The role of social infrastructure services in developing the city centre planning: A framework for delivering sustainable cities in Jordan

The spatial planning system of the city centre requires the provision of social infrastructure central to support the development of new communities, therefore delivering of sustainable communities and places. The study seeks to explore specific issues relating the delivery of social infrastructure in/around city centre context in Jordan. At the commencement of this study, it was not known how social infrastructure services and facilities would be effectively planned in the city centres in Jordan. The primary research aim is to explore the role of social infrastructure services in developing the city center in Jordan. Using existing literature, this paper will review global social infrastructure services and facilities and explore specific issues related to the delivery of social infrastructure in/around city centres in the selected case study areas. The study uses two approaches to achieve the main objectives, the testing-out and exploratory approaches, adopting a mixed method approach by using comparative case study areas, and a geographical information science (GIS) tool. The research?s conclusion lies in devising a framework, consisting of a series of multi-faced recommendations related to planning social infrastructure services and facilities in/around city centre context and to inform the future development of the Jordanian cities. This framework can be developed further in order to inform wider work that is being undertaken in the developing countries cities. The significance of this study is that it is the first specifically examining the delivery of social infrastructure in/around city centre context. This therefore strongly contributes to the existing knowledge of the city centre development for designing sustainable communities.