building the city, to make it more livable.

Democracy in the arab world

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:58:00 +0000

Political Thoughts:

The only two countries in the Arab world with democratic presidential elections are Palestine and Lebanon. Both have political problems, attacked by Israel, and the world is against them. Isn't that Ironic? Maybe we are not ready for democracy, or maybe the west don't want a real democracy!

YOU can Help GAZA

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:14:00 +0000

You can support Gaza and donate NOW:

- Greater Amman Municipality in coopration with Jordan River Foundation is collecting flour, rice, sugar, oil, powder milk, infant formula and tea. Those wishing to offer any assistance can call telephone ++962-6-4619968, fax ++962-6-4746822, email: communication@ammancity.gov.jo.

- Through UNRWA can deposit in Arab Bank, SWIFT Code: ARABPS22600 or HSBC: BBMEJOAX.

- Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, Tel,: +962 6 46181. OR deposit at: Jordan Islamic Bank, account number 12920 and the Union Bank, account number 245666.

- Jordan River Foundation, Tel.: +962 6 593 3211. Or deposit at: Kuwait Bank’s main branch, account number 0252318087.

If you know other channels for distribution you can post it here too?

Palestine Voice

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:01:00 +0000

The future of public transportation in Amman

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Under a major public transport plan by GAM, huge buses will be operated on main routes in the capital (Photo courtesy of GAM)

GAM is serious about developing transportation alternatives in the City by proposing two major BRT projects ( Bus Rapid Transport), the first one will pass by Queen Rania Street and the second will pass by AL- Abdali . Currently, the infrastructure of the Public transportation in Amman is very week and only 17% of the residents use them. That's a very low percentage, especially that the transportation alternatives are not available. GAM is also building the infrastructure of the street side at many locations inside the city, to make it more pedestrian friendly. All these projects give us some hope about the future of the city. However, it's not that easy to develop Transportation alternatives in the city, to make it more livable and solve traffic congessions!

Amman Voice called for transportation alternatives in many posts. On July 2007, Amman Voice published a post: Promoting for transportation alternatives in Amman City:

" This can be part of a general mission to reclaim Amman city streets from the automobile, and to advocate for bicycling, walking, and public transit as the best transportation alternatives. Seeking to change Amman transportation priorities to encourage and increase clean, quite, friendly travel, and decrease car use. What we seek is a rational transportation alternative based on a :"Green transportation Hierarchy," which gives preference to modes of travel based on their benefits and costs to society. Read below about Green transportation hierarchy."

And in another post Amman city traffic congestions :

"Finally, the new development plan for Amman City expansion need to make transportation, traffic, and parking as a very serious issue to be studied "comprehensively" and "responsively" to prevent serious future problems. Moreover, it must go hand by hand with all other public and private sectors to ensure the effectiveness of traffic and transportation initiatives in Amman City."

Another post : " Do you think this is a good idea to solve the city traffic congestions in AMMAN, limit pollution, and find alternatives for transportation? What if the city contracted a foreign company to sponsor and finish the project and get the revenue for about 10 or 20 years before the city get it back?"

Check the previous related posts at:

Amman City Streets

Promoting for transportation alternatives and bicycle lanes in Amman City

Amman Mini-Metro from the 1st circle to the 8th circle?

Opening of the complex travel north and the conversion of Abdali into Garden

Jordan Hotel and Hospitality Guide

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:44:00 +0000

Jordan Hotel & Hospitality Guide (JH&HG) is the official guide to Jordan hotel and hospitality services, the most comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date guide on Jordan’s fast-growing range of hotels and hospitality.

The travel industry in Jordan is booming with growing numbers of both business visitors and

tourists, instep with the fast expanding economy and Jordan’s growing links with all parts of the world. Travelers are also increasingly moving beyond the well-trodden paths through Dubai, Egypt and visiting other cities throughout the Middle East.

Jordan has quick emerged as one of the region’s top venues for trade exhibitions, and is now one of the main choices for regional conventions. The rise in tourism and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events) activity supports the development of Jordan’s hospitality industry. Most of the world’s top hospitality groups are now in the Jordanian market and plenty of new hospitality projects are in planning and discussion. This market has huge potential, and Jordan Hotel & Hospitality Guide is with you to keep up with the changes.

This guide has been designed as an industry guide for daily use by travel agents, travel planners, events organizers and ordinary travelers. It has listings for 180 hotels in all the cities, and more than 300 allied members. All entries are indexed in a number of different ways to allow for fast access. Special sections provide information on business and leisure facilities.

We hope you find this directory useful to your business to participate, and that it helps you to realize profitable business deals and pleasant journeys throughout Jordan.

The next issue will be published in March 2009. To advertise and participate call SADDA at: 0799088911 or e-mail: info@sadda.jo

Conservation Standards in Architectural Practice

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Jordanian Architects Society is honored to invite you this Wednesday 17/12/2008 - 5:50PM at JAS Headquarter / Jabal Al-Qala'a to an architectural gathering under the title(Conservation Standards in Architectural Practice) that will be presented by Dr. Salim Elwazani ( Professor of Architecture & Environmental Design at Bowling Green State University, Ohio State, USA) and will include some of his distinguished theoretical and practical experience in this field.

Children playing Video Games

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:03:00 +0000

It's pretty interesting watching kids playing video games, isn't it? The New York Times and Robbie Cooper showed us how children play games in a short Video.

Pretty interesting to see the new generations reactions to the Video games. This should make every family worry about their kids and ask: "do I want my kids to be like this?"

The free cost of Valet Parking in Jordan

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:11:00 +0000

Valet parking is a new trend in Jordan and to some people it's a must do etiquette. To some companies it might be an added value to their service. The question is what does it mean to the city?

I asked GAM if they give anybody permits for businesses who claim the ownership of the street curb, but they don't, even some businesses claim that they pay for the valet spots.

The problem has many dimensions. I don't support the whole idea, but if we want to imitate other countries it needs to be regulated, any claimed Valet Parking should be done through a certified operators, this way we make sure that the car is safe and the driver is qualified to drive.

I don't wanna suggest accommodating valet parking but GAM and We need to find a better solutions for the increasing problem of Parking in Jordan.

It does frustrate me when I see an empty parking spot along the street side being reserved for the business customers or a VIP personnel, while I have to circulate the blocks trying to find an empty spot! Last weekend I saw a whole street in Abdoun, arround Crums and Limon, full of unoccupied reserved spots while everybody was looking for a spot!!!

The street side belongs to all people, we payed for the ownership when we payed our taxes.

This matter took my deep attention when I was living in NYC, I first created a blog called: SHAME ON YOU PARKING ... http://shameparking.blogspot.com/ ( That was my first blog: Shame Parking is a public awareness blog to promote better parking practices and better environment). What I did is taking a picture of a wrong parking cars and post it in the blog with the car number, and I send it my e-mail to NYPD!!! Crazy... but what was more crazy is taking a picture of a police officer car parking in a wrong spot and I post it under: Uncivil servants!!! but it's a free world there, I am not sure if I can do that here..hahha? After this blog I thought of finding a solution for car parking problems in NYC, so I created another blog: Spotforecast and tried to sell the idea : http://spotforecast.blogspot.com/ of finding parking spots from your cell phone.

Well, you wonder what happened? It needs investment in marketing the idea!!! anybody interested?

I didn't see valet parking on the street side in the US. The valet parking concept is based on taking the car to the parking lot and not to the street side.

It really frustrate me to see this in Jordan. We need to build a campaing against this practice.

Pedestrian Road Safety Partnership

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:50:00 +0000

My Speach at Jotrans 2008:

"I am delighted to speak at this strategic conference which represents a key convention for all agencies working toward the one thing that they all care about… building livable safe cities.
Successful transportation strategies endorse road safety education and promote programs toward further improving road safety outcomes, at all levels of every community

However, if we continue planning our cities for cars and traffic, we will get more cars and traffic; but, if we start planning our cities for people and places, we will get more people and places.

Streets are more than just car corridors; they are valuable civic spaces and resources that need to be wisely allocated. We need to start thinking about a campaign to re-imagine our streets as lively safe public places.

In 2007, 992 people died in Jordan as a result of 110,630 road accidents with an estimated monetary loss of 281 Million JOD. The average growth rate in the number of killed and seriously injured as a result of road accidents was 12% in the last five years.

January of 2008 witnessed an alarming rise in the number of lives lost to road accidents which caused a national call for action following His Majesty king Abdullah The Second’s directions that we must put an end to this trend.

In 2008 compared to 2007, the collaborative efforts of both the public and the private sectors resulted in a 12.1% decrease in accidents, 27.42% decrease in injuries, and 39.27% decrease in deaths.

We feel and We forget. We Hear and We Remember. We Do and We Understand.

We still have a very long way to go and the results achieved so far are a living proof that together government and people can address national challenges. Sustaining this positive progress is key and requires even more effective Public-Private Partnership.

Forming such alliances need a lot of commitment by all parties involved; each needs to understand the limitations and strengths that their side brings to this undertaking. They need to communicate with each other, ensure that all involved parties contribute to and benefit from the relationship in ways appropriate to their organizations, ensure that all partners participate on a more equal basis and to accept responsibility not only for their role in decision making but in the outcomes of the alliance as well.
Successful alliances were forged all over the world to tackle issues that were deemed of importance to the people of that country. The private sector and the non profit sectors played an important role together with the governments in raising the awareness on road safety, improving the infrastructure, instilling a culture of road safety among their community, financially supporting campaigns and activities promoting road safety, and training and building the capacity of individuals and organizations on road safety measures and related issues.

The RSCOE is an example of such a partnership between the Public and Private sector. Established in June, 2008 between the GAM, the GJU, Hikmat Road safety , and in October the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs joined this partnership.

"A livable city is a road safe city," the center main aim is to promote the level of road safety in Jordan and To Build World Class Road Safety Capacity by Integrating (learning, applied research, advanced know-how & tools) in an outcome oriented way to support the effective execution of the National Road Safety Strategy.

The Road safety center of excellence aims to: Certify Road Safety Officers, Study and understand vital issues, Develop Solutions, Influence implementation, and Publish standards and best practices

The center is introducing the concept of road safety audit into Jordan and plans to Make road safety audit a common concept where: practitioners are familiar with it , know how to do it, adopt a standard, use tools and methods, and are striving to become certified.

A road safety audit (RSA) is a formal safety examination of a future roadway plan or project or an in-service facility that is conducted by an independent, experienced multidisciplinary RSA team.

The RSCOE conducted the first workshop to certify Road Safety Officers that took place on the 3rd of August, 2008 for a period of 2 weeks and covered the topic of how to assess current roads and how to conduct a road safety audit. The workshop was delivered by two German Experts at the German – Jordanian University and was attended by 27 participants from various governmental entities related to road safety.

Each participant was required to prepare a comprehensive report on the results of their studies and site visits in addition to preparing an action plan for implementing future road safety activities. The participants are expected to take full responsibility for these initiatives.

Moreover, before the end of this year, the RSCOE is planning to launch the first Pedestrian Road Safety Audit Guidelines Manual that provides transportation agencies conducting a RSA and pedestrians with a better understanding of the needs of pedestrians of all abilities.

The pedestrian Road Safety Audit Guidelines Manual provide an easy to understand comparison between what’s right and what’s wrong and provide a general listing of potential pedestrian safety issues.

The intent of the guidelines is to familiarize practitioners and citizens with potential pedestrian issues and to help them identify specific safety concerns related to pedestrian road safety.

Prompt lists are provided at the end of the manual to identify the types of pedestrian-related issues that the RSA team should be aware of to promote pedestrian safety in the audited project. Another successful partnership between the Public and Private sectors is the Safer Schools Program, 100 schools were designed inside & outside of Amman to improve road safety in their zones. The designs were completed in cooperation with Arabtech-Jardaneh design office. As of today, 74 schools were maintained to be safe for total number of 56,289 students. By the end of the Year 100 school will be completed, in Amman, Madaba, Balqa, Ma’an, Karak, Tafeleh, Zarqa and Irbid governorates.
While we continue working on the Safer Schools program, another program started to extend the efforts to build safer home Zones.

Today, the 23rd of November marked the opening of the first Safe home-Zone project “Haretna” in Al-Zuhour Area in Amman. Another cooperation between GAM, and HRS. The Project donation came from Al-Ard Company and designed by Turath consultants.
The center strategy is to “Train the Trainers” to become a road safety ambassador each in his agency.

In 2009 we will: Certify 100 Road Safety Officers, Build 100 Safe Schools, Build 100 Safe Home Zones, Develop and Publish more Road Safety standards, and build more partnerships.

We are Stronger, More capable, smarter, More righteous, More aware, better, more interactive, more creative, more practical, more solid, achievers, more effective, more trust worthy, more interesting, more stable, more sustainable, able to contribute more, more logical, more aware

Than Me Alone.

Thank you "

By: Arch. Emad A. Salameh
Road Safety Center of Excellence
General Manager

Amman Institute

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Toward building the excellence of leadership and development, the Mayor Omar Maani signed an agreement with one of the World’s leading transportation research organizations, the Institute of transportation Studies (ITS) at University of California, Berkeley to collaborate on modernizing GAM’s transportation system.

The agreement signed by Mayor Omar Maani and Prof. Samer Madanat, the Director of ITS last July 2008 to will establish a research and training program for GAM. Research topics under consideration include: Clean Fuel Options for Public Vehicles, including buses and taxis; Pricing Strategy to Increase Public Transit Ridership; Analysis of Dedicated Bus Lanes in Amman; and Gender Considerations in Public Transportation.
Mayor Maani stated that he was very pleased to have GAM associated with ITS, because ‘…it will connect GAM to a recognized center of excellence in transportation planning & engineering; improving the mobility within the City is one of our priorities under the Amman Plan’.
The Amman Institute is a not-for-profit research institute established by GAM to advance the urban agenda for the metropolitan area and other urban centers in Jordan.
Amman institute is currently working on Amman Real Estate Intelligence Report. More about amman institute go to: http://www.ammaninstitute.com

Road Safety Center Workshop

emadsalameh@gmail.com (Amman Voice) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:53:00 +0000

By Pro. Heckman, edited by Emad Salameh

Road Safety Center of Excellence aims to promote the level of road safety in Jordan and To Build World Class Road Safety Capacity by Integrating (learning, applied research, advanced know-how & tools) in an outcome oriented way to support the effective execution of the National Road Safety Strategy , the center's plan is to introduce the concept of road safety audit into Jordan and to Make road safety audit a common concept in Jordan where: practitioners are familiar with it , know how to do it, adopt a standard, use tools and methods and are striving to become certified. As a start the center began establishing a database by developing standards and guidelines for road safety auditing adopted from other countries but they were adjusted and modified to suit Jordan's regulations, then study-cases and examples were built and several sites in Jordan were visited by the center's teams and some examples were done with the help of traffic engineers from GAM , all of the cases and examples were documented into reports and as a second step the center launched a workshop named " Road Safety Auditing level 1 " ; the workshop took place at the facilities of GJU and on the streets of Amman from 3rd to 14th of August. Case studies of some relevant streets and intersections have been prepared in advance by local experts and students, organized by RSCOE.

The Center invited participants from ministries, municipalities and other bodies, and also non-governmental organizations – about 25 participants took the opportunity to be trained on a method, which is established in many countries all over the world. Two experts from Germany – an engineer for transport planning and safety and a traffic psychologist – have been invited to assist and to supervise the developmental processes during the workshop.

The workshop started with two days of theory with regard to safety risks due to the street design and operations and another two days of theory with regard to safety risks due to behavioral aspects of drivers and pedestrians participating in public traffic each day was divided into 3 sessions from 10 am till 3:30 pm (1.5 hour for each session).

The two experts based on research data, which have been collected in Germany and internationally, but confronted these data with the experiences of the local experts in the workshops. The adaptation of general observations, conclusions and points of view to the Jordan culture, traffic conditions and experiences was a constitutive element of the workshop tasks. Also the integrated perspective on both behavior and street environment was practiced. Both experts encouraged interaction spirit and the sessions were more like discussions and exchanging experiences among the participants and the experts and among the participants themselves.

On the second week three field trips were conducted to three different street s each one consisted of a site visit and a discussion session about the observations and the remarks that were taken on site ,The participants were divided into two groups each one was under the supervision of one of the experts and along the three days the participants were regrouped so that each one of them participates in different activity . And before the second field trip an introductory session about RSA was delivered to the participants. On site each expert divided them into subgroups and checklists and google maps with a copy of the report that was prepared before were delivered to all participants , then each subgroup was responsible of fulfilling a specific task.

On the discussion session the data from all participants is collected and discussed among each group by itself , then exchanged between the groups so that each participant understands other quests that he didn't conduct. The observations from the field are discussed among all groups and
critical safety issues are pointed out then initial solutions are proposed.

On the 2 days after the field trips all the data from the three site visits and all the results of the discussions were collected and all participants under the supervision of the experts built together
the final report of this workshop.