 Several architects played a major role in the city's construction, among them Peter Vaulin, Peter Kuzmenko and Konstantin Terletsky.The Soviets transformed the area into a centre for cotton and silk production, and tens of thousands of people relocated to the city.The population also increased with thousands of Tajiks migrating to Tajikistan following the transfer of Bukhara and Samarkand to the Uzbek SSR as part of national delimitation in Central Asia.