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The Third Spaces Of Amman

May 19, 2009 67 Comments

For most of us, our lives are dominated by two essential spaces: home and the workplace. However, between the familiarity of our offices and homes there exists a third-space; a space where we come together in the public sphere; a space where we hang out; a space that is neither our home or at work.

In Amman, many of these spaces are either public places such as parks or cafes, or have evolved naturally over time such as the various streets of the capital.

Photographer and Blogger, Laith Majali, took a series of extraordinary pictures depicting some of Amman’s most common “third spaces” (seen above). From the football stadium and the steps of the Roman amphitheater, to bus stops, playgrounds, turkish baths, the Abdali market and the vegetable souk of the balad. Laith’s photos are a brief exploration of the places we inhibit in Amman.

So, where are your third spaces?

Where do you hang out when you’re not at home or work?

Where do you see people coming together, be it in small or large groups?

What strange nooks have you seen evolve naturally by the mere will of the people wanting to engage in those specific spaces?

Tell us about your third spaces!

The Third Space

Donia Aqel

my favourite space is where i can look from above and observe Amman moving from medday to its sunset… jabal al qal3a, where Amman sounds as good as it looks from up there.:)
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Deena

7adikat el-tuyur! we used to live right next to it, and me and my neighbours managed to strike a deal with the guard – he would let us in every morning (during summer) for free if we left before 2 pm (when it starts to get busy). so when it was really really empty in the morning, we would ride our bikes around, skate, or play tumayeh. and then, around 12/1, we used to hide in the bushes and watch as couples ‘imdayteen’ used to share sandwitches, glances and hand-holding… and sometimes even sneak a kiss.
at the time we used to think it was really funny. now i realise 7adikat el-tuyur wasn’t just a place for me to grow, as a child, it was also a salvage to those who thrived to feel love but couldn’t express it outside the confines of the garden’s walls.
that’s why it gets my vote as my ammani 3rd space.
(garden has now been renamed 7adikat el-Ameer Hashem liltuyur).
Deena

7adikat el-tuyur! we used to live right next to it, and me and my neighbours managed to strike a deal with the guard – he would let us in every morning (during summer) for free if we left before 2 pm (when it starts to get busy). so when it was really really empty in the morning, we would ride our bikes around, skate, or play tumayeh. and then, around 12/1, we used to hide in the bushes and watch as couples ‘imdayteen’ used to share sandwitches, glances and hand-holding… and sometimes even sneak a kiss.
at the time we used to think it was really funny. now i realise 7adikat el-tuyur wasn’t just a place for me to grow, as a child, it was also a salvage to those who thrived to feel love but couldn’t express it outside the confines of the garden’s walls.
that’s why it gets my vote as my ammani 3rd space.
(garden has now been renamed 7adikat el-Ameer Hashem liltuyur).
Laila

1st circle…rainbow street I just love it especially on fridays:)
Laila

1st circle…rainbow street I just love it especially on fridays:)
http://www.mapless-stars.blogspot.com/ Mais

Certainly amman’s stairways…Adraj amman… I have a special bond with Jabal Alqal3a where my grandma lives, and another bond with Jabal Amman where i grow as a child and then as a teenager in CMS…. and Jabal alwebdeh where I discovered another layer in me related to art… in each of those places… there are plenty of very cozy adraj…. each of which i have a story to tell about… and it probably has a story to tell about me….
http://www.mapless-stars.blogspot.com Mais

Certainly amman’s stairways…Adraj amman… I have a special bond with Jabal Alqal3a where my grandma lives, and another bond with Jabal Amman where i grow as a child and then as a teenager in CMS…. and Jabal alwebdeh where I discovered another layer in me related to art… in each of those places… there are plenty of very cozy adraj…. each of which i have a story to tell about… and it probably has a story to tell about me….
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Lena

I am loving these posts!

Jebel Lweibdeh, where my grandparents’ home is, and where I spent most of my childhood summers. We lived overseas,and would come back and spend a month or more every summer with all of my cousins wandering around Lweibdeh. Wish my kids could have that kind of magical freedom but the world is a more complicated place now. I was telling my daughters who are fans of the Arthur cartoon series (check it on http://www.pbs.org) that summers in Lweibdeh were sort of like Arthur’s life in “Elwood City”. We were free to be ourselves in the safe confines of our Jebel.In my mind, those summers are forever captured by the heady scent of red geraniums, jasmine blooming at night and overhwelming you as you past a garden wall, and delicious incomparable scent of pistachio skin,staining our finger nails as we climb up the trees at my grandparents whose to pick and eat the delicious nuts in their fleshy shell. We wandered from dukannet ABu Adnan where we bought Jabri ice cream cones or candy crayons in the little red box(across from Wahbeh’s butcher shop)to the kids club that used to be in the Muntazah (now replaced by Canvas). I think I still have my club id card somewhere :))There was a little shop nearby that sold malteeneh (the playdough that came in small colored rectangles, remember that??) and those big drawing pads with orange covers.
As preteens we could walk all the way to the Hawooz (hilariously renamed Square de Paris in my humble opinion). I still laugh about the crazy sidewalks, too high in some places, too narrow in others, with trees planted in the middle of the sidewalk, requiring you to risk your life by walking in the street. Falafel and fatteh were best from Abu Mahjoob. There used to a be a little grocery store next to Terra Sancta school that sold colored popcorn kernels (bushar); a real treat! As we got older, we (girls) would stop to buy nail polish or accessories from the little shops by Afghani. We experimented with hideous 80s make up (read colored eyeliner) and spent many shilins on scrunchies and big brightly colored earrings and bangles. Then came the teenage years, and the journey to buy pretty stationary (from university bookshop) for love letters or mix tapes from the place by the bookshop to nurse our crushes to the tunes of Majida Roumi among others. (For good American pop you had to travel across town to Music Box near NadiSayyarat). YER7AM!!!

As an adult, I love a walk through Jebel Amman down to El-Balad. All of Jebel Amman — Rainbow street, the older less “revitalized” areas, and the ruthless and beloved old staircases of the city.
thanks for the chance to travel down memory lane :)
Lena

I am loving these posts!

Jebel Lweibdeh, where my grandparents’ home is, and where I spent most of my childhood summers. We lived overseas,and would come back and spend a month or more every summer with all of my cousins wandering around Lweibdeh. Wish my kids could have that kind of magical freedom but the world is a more complicated place now. I was telling my daughters who are fans of the Arthur cartoon series (check it on http://www.pbs.org) that summers in Lweibdeh were sort of like Arthur’s life in “Elwood City”. We were free to be ourselves in the safe confines of our Jebel.In my mind, those summers are forever captured by the heady scent of red geraniums, jasmine blooming at night and overhwelming you as you past a garden wall, and delicious incomparable scent of pistachio skin,staining our finger nails as we climb up the trees at my grandparents whose to pick and eat the delicious nuts in their fleshy shell. We wandered from dukannet ABu Adnan where we bought Jabri ice cream cones or candy crayons in the little red box(across from Wahbeh’s butcher shop)to the kids club that used to be in the Muntazah (now replaced by Canvas). I think I still have my club id card somewhere :))There was a little shop nearby that sold malteeneh (the playdough that came in small colored rectangles, remember that??) and those big drawing pads with orange covers.
As preteens we could walk all the way to the Hawooz (hilariously renamed Square de Paris in my humble opinion). I still laugh about the crazy sidewalks, too high in some places, too narrow in others, with trees planted in the middle of the sidewalk, requiring you to risk your life by walking in the street. Falafel and fatteh were best from Abu Mahjoob. There used to a be a little grocery store next to Terra Sancta school that sold colored popcorn kernels (bushar); a real treat! As we got older, we (girls) would stop to buy nail polish or accessories from the little shops by Afghani. We experimented with hideous 80s make up (read colored eyeliner) and spent many shilins on scrunchies and big brightly colored earrings and bangles. Then came the teenage years, and the journey to buy pretty stationary (from university bookshop) for love letters or mix tapes from the place by the bookshop to nurse our crushes to the tunes of Majida Roumi among others. (For good American pop you had to travel across town to Music Box near NadiSayyarat). YER7AM!!!

As an adult, I love a walk through Jebel Amman down to El-Balad. All of Jebel Amman — Rainbow street, the older less “revitalized” areas, and the ruthless and beloved old staircases of the city.
thanks for the chance to travel down memory lane :)
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One of my favorite places is the staircase leading to Wild Jordan.
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my favourite space is where i can look from above and observe Amman moving from medday to its sunset…
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