Budapest-Józsefváros: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:27, 26 November 2008

Regeneration Program in Budapest - Józsefváros

Renewal of retarded urban district with the involvement of the residents

Name	please enter the name here
Place	Budapest
Country	Hungary
Topic	please enter the topic here
Author(s)	Agnieszka Górniak
Completion	Please enter the date of completion
Client	Please enter the client
Project costs	Please enter the costs (if known)


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Why is this case study interesting

The Magdolna Quarter Program (Budapest – Józsefváros) is the first trial in Hungary to implement renewal of multiple retarded urban district with the involvement of the residents including integrated social, cultural and technical measures. It is a significant new initiative in the annals of urban planning in Budapest because it takes under consideration all three fields of urbanity – society, economy and environment and especially because it includes the intensive social involvement in the process of urban development of this area. The implementation of the spatial planning aims is difficult in the Magdolna Quarter because of extreme in the scale of the city social and economical problems there and the achievement of the urban landscape assumptions calls for complex, integrated acting in several fields in the same time.

In the frame of this program have been realized two public spots that deserve a special attention. The projects of ‘the building renewal by involvement of the tenants’ and ‘the renowal of Mátyás square’ are a good practice of social inclusion in all the phases of urban development process, since the moment of planning until the realization of the particular projects. Here the fact of involvement of the local society in design of the public areas is not merely the urban landscape issue but has also the educational, economical, crime prevention and social awareness building aspects.

The most interesting in those projects is the complexity of urban planning and the way of involving the problematic and socially disable community in urban landscape development and designing of the public spaces. The Magdolna Quarter Program express the interactions between urban landscape and society and help to understand the variety of needs of target groups when designing public spaces.

Author's perspective

There are many similar towns, especially located in East Europe, that struggle with problems of stagnate development of the poorest areas. This is of particular importance in case of these deteriorating cities or city quarters, which are depended on incomes of local society and entrepreneurs, and which slowly became the social and economical ‘bankrupts’ being unable to make itself a step ahead. The Budapest case is an interesting example of regenerating of city quarter by simultaneous development of its economy, spatial structure and social involvement.

I had an occasion to observe the development of Magdolna Quarter Program and the implementation of one of the public spaces there by participating in EU - financed project 'GreenKeys- Urban Green as a Key for Sustainable Cities', in which the Matyas Square have been a sample area of new Urban Green Strategy.

Landscape and/or urban context

The general purpose of the Magdolna Quarter Program is to introduce an urban rehabilitation scheme in Hungary where all program elements are built upon the active involvement of those living in the quarter. It should act as a catalyst for the public initiatives and thereby create a unique shaped and attractive part of the city with creating new public and cultural spots and renewal of existing ones.

Besides the social and economical improvements the Program aims at enlargement of public and green areas both by size and quality, creating sustainable living environment by continuous renewal of buildings in small steps, by retaining the architectural values and building new houses.

Illustration: Map; sketches; short descriptive analyses

Cultural/social/political context

Brief explanation of culture, political economy, legal framework

In the Magdolna Quarter the families in disadvantageous position are living in a concentrated pattern with over-representation of Romany families. The unemployment rate is equally the highest there all over Budapest and the proportion of economically active population is the lowest. The blocking in terms of education is also the highest: proportion of people without primary school qualification is high and the number of those having university grade is low. As regard to the economic potential and employment position of the quarter this is one of the weakest areas in the city. The number of criminal acts is high in spite of the improving public security. Another serious problem is a use of and trading with drugs as well as the prostitution having considerable historical heritage even if it has practically ceased to exist in public areas. The local community provides a more acceptant medium for the people disabled due to their physical or mental state or disqualified due to their ethic relations as well as for the Hungarian and non-Hungarian immigrants. The ratio of small area flats without any comfort is high in the outdated composition and extraordinarily bad state flat stock. Due to the permanent worsening of physical state and downward moving social spiral the quarter of the city being of the quarter of poor people is steadily detaching from the rest of the district. There is still a thin middle class group in the quarter that did not want or was unable to move from this part of the city and could be more easily mobilized than the people of the poorest families. The key task of this program is to retain and to strengthen this thin group as possible.

Illustration: Bullet points, image, background notes

History

How did the area/project/plan at the focus of the case study evolve?

Illustration: Table or time line