Amman Master Plan wins World Leadership Award

Dec 07, 2007

On December 6th, in London, England, the 2007 World Leadership Award for Town Planning was awarded to the Amman Master Plan.  In addition, the City of Amman was also awarded the title of 2007 City of the Year for the Middle East and Asia.

There to present the plan and receive the awards were His Excellency Mayor Omar Maani, project co-directors Gerry Post (BearingPoint) and Samir Subhi (Greater Amman Municipality), and chief planner John Van Nostrand (planningAlliance).

Presented annually in London, the World Leadership Awards celebrate the very best in modern city leadership.

More than 400 cities across the world are asked to submit projects in a wide range of activities spanning: Architecture & Civil Engineering, Communication, Culture and the arts, Economy and/or Employment, Education and/or the Development of the Young, Health, Housing, Environment, Law and Order, Science and Technology, Sport, Town Planning, Transport, Urban Renewal and Utilities.

The World Leadership Awards are given to cities whose leaders have shown exceptional imagination, foresight or resilience in a number of key fields - especially cities that have reversed trends, shaken off traditional images, and acted as an example and inspiration to others.

These awards are noteworthy international recognition for the City of Amman and for a very large project in which BA Group has played a major part.  Robert McBride, BA Group’s President, and Tim Arnott, one of BA’s Associates, have been spearheading our work on the plan and are particularly proud to be associated with the Amman Master Plan team and its achievements.

Transportation planning, as well as transportation operations, engineering, and development review, have been identified as major issues which have contributed to the need for a more comprehensive approach to urban planning in the Greater Amman Municipality.  The disciplined, thorough, and comprehensive manner in which BA Group has dealt with these issues reflects upon our ability to absorb, recognize, assess, and develop innovative, practical, and well integrated solutions for the “full spectrum of mobility needs” for this unique and rapidly growing municipality.

This was done in an environment with little current or historical data upon which to rely; we had to rely on our experience to address these challenges.  Furthermore, BA Group had to convince an entire municipal bureaucracy and the political leadership to adopt a different approach to mobility needs - one based upon a comprehensive, integrated, multi-modal approach which places a greater emphasis upon enhanced transit service and pedestrian public realm and a commensurate re-balancing of investment priorities relating to the road system.

Our interesting and challenging work in Amman will continue for the next year at least.

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BA Group is a Canadian company that creates thoughtful, sustainable plans for the movement of people and goods in urban environments. We solve challenging pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and automobile transportation problems by applying our expert knowledge and utmost care in planning, design and collaboration with other professionals. We believe that planning in support of the safe and efficient movement of people and goods creates better, more successful urban environments.