The Land Regime in Jordan: Opinion Survey 1-Pilot Study

Abstract:

This research Note has been extracted and modified from a much larger document focusing on real estate in Jordan –the legal basis of land ownership, land parcel descriptions, status of cadastral mapping-and its administration under Jordan's Department of Land Survey (DLS). It presents the results of the first phase of field research carried out in Jordan from December 2007 through may 2008.> The purpose of the pilot study described here was primarily to test and refine the 43- question survey instrument for use in subsequent surveys of university students and Jordanian households. The pilot study also helped the researchers to identify the six study areas and confirm their validity as representative sites. Preparation and selection of cases for the pilot study were made possible through much consultation with local Jordanian land experts based at DLS headquarter in Amman and through the assistance of local geographers, who themselves conducted the survey. The six localities chosen for the pilot study are considered representative of Jordan's diversity of land tenure and ownership, including private, state, communal. And disputed land ownership. Further, the six localities (individually or collectively ) had to meet certain geographic criteria for their respective locations desert and /or semi desert land, mountain areas, below – sea level areas (i.e., in Jordan Valley), urban, rural, Bedouin dwelling, agricultural land, residential areas, and newly developed areas. The lovalities chosen for the pilot study were Shafa Badran, north of Amman; Um-Elkindam, south of Amman; Zarqa; Ghadier Abyadh, northwest of Mafraq; and Irbid and Swaimieh in the southern Jordan Valley.