AMMAN — Jabal Luweibdeh, one of the seven hills of Amman, has become a battleground between artistic and business interests. Artists from this picturesque neighborhood are fighting to save the area from being overtaken by shisha cafes, restaurants, shops and the heavy traffic they cause.

Located at the center of the Jordanian capital, the area was once a lively part of the otherwise somber city, with its squares and streets lined with jasmine trees, cultural centers and stone houses with small courtyards. But particularly in the last decade, the scent of jasmine has been replaced by smoke from the mushrooming cafes and exhaust from the heavy traffic, complain residents.

“We want to smell the jasmine again instead of breathing the smoke from the vehicles and shisha cafes that have taken over the whole area,” Rashid Malhas, the director of the Friends of Al-Weibdeh Cultural Association, told Al-Monitor. This summer the association, which has been active for more than a decade, began an effort to make the mountain a cultural venue again.

As part of the project, a group of Jordanian artists performed street concerts on a corner near the neighborhood's Paris Square on Aug. 27. The musicians sang Jordanian and other Arab songs accompanied by an accordion, guitar and a Middle Eastern stringed instrument called an oud. Passers-by sang along or joined them with their own instruments.