Neoliberal Urban Transformations in the Arab City: The Case of Amman

Neoliberal Urban Transformations in the Arab City: The case of Amman Abstract Neoliberalization processes have swept the world since their operationalization in the 1970s. Cities have been at the forefront of neoliberalism driven transformation, resulting in a network of uneven development that stretches all around the world, in all its various contexts. The Arab cities have not been exempt from the reach of neoliberalization processes; Arab cities have undergone massive transformations in the past four decades. However, they have been understudied and under analyzed in that regard. The variegated nature of neoliberalization processes requires deep analyses of the underlying mechanism that facilitated them in various local context. Amman, an Arab city with a unique character where given that it is a relatively new city its growth has been exponential, offers a great insight into the spatial and urban manifestation of neoliberalization processes in the region and what they entail. The city witnessed two phases of neoliberal restructuring, in the 1990s under the reign of King Hussein, and in the 2000s under the reign of King Abdullah II, which is still ongoing. The second phase ushered a new reality into the city’s urban fabric through a collection of neoliberal urban spaces that have reconfigured not only the physical structure of the city, but also its governing and socio-political structures. This research argues that neoliberalization processes in Amman have established a parallel reality in the city through a dichotomy in its spatial development strategies that have led to new and deepening geographies of inequality, a weakening public governing body and a powerful network of politico-economic elites directing the city’s future toward their personal gains. This proposition will be investigated through a theoretical, historical and socio-spatial analysis of three developments in Amman, Al Abdali Development, The Jordan Gate Towers and the Royal Village.