High-rise construction and towers

See also: List of tallest buildings in Amman

Jordan Gate Towers as seen from the west

Zahran district in west Amman is the location of the Jordan Gate Towers, the first
high-rise towers in the city. It is a high-class commercial and residential project
currently under construction, close to the 6th Circle. The towers are one of the
best known skyscrapers in the city.[121] The southern tower will host a Hilton
Hotel, while the northern tower will host offices. The towers are separated by a
podium that is planned to become a mall. It also contains bars, swimming pools and
conference halls. The developers are Bahrain's Gulf Finance House, the Kuwait
Investment and Finance Company (KIFC). The project is expected to be opened by
2018.[121]

Abdali Urban Regeneration Project in Abdali district will host a mall, a boulevard
along with several hotels, commercial and residential towers. Valued at more than
US$5 billion, the Abdali project will create a new visible centre for Amman and act
as the major business district for the city.[122] The first phase contains about
ten towers, five of which are under construction to be completed by 2016.[123]
Across 30,000 square meters of land, a central dynamic park is the main feature of
phase II which will serve as a focal theme for mainly residential, office, hotel
and retail developments over 800,000 square meters.[124]

The towers in the first phase include Rotana Hotel Amman, W Hotel Amman, The
Heights Tower, Clemenceau Medical Center tower, Abdali mall tower, Abdali Gateway
tower, K tower, Vertex Tower, Capital tower, Saraya headquarters tower and Hamad
tower.[125]

Culture
Museums
See also: Category:Museums in Amman

The Jordan Museum located near downtown

The largest museum in Jordan is The Jordan Museum. It contains much of the valuable
archaeological findings in the country,[126] including some of the Dead Sea
Scrolls, the Neolithic limestone statues of 'Ain Ghazal, and a copy of the Mesha
Stele. Other museums include the Duke's Diwan, Jordan National Gallery of Fine
Arts, Jordan Archaeological Museum, The Children's Museum Jordan, The Martyrs'
Memorial and Museum, the Royal Automobile Museum, the Prophet Mohammad Museum, the
Museum of Parliamentary Life, the Jordan Folklore Museum, and museums at the
University of Jordan.[127]

Lifestyle
Amman is considered one of the most liberal and westernized cities in the Arab
world.[7][128] The city has become one of the most popular destinations for Western
expatriates and college students who seek to live, study, or work in the Middle
East or the Arab world in general.[129] The city's culinary scene has changed from
its shawerma stands and falafel joints to embrace many popular western restaurants
and fast-food outlets such as Asian fusion restaurants, French bistros and Italian
trattorias. The city has become famous for its fine dining scene among Western
expatriates and Persian Gulf tourists.[130]

Souk Jara is one of the most famous outdoor markets managed by the Jabal Amman
Residents Association (JARA)
Large shopping malls were built during the 2000s in Amman, including the Mecca
Mall, Abdoun Mall, City Mall, Al-Baraka Mall, Taj Mall, Zara Shopping Center,
Avenue Mall, and Abdali Mall in Al Abdali.[131] Wakalat Street ("Agencies Street")
is Amman's first pedestrian-only street and carries a lot of name-label clothes.
The Sweifieh area is considered to be the main shopping district of Amman.[132]

Nightclubs, music bars and shisha lounges are present across Amman, changing the
city's old image as the conservative capital of the kingdom. This burgeoning new
nightlife scene is shaped by Jordan's young population.[133] In addition to the
wide range of drinking and dancing venues on the social circuit of the city's
affluent crowd, Amman hosts cultural entertainment events, including the annual
Amman Summer Festival. Souk Jara is a Jordanian weekly flea market event that
occurs every Friday throughout the summer.[134] Sweifieh is considered to be the
unofficial red-light district of Amman as it holds most of the city's nightclubs,
bars.[135] Jabal Amman and Jabal al-Weibdeh are home to many pubs and bars as well,
making the area popular among bar hoppers.[130]

Alcohol is widely available in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and supermarkets.

[136][137] There are numerous nightclubs and bars across the city, especially in
West Amman. As of 2011, there were 77 registered nightclubs in Jordan (excluding
bars and pubs), overwhelmingly located in the capital city.[138] In 2009, there
were 222 registered liquor stores in Amman.[139]

Cuisine
See also: Jordanian cuisine
Danielle Pergament of The New York Times described Ammani cuisine as a product of
several cuisines in the region, writing that it combines "the bright vegetables
from Lebanon, crunchy falafels from Syria, juicy kebabs from Egypt and, most
recently, spicy meat dishes from Jordan's neighbor, Iraq. It's known as the food of
the Levant — an ancient word for the area bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the
Arabian peninsula. But the food here isn't just the sum of its calories. In this
politically, religiously and ethnically fraught corner of the world, it is a symbol
of bloodlines and identity."[140] However, the city's street food scene makes the
Ammani cuisine distinctive.[2][141]

Sports

A panoramic view of Amman International Stadium in the Sport City

Amman-based football clubs Al-Wehdat and Al-Faisaly, both former league champions,
share one of the most popular rivalries in the local football scene.[142] Amman
hosted the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup along with Irbid and Zarqa.[143][144]

The 2007 Asian Athletics Championships and more than one edition of the IAAF World
Cross Country Championships were held in the city.[145] Amman also hosts the Jordan
Rally, which form part of the FIA World Rally Championship, becoming one of the
largest sporting events ever held in Jordan.[146]

Amman is home to a growing number of foreign sports such as skateboarding and

rugby; the latter has two teams based in the city: Amman Citadel Rugby Club and
Nomads Rugby Club.[147] In 2014, German non-profit organization Make Life Skate
Life completed construction of the 7Hills Skatepark, a 650 square meter concrete
skatepark located at Samir Rifai park in Downtown Amman.[148]

Media and music

The majority of Jordan's radio stations are based in Amman. The first radio station
to originate in the city was Hunna Amman in 1959; it mainly broadcast traditional
Bedouin music.[149] In 2000, Amman Net became the first de facto private radio
station to be established in the country, despite private ownership of radio
stations being illegal at the time.[150] After private ownership was legalized in
2002, several more radio stations were created. There were eight registered radio
stations broadcasting from Amman by 2007.[151] Most English language stations play
pop music targeted towards young audiences.[152]
Most Jordanian newspapers and news stations are situated in Amman. Daily newspapers
published in Amman include Alghad,[153] Ad-Dustour,[154] The Jordan Times,[153] and
Al Ra'i, the most circulated newspaper in the country.[155] In 2011, Al Ra'i was
ranked the 5th most popular newspaper in the Arab world by Forbes Middle-East
report.[156] Al-Arab Al-Yawm is the only daily pan-Arab newspaper in Jordan. The
two most popular Jordanian TV channels, Ro'ya TV and JRTV, are based in Amman.

Celebrations of Amman's centennial in 2009

Aside from mainstream Arabic pop, there is a growing independent music scene in the
city which includes many bands that have sizable audiences across the Arab world.
Local Ammani bands along with other bands in the Middle East gather in the Roman
Theatre during the Al-Balad Music Festival held annually in August. Music genres of
the local bands are diverse, ranging from heavy metal to Arabic rock, jazz and rap.
Performers include JadaL, Torabyeh, Bilocate, Akher Zapheer, Autostrad and El
Morabba3.[157]

Events
Many events take place in Amman, including Red Bull-sponsored events Soundclash and
Soapbox race, the second part of Jerash Festival, Al-Balad Music Festival, Amman
Marathon, Made in Jordan Festival, Amman Book Festival and New Think Festival.[158]
The New Think Festival is a yearly weekend event that is part of NewThink, a non-
profit initiative that aims to inspire youth to think about the world in an
innovative way. The festival is one of the many events throughout the year to get
youth involved. In 2015 the festival hosted 40 different organizations at King
Hussein Business Park in Amman that inspired their audience to be visionary and
think differently about the world through presentations and workshops. The variety
of organizations included business, environmental, medical and educational groups.
[159]

Transportation
With the exception of a functioning railway system, Amman has a railway station as
part of the Hejaz Railway. Amman has a developed public and private transportation
system. There are two international airports in Amman.

Airports

Queen Alia International Airport

The main airport serving Amman is Queen Alia International Airport, situated about
30 km (18.64 mi) south of Amman. Much smaller is Amman Civil Airport, a one-
terminal airport that serves primarily domestic and nearby international routes and
the army. Queen Alia International Airport is the major international airport in
Jordan and the hub for Royal Jordanian, the flag carrier. Its expansion was
recently done and modified, including the decommissioning of the old terminals and
the commissioning of new terminals costing $700M, to handle over 16 million
passengers annually.[160] It is now considered a state-of-the-art airport and was
named 'the best airport in the Middle East' for 2014 and 2015 and 'the best
improvement in the Middle East' for 2014 by Airport Service Quality Survey, the
world's leading airport passenger satisfaction benchmark program.[161]

Roads
See also: List of roads in Amman
Amman has an extensive road network, although the mountainous terrain of the area
has prevented the connection of some main roads, which are instead connected by
bridges and tunnels. The Abdoun Bridge spans Wadi Abdoun and connects the 4th
Circle to Abdoun Circle. It is considered one of Amman's many landmarks and is the
first curved suspended bridge to be built in the country.[162]
Abdoun Bridge, considered one of Amman's landmarks
There are eight circles, or roundabouts, that span and connect west Amman.
Successive waves of immigrants to the city has led to the rapid construction of new
neighborhoods, but Amman's capacity for new or widened roads remains limited
despite the influx. This has resulted in increasing traffic jams, particularly
during summer when there are large numbers of tourists and Jordanian expatriates
visiting.[163] The municipality began construction on a bus rapid transit (BRT)
system as a solution in 2015.[164] In 2015, a ring road encompassing the city was
constructed, which aims to connect the northern and southern parts of the city in
order for traffic to be diverted outside Amman and to improve the environmental
conditions in the city.[165]

Bus and taxi

Public transport buses in Amman

The city has frequent bus connections to other cities in Jordan, as well as to
major cities in neighboring countries; the latter are also served by service taxis.
Internal transport is served by a number of bus routes and taxis. Service taxis,
which most often operate on fixed routes, are readily available and inexpensive.
The two main bus and taxi stations are Abdali (near the King Abdullah Mosque, the
Parliament and Palace of Justice) and the Raghadan Central Bus Station near the
Roman theatre in the city centre. Popular Jordanian bus company services include
JETT and Al-Mahatta. Taxis are the most common way to get around in Amman due their
high availability and inexpensiveness.[166]

Bus rapid transit

Main article: Amman Bus Rapid Transit
Currently under construction are dedicated lanes for bus services which will
operate as part of the new urban rapid transit network (bus rapid transit). The
system includes high-quality stations and stops; express buses that can carry more
than 120 passengers and will run on a three-minute frequency during peak hours
along Amman's busiest corridors; terminals and park-n-ride facilities; and an
integrated fare collection system allowing passengers to pay the fare at stations
before embarking on the bus.[167] The BRT is planned to run along three major
corridors. The first one connects Sweileh with Mahatta via Sport City, with a major
underground station at the University of Jordan. The second corridor connects Sport
City with Downtown Amman at Ras El-Ain. The third corridor connects Customs Square
with Mahatta.[168]

Education

Al-Isra University in Amman

Amman is a major regional centre of education. The Amman region hosts Jordan's
highest concentration of education centers. There are 20 universities in Amman. The
University of Jordan is the largest public university in the city.[169] There are
448 private schools in the city attended by 90,000 students,[170] including Amman
Baccalaureate School, Amman Academy, Amman National School, Modern American School,
International School of Choueifat, American Community School in Amman and National
Orthodox School.

University of Jordan library

See also: List of universities in Jordan
Al-Ahliyya Amman University
Al-Isra University
Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan
Amman Arab University
Applied Science University
Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences
Arab Open University
Columbia University: Amman Branch
German-Jordanian University: Amman Branch
Jordan Academy for Maritime Studies
Jordan Academy of Music
Jordan Institute of Banking Studies
Jordan Media Institute
Middle East University
Petra University
Philadelphia University
Princess Sumaya University for Technology
Queen Noor Civil Aviation Technical College
World Islamic Sciences and Education University
University of Jordan
Twin towns and sister cities