I have to concede that in the urban looks department, and as much as I love Amman, Jordan’s capital city is pretty craptastic. On the bright side, it’s the only Middle Eastern entry on the roster they self-bill as “unbiased”.

Amman boasts streets strewn with litter and uncollected trash and, like most of our sister cities across the Middle East, uninspired glass towers sprouting with absolute disconnection to neighborhood context or traffic flows.

Our concrete and limestone buildings are coated with soot, sand and car exhaust because, absent the lashing rains of Seattle or Dublin, Amman filth sticks. And don’t get me started on unwalkable sidewalks and minimal green space.

Check out the other nine and see if your town is named and shamed – link here.

And people of Amman, do you think the title is deserved?

Eco artist and designer Pablo Solomon comments: “On ugly cities. We are always horrified to see cities devoid of greenery. As you know, I have preached for decades that planting enough greenery would be the cheapest and easiest way to counter manmade CO2 emissions.

“I put the term vertical greening into the common vocabulary and preached the Trillion Tree Project (now a reality). How one can live in a city without greenery is unimaginable. Gray water, collected rain water, desalinated seawater, etc. can be used to provide the necessary water. However, it takes determination, work, dedication and tenacity on the part of humans to turn their cities/living areas into more beautiful, more healthy and more earth friendly places.

“Being born into an ugly city is sad. Accepting living in an ugly city is even sadder,” he tells Green Prophet.

So what are you going to do about it Jordan?

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