AMMAN — Quality of life is no longer merely a complementary indicator on urban planning agendas; it has transformed into a benchmark for measuring the success of cities in responding to their residents' needs and their capacity to provide an environment that ensures well-being, stability, and human dignity.
اضافة اعلان
This shift in global urban thought lies at the core of the new UN study titled "Quality of Life in Cities: Towards Unified Cross-Regional Visions." The study reveals that the future of cities is tested not just by the scale of their urban development or the pace of their growth, but by the direct impact their policies leave on people's daily lives.
Reading the study's findings from an Arab regional perspective opens the door to questions regarding the capacity of cities to confront compounding pressures. These include water scarcity, climate change, housing crises, widening social gaps, and an increasing demand for services and infrastructure.
While these challenges are common to many global cities, their repercussions in the region appear more complex due to overlapping economic, demographic, and political factors. This elevates the quality of life from a routine matter to a strategic development priority linked directly to the future of urban stability.
A Joint International Effort
Conducted under the umbrella of the Global Quality of Life Initiative, this study represents a joint UN effort. For the first time, it brings together the United Nations Regional Commissions and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) to understand the quality of life in cities globally.
According to Dr. Sukaina Al-Nasrawi, Lead on the Sustainable Urban Development Portfolio at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that it does not merely present indicators or compare cities. Instead, it proposes a "deeper transformation" in how we understand a city and its function. It views the quality of life as the "product of interaction" among global, regional, national, and local levels.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Ghad regarding the study, Dr. Al-Nasrawi emphasized that human well-being in a city is influenced by an interconnected ecosystem of policies, as well as economic, social, and environmental conditions. She noted that despite differing contexts among global regions, countries, and cities, the study highlights "shared urban challenges" that recur worldwide, such as housing crises, widening social gaps, pressure on services and infrastructure, and climate stressors.
Dr. Al-Nasrawi pointed out that this reality makes improving the quality of life a "collective responsibility" requiring broader partnerships and a "unification of efforts" among governments, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society. She stressed that within the Global Quality of Life Initiative, the city of Amman adopted a methodology combining standardized global indicators—allowing for cross-city comparisons—with local indicators that reflect the city's unique characteristics, priorities, and challenges.
She added that what sets this approach apart is that it measures not only the efficiency of services and infrastructure, but also how people feel about their city and their level of satisfaction with daily life. This makes quality of life a tool for understanding the human experience inside the city, rather than just measuring municipal performance.
From Urban Luxury to Strategic Goal
In her assessment, this approach gains "double" the importance specifically in the Arab region, where cities face intertwined pressures related to rapid urban growth, resource scarcity, climate change, socioeconomic disparities, as well as conflicts, wars, and displacement. Consequently, quality of life is no longer an issue of "urban luxury" but has become a "developmental and strategic" issue directly tied to the resilience, sustainability, and stability of cities.
Furthermore, she stated that it has become an "operational framework" that helps decision-makers direct policies and investments toward what truly matters to people, rather than just toward what can be easily measured.
She continued:
"If we look at Jordan through the lens of Amman's experience, we are looking at a pioneering urban model in the Arab region. Amman was integrated into the Global Quality of Life platform, ranking second regionally in the Arab world and tenth globally out of 100 participating cities."
In her view, this is an "achievement" that reflects a "growing institutional commitment" to adopting data- and evidence-based approaches to understand and improve urban reality. It also demonstrates the capacity of Arab cities to actively contribute to the global dialogue on quality of life, rather than just being passive beneficiaries.
Environmental Progress and Challenges Ahead
On the environmental front specifically, the findings revealed several "important positive" indicators. Among these were declines in nitrogen dioxide levels and an increase in waste management efficiency. Waste collection services achieved near-universal coverage, coupled with entirely sanitary disposal of collected waste, she mentioned.
Dr. Al-Nasrawi noted that these indicators reflect progress in several aspects of the urban environment and the quality of basic services that directly impact residents' health and well-being.
On the other hand, Dr. Al-Nasrawi did not overlook the findings that highlighted existing challenges, particularly regarding the expansion of green spaces within the city. Despite ongoing efforts in afforestation and urban farming, residents' perceptions still point to a need for more investment in green spaces and public areas, as well as a more equitable distribution of these spaces across neighborhoods.
Among the challenges she cited was the issue of affordable housing, which serves as a major factor influencing overall quality of life. At the same time, Amman's experience highlights that quality-of-life indicators are not merely monitoring tools, but tools for decision-making.
She backed her view by stating that by combining objective indicators with residents' perceptions, this methodology helps guide policies and investments toward areas that have the greatest impact on people's lives—whether in air quality, green spaces, environmental services, or the urban environment as a whole.
From her perspective, the significance of Amman's experience lies in offering a "realistic and balanced model" that highlights both strengths and challenges. It shifts the focus from measuring city performance to understanding the human experience within it, which is the core essence of the quality of life concept.
Putting People First
All of this indicates, as Dr. Al-Nasrawi sees it, that Jordan has made "significant progress" on the path to improving quality of life. More importantly, it has begun to solidify a "new understanding" of urban development that places human beings at the center of the planning and decision-making process.
Among the prominent achievements she highlighted is that Amman has become a "regionally pioneering city" in adopting a quality-of-life framework and linking it to urban planning, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and climate action.
She noted that the senior leadership at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), alongside the pivotal role of the Amman Urban Observatory, has contributed to embedding an evidence- and data-driven institutional culture. This has facilitated a shift from measuring inputs and projects to measuring their actual impact on residents.
She believes that what distinguishes the Jordanian experience is not the claim that all challenges have been solved, but rather the presence of a growing "institutional will" to measure these challenges, handle them transparently, and recognize that quality of life is an ongoing process of continuous improvement, learning, and adaptation.
True success, in her view, does not lie in reaching an "ideal city," but in building a city capable of listening to its residents, understanding their needs, and responding to them continuously. Ultimately, improving the quality of life is not a standalone project or an isolated sector; it is the bottom-line result of all policies, decisions, and investments that affect people's lives.
The Cost of Delays
However, she warns that a slowdown in quality-of-life indicators does not remain confined to reports or databases; it reflects directly on the details of people's daily lives.
Providing an example, she stated that when cities become "less capable" of offering convenient and safe transportation, high-quality public spaces, or a clean and healthy environment, it takes a toll on individuals' health, well-being, productivity, and sense of belonging to the city.
Among the resulting issues are rising economic costs, a decline in the cities' attractiveness for investment and innovation, and an increased vulnerability of communities to crises and shocks.
In her view, the "most dangerous" aspect of a declining quality of life is that it weakens the relationship between the human being and the place. A city is not just infrastructure, buildings, and services; it is a space for life, opportunities, and social interaction. When residents feel that their city no longer adequately responds to their needs and aspirations, it erodes levels of satisfaction, trust, and social cohesion.
Priorities and the Role of the Private Sector
From this standpoint, Dr. Al-Nasrawi stresses that Jordan has several key priorities. Foremost among them are boosting sustainable public transportation, enhancing city walkability, expanding green spaces and public realms, improving resource and waste management efficiency, and accelerating climate change adaptation measures.
She also highlighted the importance of strengthening integration between national and local policies. This ensures that developmental investments and priorities align with the actual needs of cities and their residents. In this area, Jordan and the city of Amman are regarded as pioneering models regionally and globally in linking national and local sustainable development agendas.
In this context, technology serves as an important tool for improving quality of life, but it is not an end in itself. True smart cities are not measured by the number of digital applications and platforms they have, but by their ability to harness technology to improve mobility, services, and sustainability, while supporting evidence-based decision-making.
Specifically in Amman, she emphasized that there is a major opportunity to build on existing initiatives—such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), climate action plans, digital transformation, and urban afforestation—and to link these efforts within an integrated quality-of-life framework.
However, Dr. Al-Nasrawi explains that all this planning must be accompanied by building a partnership with the private sector. The private sector is not merely a "funding body" but a "primary partner" in shaping the future of cities. She added that major urban transformations cannot succeed through governments alone; they require genuine partnerships that bring together the public sector, private sector, civil society, and universities.
She defined the role of the private sector as providing the necessary expertise to deliver services related to sustainable transport, clean energy, building efficiency, digital solutions, the circular economy, waste management, and the development of public spaces. The private sector also possesses the capacity to accelerate innovation and develop new models for services and investments that contribute to improving residents' daily lives.
She concluded by noting that the digital economy and urban technology represent a vital arena where the private sector can contribute by developing innovative solutions for transport, services, energy, and resource management—directly reflecting on the daily quality of life for residents.
