home | communities | workshop | artist's statement

		About 500 squatter families, who had gradually settled the privately owned site over a period of 20 years, occupied the East Wahdat site prior to the project, and they were living in some of the worst conditions in the city of Amman. Particular concern was to involve the residents as far as possible in the project: During the registration survey, efforts were made to familiarize and acquaint the people of East Wahdat with the nature and future implications on their lives as a result of this project. This has proved necessary in order to gain beneficiaries' confidence to ensure their future cooperation. During the design stage, methods of participatory design were utilized to ensure that residents were directly involved in the planning and design of their own dwelling. These methods not only proved to direct benefits to residents, but also gave "Urban Development Department" staff a deeper insight into residents' needs and preferences, thus facilitating the design of future projects. An early response to the concerns of the residents was the need to avoid displacement of families from their homes during upgrading process. The residents were not removed to make way for construction works; instead they developed a unique method in which the whole community participated; the old shacks, where the familiy lived, were shifted to a corner of the plot while the rest of the space was used to build the first room of the new structure. The old shacks were then dismantled and the rest of the house was completed according to their budget, needs and taste. The willingness of East Wahdat residents to cooperate with UDD staff and contractor's employees helped to inform decisions about the outdoor spaces, roads and footpath alignment, and the nature and location of community facilities and services on the site. After the completion of project and physical hand over, the beneficiaries continued their involvement in running their affairs; in this regards societies and local committees were formed and were entrusted with the charge of organizing and running various community activities and sorting out day to day problem arising. Many beneficiaries varied the height of walls surrounding their plots from about 1.2 m to about 2.0 m.The internal enclosures formed by boundary walls were fully utilized by house owners as open space surrounded by numerous residential and leisure activity; including cooking, eating and even sleeping during summer. The environmental quality of these private areas was further enhanced by the abundant use of plantation, and by the introduction of various types of paving and surface treatment. Such improvements resulted in the creation of secure and restful private open spaces for use by the family as practical extension of the house itself. Beneficiaries of East Wahdat expressed their new identity through an investment in external house decoration. The families found security and pride clearly visible in the numerous and varied forms of architectural treatment of dwelling, utilizing a wide range of material and techniques: Light colors (white or sandy) used for painting house exteriors, together with darker trimming paint along lintels and roof slabs. screen decoration above halls and sills. Pergolas covering open space areas acting as a framework for climbing plants. Elegant decorative iron works for windows and gates.