ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aziza Chaouni - Architect + ecotourism specialist
Aziza Chaouni focuses on projects that integrate architecture and landscape, and that ultimately give back to their communities. For years, she has worked to revive the Fez River, which runs through her hometown of Fez, Morocco.

Why you should listen

Civil engineer and architect Aziza Chaouni creates sustainable, built environments in the developing world, focusing on the deserts of the Middle East. Chaouni’s design philosophy holds that it is not enough for sustainable buildings to have zero impact—they must give back to the community on social, economic, infrastructural and environmental levels too. The founding principal of Aziza Chaouni Projects, she collaborates closely with local communities and experts from other disciplines to integrate architecture, landscape and infrastructure in innovative ways.

Born and raised in Fez, Morocco, Chaouni has long found herself fascinated with the Fez River, which winds through the city's ancient Medina. Once considered the city's soul, sending water to both public and private fountains, in the 1950s, the stream started to become a toxic sewer because of overcrowding, over-development and pollution. The city responded by covering the river over with concrete slabs, bit by bit, in the process destroying houses and creating dumping grounds. When Fez received a grant to divert and clean the river's water, Chaouni proposed the Fez River Project to uncover the river, restore its riverbanks and create pedestrian pathways. Her vision: to reclaim these areas as public spaces and reconnect them to the rest of the city.

A project that Chaouni has been working on for two decades, her mission to transform the Fez River began with her thesis in graduate school and has continued throughout her career. Over the course of years, the river is gradually being uncovered—illegal parking lots are being transformed into playgrounds, trees and vegetation are being planted to create public spaces. Overall, the project is revitalizing Fez as a living city.

 

More profile about the speaker
Aziza Chaouni | Speaker | TED.com
TED2014

Aziza Chaouni: How I brought a river, and my city, back to life

Aziza Chaouni: Bagaimana aku membuat sungai, dan kota ku kembali hidup

Filmed:
732,804 views

Sungai Fez mengalir melalui Fez medina, Moroko. Sebuah kota tua seperti labirin yang telah menjadi Situs Warisan Dunia. Dahulunya dianggap sebagai jiwa dari kota ini, sungai tersebut kemudian mati karena kotoran dan polusi, dan di tahun 1950an ditutup dikit demi sedikit sampai tidak ada yang tersisa. TEDster Aziza Chaouni menceritakan kembali usaha 20 tahunnya untuk mengembalikan kejayaan sungai ini kembali dan mengubah kampung halamannya.
- Architect + ecotourism specialist
Aziza Chaouni focuses on projects that integrate architecture and landscape, and that ultimately give back to their communities. For years, she has worked to revive the Fez River, which runs through her hometown of Fez, Morocco. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

Aku ingin berbagi denganmu hari ini
00:12
I would like to shareBagikan with you todayhari ini
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a projectproyek that has changedberubah how I approachpendekatan
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sebuah proyek yang mengubahku memahami
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and practicepraktek architectureArsitektur:
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dan mempraktikan aristektur
00:18
the FezFès RiverSungai RehabilitationRehabilitasi ProjectProyek.
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Proyek Rehabilitasi Sungai Fez
00:21
My hometownkampung halaman of FezFès, MoroccoMaroko,
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Kampung halamanku Kota Fez, Moroko,
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boastsmembanggakan one of the largestterbesar walledberdinding
medievalpertengahan citieskota in the worlddunia,
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disebut kota medieval bertembok
terbesar di dunia,
00:27
calledbernama the medinaMadinah, nestledsetiap in a riversungai valleylembah.
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disebut Medina, bersampingan
dengan lembah sungai
00:30
The entireseluruh citykota is a UNESCOUNESCO WorldDunia HeritageWarisan SiteSitus.
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Seluruh kota adalah
situs warisan dunia UNESCO
00:33
SinceSejak the 1950s, as the
populationpopulasi of the medinaMadinah grewtumbuh,
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Sejak tahun 1950-an,
saat populasi medina tumbuh,
00:37
basicdasar urbanperkotaan infrastructureinfrastruktur
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infrastruktur perkotaan
00:39
suchseperti itu as greenhijau openBuka spacesruang and sewagekotoran
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seperti ruang terbuka hijau
dan saluran kotoran
00:42
quicklysegera changedberubah and got highlysangat stressedstres.
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dengan cepat berubah
dan sangat menghawatirkan
00:47
One of the biggestterbesar casualtieskorban of the situationsituasi
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Salah satu penyebabnya adalah
00:50
was the FezFès RiverSungai, whichyang bisectsbisects
the medinaMadinah in its middletengah
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sungai Fez, yang membelah
Medina tepat ditengah
00:54
and has been considereddianggap for manybanyak centuriesabad
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dan juga telah berabad-abad menjadi
00:57
as the city'skota very souljiwa.
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jiwa dari kota ini.
00:59
In factfakta, one can witnesssaksi the presencekehadiran
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Faktanya, orang dapat melihat kehadiran
01:01
of the river'sSungai extensiveluas waterair networkjaringan
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jaringan sungai yang sangat luas
01:05
all throughoutsepanjang the citykota,
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di seluruh kota,
01:06
in placestempat suchseperti itu as privatepribadi and publicpublik fountainsair mancur.
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di tempat seperti sumur pribadi dan umum.
01:10
UnfortunatelySayangnya, because of the pollutionpolusi of the riversungai,
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Sayangnya, karena polusi di sungai,
01:13
it has been coveredtertutupi little by little
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jaringan tersebut tertutup
sedikit demi sedikit
01:16
by concretebeton slabslembaran sincesejak 1952.
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oleh beton-beton sejak 1952.
01:19
This processproses of erasurepenghapusan was coupledditambah
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Proses ini dibarengi dengan
01:22
with the destructionpenghancuran of manybanyak housesrumah
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penghancuran banyak rumah-rumah
01:24
alongsepanjang the riversungai banksbank
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di sepanjang aliran sungai
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to be ablesanggup to make machineriesmesin-mesin
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agar peralatan berat bisa
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entermemasukkan the narrowsempit pedestrianpejalan kaki networkjaringan of the medinaMadinah.
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memasuki jaringan pedestrian
yang sempit di medina.
01:33
Those urbanperkotaan voidsVoid quicklysegera becamemenjadi illegalliar parkingparkir
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Lahan kosong perkotaan
dengan cepat menjadi tempat
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or trashsampah yardsmeter.
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parkir ilegal atau tempat sampah.
01:38
ActuallyBenar-benar, the statenegara of the riversungai
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Sebenarnya, keadaan sungai
01:40
before enteringmemasuki the medinaMadinah is prettycantik healthysehat.
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sebelum memasuki medina cukup sehat.
01:43
Then pollutionpolusi takes its tollkorban,
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Kemudian polusi mengambil alih,
01:45
mainlyterutama duekarena to untreatedtidak diobati sewagekotoran
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kebanyakan karena saluran
yang tidak terawat
01:48
and chemicalbahan kimia dumpingdumping from craftskerajinan suchseperti itu as tanningpenyamakan.
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dan pembuangan kimia
dari kerajinan penyamakan kulit.
01:51
At some pointtitik, I couldn'ttidak bisa bearberuang
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Pada suatu saat, aku tidak tahan dengan
01:53
the desecrationpenodaan of the riversungai,
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pengotoran sungai,
01:55
suchseperti itu an importantpenting partbagian of my citykota,
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yang menjadi bagian penting dari kotaku,
dan memutuskan untuk melakukan tindakan,
01:58
and I decidedmemutuskan to take actiontindakan,
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especiallyterutama after I heardmendengar that the citykota
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khususnya setelah
aku mendengar bahwa kota itu
02:02
receivedditerima a granthibah to divertmengalihkan sewagekotoran waterair
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telah mendapatkan izin
memindahkan saluran kotoran
02:05
and to treatmemperlakukan it.
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dan membersihkannya.
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With cleanbersih waterair, suddenlymendadak
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Dengan air yang bersih, tiba-tiba
02:08
the uncoveringmengungkap of the riversungai becamemenjadi possiblemungkin,
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membuka penutup sungai menjadi mungkin,
02:11
and with luckkeberuntungan and actuallysebenarnya a lot of pushingmendorong,
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dan dengan keberuntungan,
atau karena banyak paksaan,
02:14
my partnerpasangan TakakoTakako TajimaTajima and I
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Kawanku Takako Tajima dan aku
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were commissionedditugaskan by the citykota to
work with a teamtim of engineersinsinyur
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ditugaskan oleh kota untuk
bekerja dengan tim insinyur
02:20
to uncovermengungkap the riversungai.
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untuk membuka kembali sungai.
02:22
HoweverNamun, we were sneakylicik,
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Bagaimanapun, kita bersembunyi-sembunyi,
02:24
and we proposeddiusulkan more:
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dan mengajukan permintaan lebih:
02:25
to convertmengubah riverbankstepian Sungai into pedestrianpejalan kaki pathwaysjalur,
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yaitu mengubah tepian sungai
menjadi pedestrian
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and then to connectmenghubungkan these pathwaysjalur
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dan kemudian menyambungkan jalur tersebut
02:32
back to the citykota fabrickain,
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kembali ke kota,
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and finallyakhirnya to convertmengubah the urbanperkotaan voidsVoid
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dan akhirnya mengubah lahan kosong
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alongsepanjang the riverbankstepian Sungai into publicpublik spacesruang
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bersama dengan tepian sungai
menjadi ruang publik
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that are lackingkurang in the MedinaMedina of FezFès.
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yang sebelumnya sedikit
di sungai Fez Medina
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I will showmenunjukkan you brieflysecara singkat now
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Aku akan memperlihatkannya padamu
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two of these publicpublik spacesruang.
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dua dari ruang publik itu.
02:46
The first one is the RcifRcif PlazaPlaza,
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Yang pertama adalah alun-alun Rcif,
02:49
whichyang sitsduduk actuallysebenarnya right on toppuncak of the riversungai,
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yang sebenarnya berada
tepat di atas sungai,
02:52
whichyang you can see here in dottedbertitik linesgaris.
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yang kamu bisa lihat dengan
garis titik-titik.
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This plazaplaza used to be a chaoticsemrawut transportationangkutan hubpusat
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Alun-alun ini dulunya terminal
transportasi yang kacau
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that actuallysebenarnya compromiseddikompromikan the urbanperkotaan integrityintegritas
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yang sebenarnya terkait dengan
identitas perkotaan medina,
yang memiliki jalur
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of the medinaMadinah, that has the largestterbesar
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03:03
pedestrianpejalan kaki networkjaringan in the worlddunia.
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pejalan kaki terbesar di dunia.
03:06
And right beyondluar the historicbersejarah
bridgejembatan that you can see here,
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Dan tepat di luar jembatan bersejarah
yang bisa kamu lihat disini
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right nextberikutnya to the plazaplaza,
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tepat di samping alun-alun,
03:11
you can see that the riversungai lookedtampak like
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kamu bisa lihat sungainya terlihat seperti
03:13
a riversungai of trashsampah.
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sungai sampah.
03:15
InsteadSebaliknya, what we proposeddiusulkan is to make
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Sedangkan, yang kita ajukan adalah untuk
03:18
the plazaplaza entirelysepenuhnya pedestrianpejalan kaki,
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membuat alun-alun itu menjadi
pedestrian seluruhnya,
03:20
to coverpenutup it with recycleddidaur ulang leatherkulit canopieskanopi,
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menutupnya dengan kanopi kulit daur ulang,
03:23
and to connectmenghubungkan it to the banksbank of the riversungai.
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dan menghubungkanya ke tepian sungai.
Lokasi kedua yang diubah
03:27
The secondkedua sitesitus of interventionintervensi
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03:28
is alsojuga an urbanperkotaan voidBatal alongsepanjang the riversungai banksbank,
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adalah lahan kosong
di sepanjang tepian sungai,
03:31
and it used to be an illegalliar parkingparkir,
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yang sebelumnya menjadi
tempat parkir ilegal,
03:34
and we proposeddiusulkan to transformmengubah it
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dan kita mengajukan untuk mengubahnya
03:35
into the first playgroundtempat bermain in the medinaMadinah.
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menjadi taman bermain pertama di medina.
03:38
The playgroundtempat bermain is constructeddibangun usingmenggunakan recycleddidaur ulang tiresban
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Taman bermain ini dibangun
menggunakan ban daur ulang
03:42
and alsojuga is coupledditambah with a constructeddibangun wetlandlahan basah
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dan bergabung dengan lahan basah buatan
03:45
that not only cleansmembersihkan the waterair of the riversungai
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yang tidak hanya
membersihkan air sungai
03:47
but alsojuga retainsmempertahankan it when floodsbanjir occurterjadi.
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tapi juga menahannya
ketika banjir terjadi.
03:51
As the projectproyek progressedberkembang and
receivedditerima severalbeberapa designDesain awardspenghargaan,
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Sejak proyek berjalan dan
mendapat penghargaan desain,
03:54
newbaru stakeholdersstakeholder intervenedcampur tangan
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pemegang kepentingan mengintervensi
03:56
and changedberubah the projectproyek goalstujuan and designDesain.
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dan mengubah tujuan proyek dan desainnya.
04:00
The only way for us to be ablesanggup to bringmembawa
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Satu-satunya jalan bagi kami
untuk bisa membawa
04:03
the mainutama goalstujuan of the projectproyek aheaddi depan
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tujuan utama dari proyek ke depan
04:06
was for us to do something very unusualluar biasa
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adalah kami melakukan sesuatu
yang tidak biasa
04:08
that usuallybiasanya architectsarsitek don't do.
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yang tidak pernah dilakukan arsitek.
04:10
It was for us to take our designDesain egoego
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Yaitu kami harus menyingkirkan ego desain
04:14
and our sensemerasakan of authorshipkepengarangan
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dan rasa memiliki
04:15
and put it in the backseatkursi belakang
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dan meletakkannya ke belakang
04:17
and to focusfokus mainlyterutama on beingmakhluk activistsaktivis
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dan lebih fokus pada menjadi aktivis
04:20
and on tryingmencoba to coalescebersatu
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dan berusaha menyatukan
04:22
all of the agendasAgenda of stakeholdersstakeholder
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semua keinginan dari pihak
yang berkepentingan
04:24
and focusfokus on the mainutama goalstujuan of the projectproyek:
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dan fokus pada tujuan utama dari proyek:
adalah untuk membuka kembali sungai,
membersihkan airnya,
04:27
that is, to uncovermengungkap the riversungai, treatmemperlakukan its waterair,
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04:29
and providemenyediakan publicpublik spacesruang for all.
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dan menyediakan ruang publik
untuk semua orang.
04:31
We were actuallysebenarnya very luckyberuntung,
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Kami sebenarnya sangat beruntung,
04:33
and manybanyak of those goalstujuan happenedterjadi
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dan banyak tujuan-tujuan itu yang terwujud
04:35
or are in the processproses of happeningkejadian.
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atau akan terwujud.
04:37
Like, you can see here in the RcifRcif PlazaPlaza.
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Seperti, kamu bisa lihat
di alun-alun Rcif.
04:39
This is how it lookedtampak like about sixenam yearstahun agolalu.
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Ini tampak sekitar enam tahun yang lalu.
04:42
This is how it looksterlihat like todayhari ini.
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Ini penampakan hari ini.
04:44
It's still underdibawah constructionkonstruksi,
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Masih dalam pembangunan,
04:45
but actuallysebenarnya it is heavilyberat used
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tapi sudah banyak digunakan
04:47
by the locallokal populationpopulasi.
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oleh warga lokal.
04:49
And finallyakhirnya, this is how the RcifRcif PlazaPlaza will look like
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Dan akhirnya, inilah alun-alun Rcif nanti
04:51
when the projectproyek is completedlengkap.
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ketika proyek usai.
04:53
This is the riversungai, coveredtertutupi, used as a trashsampah yardHalaman.
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Ini sungainya, tertutup,
digunakan sebagai lahan sampah.
Kemudian setelah pekerjaan bertahun-tahun,
04:57
Then after manybanyak yearstahun of work,
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04:59
the riversungai with cleanbersih waterair, uncoveredditemukan.
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sungai dengan air bersihnya, terbuka.
05:02
And finallyakhirnya, you can see here the riversungai
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Dan akhirnya, kamu lihat
seperti ini sungainya
05:04
when the projectproyek will be completedlengkap.
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saat proyeknya diselesaikan.
05:06
So for sure, the FezFès RiverSungai RehabilitationRehabilitasi
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Tentu saja, Rehabilitasi Sungai Fez
05:09
will keep on changingberubah and adaptingberadaptasi
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akan terus berubah dan beradaptasi
05:11
to the sociopoliticalsosial landscapepemandangan of the citykota,
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pada aspek sosial politik kota,
05:13
but we stronglydengan kuat believe that by reimaginingreimagining
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namun kita yakin bahwa dengan mengubah
05:16
the roleperan and the agencyagen of the architectarsitek,
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peran dan lembaga aristek
05:19
we have setset up the coreinti ideaide
of the projectproyek into motiongerakan;
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kita harus menentukan ide inti
dari proyek menjadi gerakan
05:23
that is, to transformmengubah the riversungai from sewagekotoran
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yang mengubah sungai dari saluran kotoran
05:25
to publicpublik spaceruang for all,
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menjadi ruang publik untuk semua orang,
05:27
therebydengan demikian makingmembuat sure that the citykota of FezFès
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sehingga dapat dipastikan
kota dari sungai Fez
akan tetap menjadi hunian
bagi para penduduknya
05:30
will remaintetap a livinghidup citykota for its inhabitantspenduduk
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05:32
ratheragak than a mummifiedmumi heritageWarisan.
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ketimbang menjadi warisan yang diawetkan.
05:35
Thank you very much.
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Terima kasih banyak.
(Tepuk tangan)
05:36
(ApplauseTepuk tangan)
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Translated by Bagus D
Reviewed by Ade Indarta

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aziza Chaouni - Architect + ecotourism specialist
Aziza Chaouni focuses on projects that integrate architecture and landscape, and that ultimately give back to their communities. For years, she has worked to revive the Fez River, which runs through her hometown of Fez, Morocco.

Why you should listen

Civil engineer and architect Aziza Chaouni creates sustainable, built environments in the developing world, focusing on the deserts of the Middle East. Chaouni’s design philosophy holds that it is not enough for sustainable buildings to have zero impact—they must give back to the community on social, economic, infrastructural and environmental levels too. The founding principal of Aziza Chaouni Projects, she collaborates closely with local communities and experts from other disciplines to integrate architecture, landscape and infrastructure in innovative ways.

Born and raised in Fez, Morocco, Chaouni has long found herself fascinated with the Fez River, which winds through the city's ancient Medina. Once considered the city's soul, sending water to both public and private fountains, in the 1950s, the stream started to become a toxic sewer because of overcrowding, over-development and pollution. The city responded by covering the river over with concrete slabs, bit by bit, in the process destroying houses and creating dumping grounds. When Fez received a grant to divert and clean the river's water, Chaouni proposed the Fez River Project to uncover the river, restore its riverbanks and create pedestrian pathways. Her vision: to reclaim these areas as public spaces and reconnect them to the rest of the city.

A project that Chaouni has been working on for two decades, her mission to transform the Fez River began with her thesis in graduate school and has continued throughout her career. Over the course of years, the river is gradually being uncovered—illegal parking lots are being transformed into playgrounds, trees and vegetation are being planted to create public spaces. Overall, the project is revitalizing Fez as a living city.

 

More profile about the speaker
Aziza Chaouni | Speaker | TED.com

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