{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Mixed reactions to a proposed new city' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d6aad8eafeecae205663' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54d6aad8eafeecae205663' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nMixed reactions to a proposed new city\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eLEADIN:              A recently announced plan to construct a 10 billion US dollar new city in Jordan has drawn fierce criticism across the kingdom.              But proponents argue it will usher in a wave of jobs and economic...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eLEADIN:\u003cbr/\u003e              A recently announced plan to construct a 10 billion US dollar new city in Jordan has drawn fierce criticism across the kingdom.\u003cbr/\u003e              But proponents argue it will usher in a wave of jobs and economic development for the resource-poor and economically struggling nation.\u003cbr/\u003e              STORYLINE:\u003cbr/\u003e              Jordan's capital, Amman, is a bustling city accommodating four million people.\u003cbr/\u003e              The rapidly growing and increasingly unwieldy city is facing a number of infrastructure issues.\u003cbr/\u003e              And rush hour demonstrates just how crowded things have got, with traffic regularly at a standstill. \u003cbr/\u003e              But there is a proposed solution in the pipeline.\u003cbr/\u003e              A shiny new city is to arise from Jordan's bleak desert over the next three decades - a potential rival of the kingdom's capital.\u003cbr/\u003e              In announcing plans for the high-tech utopia, Jordan joined other Middle Eastern countries that are betting on multi-million-dollar mega projects as an investment magnet and quick economic fix.\u003cbr/\u003e              Yet some urban planners warn that \"cities built from scratch\" tend to be a risky endeavour and argue that it's more efficient to improve existing cities.\u003cbr/\u003e              \"Why don't we stop a bit and look strategically at what Amman needs?\" asks urban planner Maram Tawil.\u003cbr/\u003e              In Jordan, the government promises the yet-to-be-named city will relieve Amman's notorious traffic jams, provide middle class housing and inject new momentum into a sluggish economy plagued by high unemployment.\u003cbr/\u003e              The first Jordanian \"smart city\" would be built about 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Amman, on flat desert flanked by roads leading to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and in the future to the country's main airport. \u003cbr/\u003e              The first of five phases of construction is to cover 39 square kilometres (15 square miles), or 10 percent of the planned total, and is to be completed by 2030, the government said.\u003cbr/\u003e              The city is to be built as a public-private partnership on state land, with first tenders to be submitted by mid-2018. \u003cbr/\u003e              Completion is set for 2050, but the government has not set a target population size. \u003cbr/\u003e              Many government departments and public institutions are to relocate there, it said. \u003cbr/\u003e              Housing co-operatives for civil servants, professionals and former members of the security forces would be able to build there. \u003cbr/\u003e              The city is meant to ease overcrowding in Amman and Zarqa, a nearby working class city of 1.3 million. \u003cbr/\u003e              With urban sprawl, the two cities have been growing toward each other and, according to official estimates, are expected to have a combined population of 10 million by 2050. \u003cbr/\u003e              Authorities have released only snippets of information since the prime minister casually mentioned the new city for the first time in a meeting with local journalists in late October.\u003cbr/\u003e              This perceived secrecy and \"top down\" approach have drawn widespread criticism.\u003cbr/\u003e              They have also triggered rumours, since denied by the government, that the new city is largely meant to benefit Jordan's powerful and their business cronies.\u003cbr/\u003e              Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh defended the rocky rollout in a meeting with dozens of business people, diplomats and representatives of the energy and environmental sectors, many of whom seemed sceptical of the endeavour.\u003cbr/\u003e              Shawarbeh insisted that Amman would not be neglected as Jordan, which is buckling under record public debt, shifts some of its resources. \u003cbr/\u003e              \"This project won't come at the expense of Amman. The opposite in fact is true because it is done with a strategic vision towards the future and the coming generations,\" says Sahawarbeh.\u003cbr/\u003e              A hamlet just a century ago and an upstart among the region's ancient cities, Amman is now home to more than 40 percent of Jordan's population of 9.5 million. \u003cbr/\u003e              Rapid growth was driven by an influx of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees in recent decades. \u003cbr/\u003e              It is also linked to accelerated urbanisation across the Middle East and North Africa.\u003cbr/\u003e              By 2050, more than two-thirds of the region's anticipated 646 million people will live in cities, compared to 56 percent of 357 million people in 2010, according to United Nations projections.\u003cbr/\u003e              In the past two decades, more than two dozen new city projects were announced in the region, but about half have not broken ground.\u003cbr/\u003e              Egypt's multi-billion-dollar plan for a new capital, announced in 2015, fell behind schedule after the country switched contractors, but President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is determined to forge ahead. \u003cbr/\u003e              El-Sissi plans to rule from the new city by 2019, leaving behind unruly Cairo, a hotbed of popular unrest and the Arab world's largest city.\u003cbr/\u003e              When pressed why the government is spending huge sums at a time of economic hardship, he said recently: \"Isn't it our right to have a dream? Is it wrong to have 13 cities like this or what? Don't we deserve it?\"\u003cbr/\u003e              Several planned cities did advance over the years, including King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia, Modiin in Israel and Rawabi in the Palestinian territories.\u003cbr/\u003e              Some suspect that talk of plans for a new city is largely meant to distract from economic problems, including tax hikes and expected cuts in bread subsidies. \u003cbr/\u003e              \"The government feels it is evading current duties by showing some hope and making people busy with future projects,\" says political analyst Amer Sabaileh. \u003cbr/\u003e              The government's portrayal of the new city as a high-tech paradise - fuelled by renewable energy, equipped with modern public transport - contrasts with the often chaotic reality of life in Amman and Jordan's other cities.\u003cbr/\u003e            \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003e              Amman - 6 December 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              1. Various of rush hour traffic in Amman\u003cbr/\u003e              2. Various of Maram Tawil, an urban planner at the German-Jordanian University, showing a map of Amman's cultural zones\u003cbr/\u003e              3. Wide of Tawil with Amman's iconic citadel in the background\u003cbr/\u003e              4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Maram Tawil, urban planner:\u003cbr/\u003e              \"It seems that life here in a certain way is impossible. At the moment, it is very difficult to get from place to place, it's so very hard. It takes an hour at least for anyone to get from their home to work and if you have another stop you need another two hours. We always come back to this idea of transportation and traffic and the like but these are 'resulting problems' not the 'core issue'. I think that life has to get better, more cooperative, and pleasant.\" \u003cbr/\u003e              5. Wide of Tawil\u003cbr/\u003e              6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Maram Tawil, urban planner: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"The decision for something new \"from scratch\", why don't we stop a bit and look strategically at what Amman needs? And what other cities in Jordan need? Afterwards, there's a lot we must do to find a new well-grounded solution. Maybe there's a high risk involved, or maybe it's assured, I just don't know.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Madouneh - 27 November 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              7. Various of al-Kharaneh castle \u003cbr/\u003e              8. Various of desert plain\u003cbr/\u003e              9. Truck traffic on the southern edge of the planned new city\u003cbr/\u003e              10. Mid of road sign showing eastward distances between site and Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the nearby Jordanian town of Azraq\u003cbr/\u003e              11. Vehicle passing sign\u003cbr/\u003e              12. Wide of traffic\u003cbr/\u003e              13. Wide of sign showing westward distances towards the Jordanian capital of Amman, the airport and Aqaba, Jordan's only port\u003cbr/\u003e              ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY\u003cbr/\u003e              Amman - 3 December 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              14. Various of forum held by the Amman municipality to discuss the new city proposal\u003cbr/\u003e              15. Amman's mayor Yousef Shawarbeh answering question on stage\u003cbr/\u003e              16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yousef Shawarbeh, mayor of Amman:\u003cbr/\u003e              \"This project won't come at the expense of Amman. The opposite in fact is true because it is done with a strategic vision towards the future and the coming generations. Also, the Amman municipality will complete all the required projects and strategic planning that is essential to providing city services.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Amman - 6 December 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              17. Various of traffic\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Desert land between Cairo and Suez Canal, Egypt - 18 October 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              18. Various of construction site at the new capital\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Amman - 29 November 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              19. Various of Amer Sabaileh, a political analyst and consultant, checking social media reactions to the new city proposal on his phone\u003cbr/\u003e              20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amer Sabaileh, a political analyst: \u003cbr/\u003e              \"The first type of reaction is a kind of disdain containing sarcasm and humour, as we've seen used in the past against so-called 'illegal projects'. Secondly there is a form of scepticism in the capacity of the government to implement the project as well as the exact direction of the project. Third is the result of the absence of credibility on the side of the government and citizens.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              21. Various of Sabaileh\u003cbr/\u003e              22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amer Sabaileh, a political analyst:\u003cbr/\u003e              \"There is a serious problem for the government in how it administers its duties. The government must take and impose actions and procedures and tough decisions for the Jordanians, like lifting bread subsidies, and reviewing taxes, etc, therefore when talking about future projects the government feels it is evading current duties by showing some hope and making people busy with future projects, perhaps they can escape from the current duties.\"\u003cbr/\u003e              \u003cbr/\u003e              Amman - 6 December 2017\u003cbr/\u003e              23. Various of traffic\u003cbr/\u003e              24. 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