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Paper abstract:

The Southern Great Chui Canal is one of the three branches of the Great Chui Canal which is an extensive complex of irrigation canals in Chui Valley. It was built under the administration of the Soviet Union, with M. V. Patrushev as an authoring engineer. Construction of the Southern Great Chui Canal began in 1976, and since that the canal never been used for its intended purpose, and there is no water. The canal is a concrete structure that consists of 2.5-meter high walls, with a width of 10 meters, and the length is about 4.5 kilometers.

Within the course "Redesigning the Commons and Urban Design" in the spring semester at the American University of Central Asia me and my classmates surveyed and mapped the condition of the canal, surveyed local residents, held a community meeting, and developed a strategy for how the canal can be turned into a valued and valuable community resource. The goal of our team was to redesign the Southern Great Chui Canal into public space. In bringing this idea to life, we were supported by the Bishkek Chief Architecture Department (BGA), the Oktyabrsky Akimiat and the city's territorial departments for the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth micro-districts of Bishkek. To achieve our goal, we started with a mosaic art intervention on the Big Chui Canal, where students, professors, local residents and municipal employees were involved.

In this paper, I will discuss how the initiative of the students and Professors can lead to something big and significant.