Planning and managing the built environment in the context of compliance with residential standards in Jordan

This study utilises urban planning theory, unauthorised housing theory and the theoretical framework of planning standards in an attempt to understand the phenomenon of low compliance with residential planning standards. The study examines the way in which people build their property and the extent to which this urban housing complies with the relevant planning standards. The study also investigates factors that impact on the extent of compliance with planning standards. It also examines the characteristics of unauthorised built environment and the relationship between these characteristics and the level of compliance with planning standards. Findings are based on an administrated questionnaire to a target sample of 1273 housing units based on Old Salt in Jordan and semi-structured interviews conducted with top managers based in municipal management in Salt. A total of 858 usable responses were collected, a response rate of 75.3%. For the purpose of data analysis the study utilises descriptive statistics, Chi-square and multivariate statistics (i. e. multiple regression and correlation analysis). The results show that the construction process tends to be irregular, illegal and is not normally subject to design and planning considerations. The overall level of compliance with respect to planning standards is low. A number of factors affect this low level of compliance, including family size, income, access to finance facilities, the current administration culture, levels of monitoring by the municipal management, lack of enforcement and general uncertainty about planning standards. In addition, municipal management faces huge challenges including budgetary restraints, human resources problems and poor information and databases related to the creation of planning strategies. Findings reveal that housing in Old Salt is problematic with the quality of socio-physical infrastructure in a low condition. There is a significant relationship between housing condition and the quality of socio-physical infrastructure and poor compliance with planning standards. However, the residents' attitudes towards Old Salt suggest that they prefer to live in this way rather than be subjected to more stringent planning control. A distinguishing feature of this study is that it extends previous studies in understanding the poor compliance with planning standards. The results suggest that managing unauthorised urban housing requires linking three areas together: construction process, different factors (i. e. socio-economic motives, management practices and uncertainty of planning standards) affecting compliance with planning standards and built environment characteristics. This finding, therefore, raises implications for future urban planning and housing researchers and, by drawing off unauthorised housing theory literature, it overcomes some of the deficiencies of previous research relating to urban planning and unauthorised housing.