How I brought a river, and my city, back to life
-
0:01 - 0:02I would like to share with you today
-
0:02 - 0:04a project that has changed how I approach
-
0:04 - 0:06and practice architecture:
-
0:06 - 0:09the Fez River Rehabilitation Project.
-
0:09 - 0:12My hometown of Fez, Morocco,
-
0:12 - 0:15boasts one of the largest walled
medieval cities in the world, -
0:15 - 0:18called the medina, nestled in a river valley.
-
0:18 - 0:22The entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
-
0:22 - 0:26Since the 1950s, as the
population of the medina grew, -
0:26 - 0:28basic urban infrastructure
-
0:28 - 0:30such as green open spaces and sewage
-
0:30 - 0:35quickly changed and got highly stressed.
-
0:35 - 0:38One of the biggest casualties of the situation
-
0:38 - 0:42was the Fez River, which bisects
the medina in its middle -
0:42 - 0:45and has been considered for many centuries
-
0:45 - 0:48as the city's very soul.
-
0:48 - 0:50In fact, one can witness the presence
-
0:50 - 0:53of the river's extensive water network
-
0:53 - 0:54all throughout the city,
-
0:54 - 0:58in places such as private and public fountains.
-
0:58 - 1:02Unfortunately, because of the pollution of the river,
-
1:02 - 1:04it has been covered little by little
-
1:04 - 1:07by concrete slabs since 1952.
-
1:07 - 1:11This process of erasure was coupled
-
1:11 - 1:13with the destruction of many houses
-
1:13 - 1:14along the river banks
-
1:14 - 1:16to be able to make machineries
-
1:16 - 1:21enter the narrow pedestrian network of the medina.
-
1:21 - 1:24Those urban voids quickly became illegal parking
-
1:24 - 1:26or trash yards.
-
1:26 - 1:28Actually, the state of the river
-
1:28 - 1:32before entering the medina is pretty healthy.
-
1:32 - 1:34Then pollution takes its toll,
-
1:34 - 1:36mainly due to untreated sewage
-
1:36 - 1:40and chemical dumping from crafts such as tanning.
-
1:40 - 1:42At some point, I couldn't bear
-
1:42 - 1:44the desecration of the river,
-
1:44 - 1:46such an important part of my city,
-
1:46 - 1:48and I decided to take action,
-
1:48 - 1:50especially after I heard that the city
-
1:50 - 1:53received a grant to divert sewage water
-
1:53 - 1:55and to treat it.
-
1:55 - 1:57With clean water, suddenly
-
1:57 - 1:59the uncovering of the river became possible,
-
1:59 - 2:02and with luck and actually a lot of pushing,
-
2:02 - 2:05my partner Takako Tajima and I
-
2:05 - 2:08were commissioned by the city to
work with a team of engineers -
2:08 - 2:10to uncover the river.
-
2:10 - 2:12However, we were sneaky,
-
2:12 - 2:14and we proposed more:
-
2:14 - 2:18to convert riverbanks into pedestrian pathways,
-
2:18 - 2:20and then to connect these pathways
-
2:20 - 2:22back to the city fabric,
-
2:22 - 2:24and finally to convert the urban voids
-
2:24 - 2:28along the riverbanks into public spaces
-
2:28 - 2:30that are lacking in the Medina of Fez.
-
2:30 - 2:32I will show you briefly now
-
2:32 - 2:35two of these public spaces.
-
2:35 - 2:38The first one is the Rcif Plaza,
-
2:38 - 2:41which sits actually right on top of the river,
-
2:41 - 2:44which you can see here in dotted lines.
-
2:44 - 2:48This plaza used to be a chaotic transportation hub
-
2:48 - 2:49that actually compromised the urban integrity
-
2:49 - 2:52of the medina, that has the largest
-
2:52 - 2:54pedestrian network in the world.
-
2:54 - 2:58And right beyond the historic
bridge that you can see here, -
2:58 - 2:59right next to the plaza,
-
2:59 - 3:02you can see that the river looked like
-
3:02 - 3:04a river of trash.
-
3:04 - 3:06Instead, what we proposed is to make
-
3:06 - 3:08the plaza entirely pedestrian,
-
3:08 - 3:11to cover it with recycled leather canopies,
-
3:11 - 3:15and to connect it to the banks of the river.
-
3:15 - 3:17The second site of intervention
-
3:17 - 3:20is also an urban void along the river banks,
-
3:20 - 3:22and it used to be an illegal parking,
-
3:22 - 3:24and we proposed to transform it
-
3:24 - 3:27into the first playground in the medina.
-
3:27 - 3:31The playground is constructed using recycled tires
-
3:31 - 3:33and also is coupled with a constructed wetland
-
3:33 - 3:36that not only cleans the water of the river
-
3:36 - 3:39but also retains it when floods occur.
-
3:39 - 3:42As the project progressed and
received several design awards, -
3:42 - 3:45new stakeholders intervened
-
3:45 - 3:48and changed the project goals and design.
-
3:48 - 3:51The only way for us to be able to bring
-
3:51 - 3:55the main goals of the project ahead
-
3:55 - 3:57was for us to do something very unusual
-
3:57 - 3:59that usually architects don't do.
-
3:59 - 4:02It was for us to take our design ego
-
4:02 - 4:04and our sense of authorship
-
4:04 - 4:06and put it in the backseat
-
4:06 - 4:08and to focus mainly on being activists
-
4:08 - 4:10and on trying to coalesce
-
4:10 - 4:12all of the agendas of stakeholders
-
4:12 - 4:15and focus on the main goals of the project:
-
4:15 - 4:18that is, to uncover the river, treat its water,
-
4:18 - 4:20and provide public spaces for all.
-
4:20 - 4:21We were actually very lucky,
-
4:21 - 4:24and many of those goals happened
-
4:24 - 4:25or are in the process of happening.
-
4:25 - 4:27Like, you can see here in the Rcif Plaza.
-
4:27 - 4:30This is how it looked like about six years ago.
-
4:30 - 4:32This is how it looks like today.
-
4:32 - 4:34It's still under construction,
-
4:34 - 4:35but actually it is heavily used
-
4:35 - 4:37by the local population.
-
4:37 - 4:40And finally, this is how the Rcif Plaza will look like
-
4:40 - 4:42when the project is completed.
-
4:42 - 4:46This is the river, covered, used as a trash yard.
-
4:46 - 4:48Then after many years of work,
-
4:48 - 4:50the river with clean water, uncovered.
-
4:50 - 4:52And finally, you can see here the river
-
4:52 - 4:55when the project will be completed.
-
4:55 - 4:57So for sure, the Fez River Rehabilitation
-
4:57 - 5:00will keep on changing and adapting
-
5:00 - 5:02to the sociopolitical landscape of the city,
-
5:02 - 5:05but we strongly believe that by reimagining
-
5:05 - 5:07the role and the agency of the architect,
-
5:07 - 5:11we have set up the core idea
of the project into motion; -
5:11 - 5:14that is, to transform the river from sewage
-
5:14 - 5:16to public space for all,
-
5:16 - 5:19thereby making sure that the city of Fez
-
5:19 - 5:21will remain a living city for its inhabitants
-
5:21 - 5:23rather than a mummified heritage.
-
5:23 - 5:25Thank you very much.
-
5:25 - 5:26(Applause)
- Title:
- How I brought a river, and my city, back to life
- Speaker:
- Aziza Chaouni
- Description:
-
The Fez River winds through the medina of Fez, Morocco—a mazelike medieval city that’s a World Heritage Site. Once considered the “soul” of this celebrated city, the river succumbed to sewage and pollution, and in the 1950s was covered over bit by bit until nothing remained. TED Fellow Aziza Chaouni recounts her 20 year effort to restore this river to its former glory, and to transform her city in the process.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:39
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Madeleine Aronson edited English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life | ||
Madeleine Aronson edited English subtitles for How I brought a river, and my city, back to life |