External publications

Using PDIA to improve waste management in Amman

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School, Building State Capability

Volltext/Full text

In 2022, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) faced a growing waste crisis. The city’s rapid growth and population size had significantly outpaced its waste management infrastructure. However, public management reforms to improve the situation proved difficult. Advised by GIZ Jordan in cooperation with IDOS, GAM used the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach. A remarkable three-year transformation took place that not only improved waste collection efficiency, but fundamentally changed the way departments collaborated across GAM’s large bureaucracy.

To learn more about PDIA, visit https://bsc.hks.harvard.edu/.

About the IDOS author

Roll, Michael

Sociology

Further IDOS experts

Asimeng, Emmanuel Theodore

Urban Planning, Sustainability 

Baumann, Max-Otto

Political Science 

Breuer, Anita

Political Scientist 

Dick, Eva

Sociologist and Spatial Planner 

El-Haddad, Amirah

Economy 

Fasold, Maximilian

Political Economy 

Gutheil, Lena

Cultural Anthropology 

Haldenwang, Christian von

Political Science 

Houdret, Annabelle

Political Scientist 

Jauregui Fung, Franco

Architecture, Urban Agglomerations 

Leininger, Julia

Political Scientist 

Löpelt, Sarah

International relations and Sustainability policy 

Morare, Ditebogo Modiegi

Political Science 

Möschl, Tim

Governance 

Nowack, Daniel

Political Science 

Subramanian, Saravanan

Geography 

Zumegen, Lisa

Urban Transformation