The social role of open spaces in informal settlements in Jordan

Purpose The study hypothesized that the absence of the governing authority during the growth and expansion of informal settlements caused a highly randomized dense social fabric that shaped their characteristics. Design/methodology/approach This research employs urban tactics and social theories to understand dynamic relationships in social consolidation in informal settlements in Jordan. The research adopted a mixed-methods approach, deploying qualitative and quantitative methods to understand the concepts, terms, perspectives, means and functions of open spaces in informal settlements. Findings The results identified that the land ownership of open spaces, gender and age have a significant impact on the relationships and social interaction of people. The results suggested that despite the informal morphology of studied areas being random, unplanned and chaotic, there is often an underlying logic to meet occupants’ needs. Research limitations/implications This research explores informal spatiality to help understand the mechanisms of how marginal communities create and interact with each other in public spaces. This study is limited to the investigation of socio-cultural practices in public spaces, without an in-depth consideration of the roles of physical elements and features in the spatial configuration of these spaces. Originality/value The importance of the research is that the exploration of informal spatiality of this neighborhood morphology will enable to understand the mechanism of how marginal communities create and interact among each other and their public spaces in different cities.