Mapping Amman

Among the many things about Amman that struck me when we first moved here was a simple, yet extremely noticeable detail: the city had few street names and few actual addresses. This seemed strange to me--especially for a city of several million people--since I was coming from a city like Minneapolis, where every kind of street is named and which runs on a straight and easy grid pattern, making any destination easy to find if you just know the address. Because of the lack of street names and building numbers here, however, most destinations are not always so easy to find. Instead, if you want someone to find your home, for instance, you end up pointing people to the nearest large landmark, then to a certain falafal shop, then a certain number of streets, and so on. Or, to find someones home you have to navigate directions like those we were given below (some details have been taken out):

From _____ go under the tunnel toward _____. Continue straight through _____.
Take the first right (at a toy store).
Go through two stop signs. After the second, turn left at the next street.
Go until the road T's. Turn right.
Take the second left.
This is a dead end street--they are at the end--#____ on the right.
Their apartment is on the ____ floor--use the middle set of doors and head up the stairs.

Recently Annamarie ran into some German tourists near our apartment who asked her for directions to a certain restaurant. They were frustrated, as they couldn't find any reliable maps, and even if they could, they said, nobody they asked could tell them where the street was that they were looking for.

Perhaps, however, this is changing, as a few months ago big, blue numbers like this began appearing on buildings in many parts of Amman.


Then, new street signs like this one began appearing at intersections throughout Amman.


I don't know if these streets already had names but just weren't signed, or if they got names and signs at the same time. Whatever the case, it appears that in the future, navigating the city will be easier for me--and for German tourists.