The future of our cities - joint responsibility and joint green action
György Alföldi1, Zoltán Kovács2
“Cities are built not only to provide roof and shelter but they should be designed in a way that apart from granting comfort for the people enough space should be left for public squares, gardens, green area, entertainment a recreation purposes.”
Leon Battista Alberti – Italian architect, 16th c.
Cities comprise a part of our natural environment, their development started more than 5000 years ago. Besides offering protection, cities have also been the engines of constant progress and continuous change. They came into existence at a time when social organisation and population density made the creation of central governments possible. It was made possible because a leader/organiser/expert layer was formed which did not have to take part in the everyday agricultural activities anymore since society was able to support them. This proves that society actually needed this layer, mainly because the development of production brought about new systems which needed central organisation and control.
Throughout their development, cities have always been governmental and economic centres. This concentration is one of the key conditions and at the same time one of the main consequences of progress. Concentration also led to dense spatial structures. After the Roman period European cities have developed from streets, squares and houses tightly cramped together. In the scant areas within the city walls, the idea of creating public parks was financially and socially unconceivable, sporadically only the very rich could afford large gardens. In the development of ancient and feudal cities, green spaces remained low key.
1 CEO, architect Doctor of Liberal Arts, Rév8 Urban Renewal and Development of Józsefváros Plc., 1083 Budapest, Páter u. 22. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Scientific Advisor, DSc, Geographical Research Institute – Hungarian Academy of Sciences (GRI HAS), 1112 Budapest, Budaörsi út 45. E-mail: [email protected]
100 Urban Green Book Green space development began to gain importance gradually no sooner than the 17-18th centuries in the capitals of absolutist monarchies. In this era, green spaces – such as gardens and parks – served the comfort of the privileged few (monarchs and aristocrats), but their broader effect was limited.
In the cities environmental problems within the walls did not yet necessitate the creation of public green spaces. From a bird’s view, cities were typically lonely spots in their natural surroundings. The absence of green space was not felt neither from a social nor from an environmental perspective. The loosening of feudal bonds and the appearance of modern industrial urbanisation brought along multiple changes, the ever-increasing concentration of economic power caused a population growth in cities and in the surrounding settlements.
Rapid population growth brought never seen before problems to the surface. City leaders, engineers, politicians and rich business people realised that the intolerably bad air, the deterioration of public health and security problems were partly caused by the dense city structure and industrial smog.
The only remedy for suffocating cities was seen in large scale green space development. Firstly, in the first half of the 19th century the city walls were pulled down and their site was converted to green spaces in many European cities; these green spaces already had public functions. Another important step in green space development occurred in the late 19th century with the Path Test emergence of city planning movements, all starting out from England. The two The picture was made within the frame of the „For a more vitable most important movements were the Public Parks Movement and the Garden and secure Magdolna Quarter” crime prevention project, supported by Ministry for Justice and Law Enforcement, on occasion of the City Movement. public greening work of the courtyard at 7 Dankó Street, Budapest (Rév8, ZÖFI - GANG)
Urban Green Book 101 From the 20th century, urbanisation has sped up. Together with environmental problems, social problems have also exacerbated. 20th century urban planning has used the “green weapon” more consciously so as to impede the expansion and rapid physical growth of the cities. Communities developed liveable resi- dential quarters for the workers and lower classes with significant central/local governmental subsidy; liveability was the concept behind the construction of green public spaces as well, intended for spending leisure time there.
The landscape is quite different nowadays: natural environment disrupted by cities here and there has been replaced by continuous urbanised regions in many places all over the world. The territories of natural environment keep shrinking. The naturally or rather, unnaturally growing cities experience significant problems in their environment and development.
The economic power concentrated in the metropolis attracts people from the country and from all over the world who want to work and live in the city, creating an ever growing social/cultural gap between social groups. The welfare state keeps withdrawing from city development and conflict solving, leaving local governments alone with the hardships of maintenance and social equalisation.
But what role do green spaces and green space development play in city development today if the future of the cities are determined by two conflicting needs? One need is gaining a better position in competition which aims at further enhancing economic concentration and economic power. The other need is sustainability which aims at maintaining the liveability of cities and preventing social/natural catastrophies. The requirements towards green space can be summarised as follows:
The culturally and socially diverse population of European cities requires green space, which are easy to access, and are of high quality and secure. People have more and more free time, but their mobility has significantly decreased with the energy prices on the rise – the economically active population therefore gets stuck in the cities and they do need the multifunctional green space where they can relax and exercise with their families and colleagues.
In the cities of growing population the communication and cooperation between various social groups and local cultures living side by side is one of the most important bases of liveability, the feeling of security and the strengthening of local identity. An outstanding field for this cooperation would be joint green development and park building.
The green, “ecological” development of public places and limited public places – green yards – would serve both public needs and the need of energy saving, and it can directly influence the attitude of the youth. Granting healthy, good quality air to the motorised cities – this task is
102 Urban Green Book getting more and more complicated. Cities need geographically well-located green spaces and air vents to provide ventilation. The protection against global climate change and urban heat islands calls for conscious development of green spaces in European cities.
Considering all these factors we can securely state that the key elements of the policy of 21st century cities will be green space development and the involvement of local residents in it. Artistic visions about future cities often see those “megapolises” as inhuman, barren and greenless. It should be the joint responsibility of all of today’s city leaders, social and environmental experts to prevent these visions to come true.
The objective of green space development is the protection and development of nature, the reestablishment of balance in urban societies. Progress in Europe seems to have slowed down and the countries need to act jointly to keep the continent competitive and at the same time preserve the cultural value transmitting role of the natural environment. Local governments and non-governmental agents must keep looking for a way to push the urban region towards cooperation, to enable the residents of city quarters to build parks and gardens suiting their own needs.
Nowadays the environmental criteria of sustainability and the “ecology” attitude blossom in the confines of smaller settlements, as far as low emission, renewable energy and energy saving are concerned. Traditionally, rural settlements have a better basis of joint ecological awareness because of the traditionally vivid economic-social co-operation, people know that they need each other. In the big city, communities of diverse social/cultural backgrounds do not have memories about joint actions, there are no traditions of cooperation and co-dependency. Urban people live side by side – they have only the city in common and no connection to each other at all.
Green surface development plays a crucial role in the construction of the city of the future, because it serves both the “macro-environment”, that is, the future of the Earth, and the “micro-society”, the residents of our cities. The present publication contains studies about the roles of green space as well as the condition and social effects thereof. Besides, we publish the experiences of smaller experimental steps towards environmental sustainability. One community for instance developed their yard by installing solar cells and a container for collecting rainwater so that they can water their garden without actually paying for it. We hope that the joint construction of the new “green yard” and its results will have a permanent impact on the residents’ everyday lives; and that during maintenance, the need for cooperation and ecological awareness will develop in the people.
This vision was meant to be reinforced by the bilingual studies of practical value, all included in this publication.
Urban Green Book 103 The social aspects of green areas in Budapest with special regard to migration
Questionnaire research in six sample areas
Eszter Berényi1 – Attila Csaba Kondor2 – Balázs Szabó3
Introduction
The suburbanisation was one of the most important challenges for Budapest in the last two decades, which partly can trace back to environmental reasons (Dövényi Z. – Kovács Z. 1999). The quality of life in Budapest is significantly impaired by the fact that the per capita ratio of green areas in densely populated city quarters is extremely low and most of the existing public spaces and parks are run-down and neglected. Due to the city’s geographical location the large hills on the Buda side within the city limits offer precious little positive attractions to people living in the centre or the districts on the Pest side. The areas covered with vegetation have rapidly declined during the several hundred years of development in the city, and by now there are hardly any large spaces or parks in the centre. With family houses gradually gaining ground, by now forest land has decreased significantly even on the Buda side, but the differences in the size of green areas is still striking: while the per capita green area in District VII is 0,2 m2, this value is 123 m2 in District XII.
Due to the rapidly deteriorating environment there has been rapid suburbanization in the Budapest conurbanation until recently, and the main reason for this development was the natural desire of people of Budapest for green spaces. Despite the rapid increase in population, the capital and the districts have taken very few steps to increase the size and improve the quality of public spaces and parks covered with vegetation.
1 Projectmanager. Budapest Agglomeration Development Council, 1073 Budapest, Erzsébet krt. 6. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Research assistant. Geographical Research Institute – Hungarian Academy of Sciences (GRI HAS), 1112 Budapest, Budaörsi út 45. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Research assistant. Geographical Research Institute – Hungarian Academy of Sciences (GRI HAS), 1112 Budapest, Budaörsi út 45. E-mail: [email protected]
104 Urban Green Book Most of the districts lack any strategy for the development of green spaces, and the issue of green areas is often the last item on the list of urban development concepts. It appears that urban planning still views available green spaces as a possibility for as yet unexploited speculation in real estates rather than as a means of creating comfortable urban life. This is all the more unfortunate because with explosion- like motorisation in the last decade the quality of the environment in the central districts has continued to deteriorate, which – coupled with other factors – may create the danger of another wave of migration out of the city.
In the summer of 2007 the Geographical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences conducted an international questionnaire research involving five European countries on housing and living conditions under the project Zwischen Gentrification und Abwertsspirale (Halfway Between Gentrification and Devaluation), supported by the German Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The survey put strong emphasis on the migration features and the intentions (plans and desires) of the population and on the willingness of the respondents to move.
The possible answers to questions concerning migration included the degree of satisfaction with the green spaces of the residential environment in several parts of the questionnaire. So, although our questions were not directed straight to green spaces, when evaluating the answers it was possible to examine to what extent the green areas in the residential environment strengthen the intention to migrate or stay and what role they play in shaping the image of a given city quarter.
The present papers summarises the most important results of urban-geographical research regarding green spaces in the capital, and then presents the six sample areas of Budapest. When reviewing each sample area, we briefly discuss the role of the development of green spaces in the development concept and regulations of the given city quarter. Then we provide a detailed analysis of the answers to the questions in the questionnaire regarding green spaces, compare what residential green areas mean for the people living in the city quarters with different features, to what extent their size and condition influenced residents to move there and continue to live there, and what impact they have on the willingness to migrate.
Green area research in Budapest in a social context
The investigation of green areas in the capital from a social aspect has not been in the focus of research until recently, although their role in the quality of life and the spatial movement of the population (e.g. in suburbanisation processes) is undisputable (Csanádi G. – Csizmady A. 2002).
Urban Green Book 105 Urban geography has also failed to provide in-depth analyses of the role of green spaces, and urban planning and urban development have also focused mostly on the built environment. Nevertheless, there have been several attempts in the last few decades to take a close look at the relationship between green spaces and urban population and at the use of parks. In addition, some experts have examined, and continue to examine even today, how the development of green areas could be integrated into urban development and how the rehabilitation of green spaces might impact the image of the neighbourhood, its social relations and built environment. Below we will briefly outline the most important research trends in the development of green spaces in Budapest.
The first scholarly studies of green areas after the Second World War mainly involved playgrounds or looked at the use of parks. In her study summarizing the result of research on the use of parks Katalin Nagy mentions the traffic counts performed by György Kiácz in playgrounds in Budapest in 1968, a survey of green areas conducted by the horticulture engineer Dezsô Radó in 1970 and the research conducted by Mária Tóth in the green spaces of housing estates in 1981 as serious attempts to carry out research on green spaces in Budapest before the 1989 political transition.
Following the footsteps of precursors, Katalin Nagy carried out research, first in the 1980s and then in 1994, on the use of parks in which, among other things, the features of the visitors’ residence were also investigated in the case of five parks in Budapest. The study showed that the public parks in the capital provided services almost exclusively to people living in the neighbourhood around the time of the political transition, and there were very few visitors to parks and public spaces who came from more distant residential areas (Nagy K. 1996). The increasing number of studies on the use of parks made it possible to draw more complex conclusions and provided, and continues to provide, assistance for the development of green spaces or urban rehabilitation (Mikle K. M. 2005).
The categorisation of green areas and the definition of the levels of protection became necessary in the period after the transition under the changed social and economic circumstances, because private investors developed green spaces in Budapest at a faster pace than before. Building operations produced a much larger increase in value in the first half of the 1990s than the creation of parks; furthermore, the ownership of green spaces was also rather unclear. Although the local government of the capital passed a resolution in 1992 on the protection of green areas, it had little effect. In view of the above István Tózsa (Tózsa I. 1995a, 1995b) performed the categorisation of green areas in Budapest from an urban-geographical aspect in 1995. A logical thread contrary to the above is followed in investigations that divide the capital into different sectors on the basis of the level of air pollution and the amount of green spaces (e.g. Egedy T. 1998).
106 Urban Green Book In addition to general descriptive studies comprising the entire city and statistical analyses of the use of parks, researches began to focus more on interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis and development of green areas. This was made possible by the recognition of the social importance of green spaces and the role parks and public spaces had in determining the quality of life (Jámbor I. 1994), in addition to their aesthetic value. These wide-ranging studies mostly focused on the complex analysis of parks in city quarters with a city centre character. István Tózsa and József Galambos qualified the parks in Józsefváros with the help of a new methodology and set of tools, and called attention, among other things, to the beneficial effect of parks on air pollution (Tózsa I. – Galambos I. 1990).
The European Union strongly supports the interdisciplinary, integrated development of green areas and the system of tools that are essential for it. An interdisciplinary catalogue of criteria (ICC) has been prepared under an EU project (the URGE project, Making greener cities) with the participation of the Geographical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences that has then been further developed by the Institute under the GreenKeys project. (The Institute and RÉV8 Zrt. implemented the green rehabilitation program of Mátyás square in District VIII with the help of this integrated development tool under the Interreg project.) The interdisciplinary green area analysis tried and tested in practice in Budapest uses the tools of ecology, sociology, economics and planning for the design and management of green spaces (Mikle K. M. 2005).
As a result of the increasing significance of environmental protection and the rapid development of urban climatology the positive environmental effects of parks and public spaces covered with vegetation have gained importance in the analysis of green spaces. Experts have demonstrated that with their positive effect on air pollution and the microclimate green spaces may trigger certain social and economic processes. They have shown that vegetation in the city has a strong influence on e.g. the temperature of buildings, thereby positively influencing energy consumption, and as a result of positive environmental effects real estate prices begin to increase, etc. (Boros T-né 1993, Zahnen, B. 2004). We believe that because of the dramatic deterioration of the quality of air in Budapest the criterion of urban climatology should play an important role in the integrated development of green areas too in the future, which can become one of the criteria of interdisciplinary green development.
Introduction of the sample areas
The questionnaire research that investigated the housing conditions and the quality of life and, indirectly, the effect of green areas on the propensity for migration was carried out by the Geographical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in different sections of six areas of Budapest (Figure 1).
Urban Green Book 107 Four of the six city quarters can be found in the city centre (Inner Terézváros, Inner Józsefváros, Inner Ferencváros, the Magdolna Quarter of Middle Józsefváros), and most of their buildings are outdated in a technical or physical sense, largely dating back to the age of dualism. In addition, we selected a housing estate (Havanna Housing Estate) and a garden city quarter (Wekerle Quarter) which may enable us to draw conclusions regarding the special features of city quarters that are different in character from those of the city centre. Below we will characterise each sample area and briefly outline the green development policy regarding each of them.
Belsô-Terézváros (Inner Terézváros)
The sample area bounded by Deák Ferenc tér, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út, Nagymezô utca and Király utca shows the typical features of a city centre quarter. It is a densely built-in area with many theatres, cafés and public institutions Figure 1 Location of the examined sample areas where green vegetation is represented only by the row of trees in Andrássy út. The shortage of vegetation is offset by the central location of the district; thanks to the good transport system the Városliget (City Park) and the Margit sziget (Margaret Island) are within easy reach. Furthermore, the structure of the buildings makes it possible to create and tend small gardens in the inner courts. In order to facilitate this sort of development, the local government announced a call for tenders specifically for the development of green spaces around blocks of flats within the framework of the project that allocates support for the renewal of blocks of flats. Terézváros does not have a comprehensive green development concept or strategy for the entire district, only its building regulations specify some minimal criteria for the mandatory amount of green space.
108 Urban Green Book Belsô-Ferencváros (Inner Ferencváros)
Our sample area in Inner Ferencváros comprises the city quarter bounded by Üllôi út, Kinizsi utca, Duna-part, Vámház körút and Kálvin tér. This densely built-in area with its three or four-storied buildings erected at around the turn of the last century lies close to the core of the city. There are no large, continuous green spaces here either; the only sections that boast some vegetation are Markusovszky tér, Kálvin tér, Csarnok tér and Üllôi út with its lines of trees. Although there are large parks in the Middle and Outer Ferencváros, the district does not have a separate concept for green areas, but the programs for city rehabilitation treat this topic as a key issue in the renewal of city quarters. The tasks regarding greens spaces are regulated by decree No. 16/2002. (X. 10.) on the maintenance and use of green areas issued by the Local Government of Ferencváros, which covers all the green spaces except for public spaces of high priority that are managed by the Local Government of Budapest.
Belsô-Józsefváros (Inner Józsefváros)
The sample area in Inner Józsefváros is bounded by Üllôi út, Szentkirályi utca, Rákóczi út and József körút. Structurally, this city quarter is quite similar to our sample area in Inner Ferenceváros, since it is also a densely built-in area with three or four-storied buildings erected at the turn of the last century. Larger, continuous green areas can only be found outside the sample area in the neighbourhood of the National Museum. There are smaller green spaces on Blaha Lujza tér, Gutenberg tér, Lôrinc pap tér, Mikszáth tér and József körút. Just like in Ferencváros, the Local Government of Józsefváros does not have a separate program for green areas either, but they put strong emphasis on the renewal of public spaces in urban rehabilitation programs.
Magdolna Quarter (Middle Józsefváros)
The Magdolna Quarter does not have much green space; however, this is where Mátyás square is located that is being renewed using partly EU funding. The Magdolna Quarter Program that contains the details of the rehabilitation of this area attaches great importance to the renewal of public spaces in the form of a separate sub-program. The first phase of this sub-program whose main goal is to improve the quality of life in the urban environment by the tools of green development comprises the renewal of Mátyás square through the participation of the community. A new green area will be created in Middle Józsefváros through the renewal of Mátyás square that may be seen by the people living there as a space of their own and used for different purposes in accordance with its true function.
Urban Green Book 109 This is all the more important because apart from Kálvin tér this is the place in the quarter that can be the most suitable for meeting the needs of residents for green surfaces, since just like other sample areas in the city centre, this is also a densely built-in area with run-down, four or five-storied buildings. Howe- ver, the quarter has the advantage that there are several larger green spaces in the broader environment that can be reached easily and which may increase the sense of comfort for the people living here.
Havanna Housing Estate
The green space that can be found in the Havanna Housing Estate is nothing else but an empty space with grass, playgrounds, trees and bushes that is characteristic of green areas created in the housing estates that were built in the 1970s. In the present case this is largely represented by a green strip of land with a width of about 50 or 100 metres lying along Havanna and Csontváry utca; in addition, there is another, 200 m wide and nearly 1 km long area in the middle of the housing estate that is strongly articulated by playgrounds and service institutions.
The concept of the local government adopted in November 2005 for the management of green spaces establishes that standing timber in the sample area is constantly being renewed (many trees have been cut down and replaced by new ones especially more recently) and the watering system needs to be renewed (the renewal work has already begun since then). The The first, little steps condition of front gardens that belong to the buildings but qualify as public The photo was made on the public planting event during the last spaces depends on the residential community. phase of the square reconstruction 27th October 2007. (Rév8 – Gyula Nyári)
110 Urban Green Book The local government provides technical and financial support for those who undertake to tend these gardens. Vandalism is a big problem, so it was suggested that the park should be guarded (there is no information as to whether this has been introduced or not). Despite the relatively spacious green areas, the parks are overcrowded (this is a housing estate with 16 000 residents), so the local government held forums for the people to evaluate their needs regarding the use of the parks. In order to improve the sense of comfort, the concept proposes to set up drinking fountains and springs, several of which have already been built with the help of support won in tender procedures (Green Space Management Concept 2005).
Wekerle Quarter
The Wekerle Quarter in Kispest (originally called Kispesti Munkás és Tisztviselôtelep (Worker’s and Clerk’s Colony) is the most perfect example of the garden city movement emerging in the country at the end of the 19th century. Green spaces played an important role in creating the image of the colony, therefore we will devote a little bit more space to the discussion of this sample area.
Back at the end of the first decade of the 20th century, when the first plans were made, experts attached even more importance to the horticultural landscape and character of the Wekerle Quarter than to its architectural style. Vegetations were planted and green spaces were created in accordance with the rank of streets: rows of poplar trees were planted along avenues, plane-trees forming a green tunnel were planted in boulevards, etc., and each street had its own typical kind of tree (Nagy G. 1997). The quarter had its own gardener who assisted the people in tending their gardens, in general gardening and in growing fruits. After the Second World War gardening was gradually pushed into the background, so today green areas in both public and private ownership mostly serve the purpose of recreation.
The per capita ratio of green space is the highest in the Wekerle Quarter among all the sample areas. We can say that – contrary to the other city quarters under analysis – the image of the Wekerle Quarter, the value of homes and the sense of comfort felt by the residents are largely determined by green spaces, in addition to the built environment of European reputation. The entire city quarter is under legal protection, therefore the District City Planning and Building Regulations of Kispest (Decree No. 43/2000. (XI. 30.) amended several times) contain special rules for this city quarter. The urban development concept of Kispest (Resolution No. 650/2006. (VI. 15.)) addresses the issue of protecting the architectural values and the vegetation of the Wekerle Quarter in several sections. As the document puts it, the district’s appeal is primarily due to the system of green spaces, the rows of trees and the Wekerle Quarter that is worthy of worldwide fame. The concept establishes that one of the key goals of urban planning is to restore the garden city character and spirit of the city quarter and increase its publicity.
Urban Green Book 111 It is also mentioned in this document that the green spaces in Kós Károly tér, which are under national protection surrounded by historic buildings, must be revived soon. Preparations for this large-scale green rehabilitation project have been completed, and the project is in a tendering phase now. The Local Government of Kispest submitted a tender proposal under the Rehabilitation Program with Expanded Functions contained in the Central Hungarian Operative Program, and this project involves the renewal of the entire Kós Károly tér. The project includes the establishment of a closed public park with playgrounds, fountains, sports fields, music pavilions and, of course, high-standard and thoroughly designed, valuable green spaces for which the building permit has already been granted.
The authors of the rehabilitation study on the renewal of Kós Károly tér conducted a questionnaire survey in the city quarter on the green areas of the Wekerle Quarter. The answers show that the majority of the people like to live in the Wekerle Quarter and rate their residential environment fairly good. Interestingly, however, the respondents see the condition of public spaces as the most serious problem in the city quarter, which means that a lot more attention should be given to green spaces.
This is justified by another result of the survey which shows that people selected the rehabilitation of public spaces from the 11 possible domains of development (e.g. infrastructure, services, health case, public safety, creation of jobs, etc.) as the preferred direction of development. This is most likely the consequence of a strong attachment to the garden city character of the Wekerle Quarter. We should also emphasize that according to the data gained in the survey two-thirds of the respondents believe that the development of public spaces strengthen local residential communities (Feasibility study 2007).
Results of the questionnaire research
We asked the local people in our six sample areas, using altogether 150 questionnaires in each, to fill out a questionnaire consisting of 34 main questions (Table 1). Most of the questions refer to the ownership status and the conveniences of the respondents’ home, the main features of the residential community, the motivations of choosing a residence, the reasons for moving away/staying and general living conditions. Questions about green spaces were scattered in the questionnaire as sub-questions under different main questions.
There was a direct question about the condition of green areas only in one case; otherwise such questions occurred when the goal was to find out whether people were willing to migrate. In what follows we will present the distribution of the answers to the questions broken down by the six sample areas.
112 Urban Green Book Question: Could you tell us how the following statements fit your residential environment? Answer: “…The green areas in the neighbourhood are in a disastrous condition”.
This is the only sub-question that specifically refers to the condition of green spaces. More than two-thirds of the respondents living in the three central quarters, Inner Józsefváros, Inner Ferencváros and the Magdolna Quarter, believe that the term “disastrous” fits, either fully or partly, the condition of green spaces in their residential environment. The higher values in Inner Józsefváros and Inner Ferencváros are due to the fact there are no large green spaces in the vicinity (and the aesthetic appearance of existing small parks raises serious doubts ...). Most of the answers made a reference to the shortage of green spaces. Influenced by the green rehabilitation projects that are already in progress and the existing larger green parks in the vicinity (Mátyás square), the people living in the Magdolna Quarter have a better opinion of the condition of green areas than the residents of the other two central sample areas.
It is striking that the best rating for the condition of green spaces was given in a central city quarter, Inner Terézváros. The outstanding result gained in this question in Terézváros is most likely due to the fact that the recently renewed Erzsébet Park that lies in the vicinity, though in District V, and several other small central squares are indeed in excellent condition; at the same time, Inner Terézváros practically has no rateable green spaces.
The people living in the Wekerle Quarter have a high opinion of the condition of squares, parks and avenues. (It is to be noted here that 33% of the respondents in a survey that specifically investigated the demand for the development of public spaces said that the most serious problem of the city quarter was the bad condition of public spaces; see the detailed presentation of this sample area). As for the Havanna Housing Estate, the answers were equally balanced among the four possible options (Figure 2).
Thus, it is obvious that the people living in central city quarters rate the nearby green spaces bad, mostly due to the fact that their renewal and development have not yet taken place. At the same time it should be stressed that a green rehabilitation program can have a landslide effect on the opinion of the people: this is what we can see in Inner Terézváros, although green spaces were revived only in District V and no new square or park has been added to the wealth of Terézváros. As for the housing estates, the answers are equally balanced among the four possible options and both extremes can be seen. This may be related to the fact that although there are large empty sites, open lawns and playgrounds in these sample areas, the management of green spaces has, up to the present, almost entirely been unknown, and green areas often appear to be neglected and unowned.
Urban Green Book 113 Question: „What are the main reasons that made you choose to move into this Sample area Number of questionnaires city/quarter (please give not more than three reasons)? Answers: „…the vicinity Inner Terézváros 139 of nature, green areas”; „…low level of noise and environmental load” Inner Ferencváros 126 Inner Józsefváros 125 Two of the twelve possible options referred to green spaces. On the basis of Magdolna Quarter 150 the answers we examined what role the vicinity of green spaces and other Havanna Housing Estate 154 environmental aspects played in the selection of the respondents’ present Wekerle Quarter 145 residence. Nearly 40% of the respondents in the Wekerle Quarter rated the Table 1 The number of filled out questionnaires vicinity of nature as one of the three most important reasons for moving there, while the lower level of noise and environmental load had a less important role in selecting their residence in a garden city environment. As was expected, people do not select a residence in the city centre on the basis of environmental factors (altogether five respondents selected one of these two options). Even the residents of the Havanna Housing Estate did not move into this city quarter chiefly because there were green spaces in the vicinity, or because there were less environmental hazards due to noise and air pollution, although this criterion of investigation did appear as a motivating factor in the selection of residence (Table 2).
Question: „Why do you want to change your residence? (More than one reason may be given)”. Answers: „…noise and environmental load”; „… shortage of green spaces, nature”;
Question: „Why do you want to stay here? (More than one reason may be given).” „…the green spaces in the vicinity are nice.” Figure 2 How does the following statement fit your residential environment: The green areas in the neighbourhood are in disastrous condition (as a percentage of the answers received) 40% of the respondents in this sample said they would like to move to another (Captions: Fully fits it; Would rather say it does; Does not really fit it; Does not fit it at all) place of residence.
114 Urban Green Book It is likely that the people giving this answer will stay where they are in the future, but even in their case – under the influence of one or more factors – the intention to migrate did emerge after careful consideration. The quality of the environment in general was not rated as the most important reason for the intention to migrate among 11 other factors. One exception for this is the sample area in Inner Terézváros, where the intention to migrate is motivated mostly by the high level of noise, environmental load and the shortage of green spaces. The bad condition of the environment had the weakest influence on the intention to migrate in the case of people living in the Magdolna Quarter of all the sample areas in the city centre. The intention to migrate in the centre of District VIII. is determined more by social conditions and the quality of the built environment, while the rest of the central sample areas are in a better position in this respect. As for the respondents who do not wish to migrate from their present residence in the city centre, the intention to stay is not influenced by positive environmental factors.
Opinions are polarised in the Havanna Housing Estate – similarly to other questions – and both the intention to migrate and the intention to stay are significantly influenced by the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with green spaces. This suggests that the people living in housing estates can be divided into two groups on the basis of their relationship to green areas in the vicinity. Despite the bad insulation of prefabricated blocks of flats, the high level of noise and environmental load do not play any significant role in the intention to migrate. There was not a single person among the people who would like to leave the garden city Wekerle Quarter because of being dissatisfied with green spaces; however, when they gave reasons for staying, every second respondent mentioned their strong attachment to green areas as a reason for staying (this is the second most important factor, following the satisfaction with the home) (Figure 3).
On the basis of the answers given to the questions we can say that environmental hazards and the shortage of green spaces have a strong influence on the intention to migrate in the case of people living in central areas. This should urge experts engaged in rehabilitation programs in the city centre to acknowledge that it is not enough to renew the built environment; a truly stable residential community can only be maintained by providing green spaces that help increase the sense of comfort. The answers suggest that there is a very strong desire for green spaces in people living in the inner districts of the city with a higher status, which is a quantifiable reason for suburbanisation. Of course, nobody wants to migrate from a garden city environment because of the shortage of green spaces, while in the case of people living in housing estates a balanced position seems to be taken by residents.
Question: “Imagine a situation in which money does not have any influence on your decision. Where would you prefer to live in that case, and where would you not prefer to live by any means?” (Please select one option from the following scale of 1 to 5. 1 = definitely, 2 = with pleasure… etc., 5= out of the question). Answer: “…Into a new family house outside the city in a green area.”
Urban Green Book 115 While in the previous section the answers reflected the intentions of Vicinity of nature, Low level of noise and Sample area green spaces (%) environmental load (%) respondents that are dependent on their own circumstances, here the Inner Terézváros 0,0 0,0 preferred city quarter had to be selected irrespective of personal conditions. Inner Ferencváros 0,8 1,6 In addition to the green belt, the respondents rated renewed prefabricated Inner Józsefváros 2,4 0,0 blocks of flats, renewed homes in the city centre, modern terraced houses, and Magdolna Quarter 0,7 0,0 residential parks as the “residence of their dreams”. Obviously, this question Havanna Housing Estate 7,6 5,1 may also have been answered by people who had no intention whatsoever to Wekerle Quarter 37,2 13,8 move away from their present residence.
Table 2 What were the main reasons that made you choose to move into this quarter? The question concerning preferences for the residential environment may apply to the quality of the environment and green spaces only indirectly, since an area in the city centre may also be located next to a park, while the other kinds of sample areas most likely have green areas of their own.
Figure 4, which is meant to make the evaluation of answers easier, shows the percentage of respondents who gave a No. 1 rating to the option that they would prefer to live the most somewhere outside the city in a green area.
In the light of the results it can be established that there are quite a few people who prefer to live in homes that are farther away from the city centre in typically green areas. Even despite the undoubtedly longer travelling time, altogether half of the people living in central quarters would choose their residence in a green area in case their decisions is not influenced by any other factor. However, it is obvious that there are significant differences among the inner sample areas; respondents living in Inner Terézváros would prefer the Figure 3 The intention to migrate because of environmental hazards and the satisfaction with green spaces as a factor strengthening the intenti- least to live in green areas far away from the city centre. on to stay (as a percentage of the answers received) (Captions: Noise and environmental load; Little green space, lack of nature; Nearby green spaces are nice)
116 Urban Green Book It is also worth noting that twice as many people living in Inner Józsefváros would choose their residence in an outer, green district than in a typically central location; at the same time, there are only 6% more people in Inner Terézváros (where the idea of moving out to a garden city area is the least popular) who would change their present residence for a home in a garden city environment than those who would change it to a home similar to their present one. The highest value of the desire to move out into the outer green belt has been recorded in the case of respondents living in the Havanna Housing Estate. The situation of the Wekerle Quarter is special: the people living there have a low propensity for migration, and most of the people who would like to move would not leave the Quarter. This may be explained by the fact that only very few of the Wekerle residents gave an answer to this question, but 80% of those who did select an option rated this category No. 1.
Question: “In your opinion, which is the most sought-after residential area in Budapest and its neighbourhood? The name of the most sought- after residential quarter/city is: ...”
Finally, on the basis of this question we can get a picture of what people think when they put aside their own personal preferences, and which city quarters are the most sought-after in the capital and its conurbanation. All sorts of different answers have been given to this question: many of them specified a particular city quarter (Gellért Hill), others selected one or more districts or cities, while there were respondents who specified large areas (such as the city centre, Budapest’s environs, Budapest’s conurbanation, etc.). In the case of each sample area the answers that may be linked to districts or an area of some sector of the conurbanation were given as the percentage of all rateable answers. For better demonstration, the answers received are presented in Figures 5 to 10.
By way of introduction we can say that for most of our respondents the sufficient size and quality of green spaces represent a clear value, and people in general tend to prefer these areas to other types of city quarters. Nevertheless, it is striking that a significant ratio of our respondents (typically over 10%) views their own place of residence as the most sought-after residential quarter in Budapest. The belief that their own place of residence is the most valuable is especially characteristic of people living in the Inner Terézváros and Inner Ferencváros sample areas, which is due to the convenient transport connections and the development programs implemented in the last decade in these two city quarters. A high percentage of residents living in the Havanna Housing Estate also mention their own area as one of the most valuable places of residence in the capital, but in every case they mean the city quarter outside their housing estate. The densely built-in city quarters with little green space in Inner Pest, which are otherwise of high social status, have been mentioned only by people living in their neighbourhood.
Urban Green Book 117 What is definitely common to the six figures is that our respondents viewed Districts XII and II, which have really large green spaces, or certain parts of them as the most valuable residential quarters of Budapest and its neighbourhood. As for the districts in Buda with a traditionally high status, District I, which is characterised by high real estate prices but less green space, was mentioned even less frequently by our respondents than Districts III and XI, which are characterised by different kinds of residential buildings but have a plentiful of family houses and green space.
As for the different parts of the conurbanation of Budapest, our respondents view the western and north-western sectors as the most valuable. On the Pest Figure 4 Where would you prefer to live the most? – The answer “In a side Zugló was mentioned by the largest number of respondents; in contrast, new family house outside the city, close to green spaces” rated as No. 1 (as a percentage of all respondents) Districts XVI and XVII, which have become quite trendy in recent years, were hardly mentioned.
Finally, it should be noted that residents of the Magdolna Quarter rate the conurbanation differently in several respects from what could be expected, since the most preferred sector of the people living there can be found on the Pest rather than on the Buda side. This may be correlated with the fact that these residents have very few connections to the Buda conurbanation, which might suggest segregation and an inclination to turn inwards, two features that are quite characteristic of this city quarter.
A part of the local roma people have very intensive connections with some settlements in the northeastern part of the suburban area of Budapest; generally Veresegyház - because of the bath - and also Fót - because of the fair - are visited by the roma residents.
118 Urban Green Book Figure 5–10. The areas believed to be the most sought-after in the capital and its conurbanation by sample area (as the percentage of answers received) (Captions: Inner Józsefváros; Inner Terézváros; Inner Ferencváros; Magdolna Quarter; Havanna Housing Estate; Wekerle Quarter)
Urban Green Book 119 Summary
As a result of extensive urban policy after the Second World War the quality of the already neglected squares and parks in the city centre further deteriorated. In the suburbs the large-scale establishment of housing estates often resulted in the elimination of original green surfaces or family house quarters with varied vegetation. The quality of parks and squares (often plain lawns among prefabricated blocks) that replaced them left much to be desired, since socialist urban planning and development put little emphasis on the appearance of green spaces and their role in determining the quality of life. By now the situation has changed somewhat, but most of the squares and the parks of the capital are still neglected and very few new green spaces are created, which does not favour the improvement of the quality of the environment in the city centre.
The processes of the housing market today show that green areas have an important place in the opinion of people about their place of residence. The most dynamic zones include the conurbanation and the garden city quarters of Budapest with family houses and small owner- occupied blocks, while the densely built-in parts of the city centre with much less green surfaces constitute an area where population continues to decrease further (Beluszky P. 2007). The position of housing estates with sizeable green spaces is special, because the quality of their parks is pretty low. Naturally, this does not mean that the quality of green spaces is the primary criterion when selecting a home; however, as is shown by the survey, the majority of respondents classify the quarters with family houses and villas as the most sought-after areas of all quarters with a high prestige.
With a view to driving back suburbanization and establishing a more liveable Budapest, it appears to be inevitable to work out green strategies for the districts, the entire city and the conurbanation belt too, since this is the only way in which the problem of the loss of population could be resolved in the capital, and especially in the city centre, and this is how to prevent the full development of the conurbanation belt, which would also lead to the deterioration of living conditions. However, the elaboration of green strategies requires the collaboration of the entire city and its conurbanation, since only a liveable city can increase the competitiveness of Budapest.
References
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Urban Green Book 121 The expected impact of the rehabilitation of Mátyás square on the local community and the quality of life1
Tamás Egedy2
Introduction
Due to the social and environmental problems that have accumulated in the last few decades, Middle Józsefváros in District VIII in Buda- pest struggles with a number of problems and has to face numerous challenges in an urban geographical sense even today. Experts had long recognised the negative effects of the deteriorating building stock and neighbourhood on the daily life and the quality of life of the residents living here; however, the residents had to wait for long before concrete intervention began to unfold. The first concrete steps to improve the building and housing stock were taken in the second half of the 1990s, which gained new impetus when Rév8 Rt. was established in 1997. A punctuated building rehabilitation program began in the broader neighbourhood of Práter utca, which completed itself in the social urban rehabilitation program in the Magdolna Quarter and the Corvin Sétány project in Józsefváros a decade later.
In the meantime the actual objectives of long-term urban renewal action changed several times; however, experts gradually began to recognise the social role and potentials of urban rehabilitation. Lead by Rév8 Zrt, the district municipality launched an integrated urban rehabilitation program for Magdolna Quarter in 2005, and experts attached special importance to the demands and expectations of people living in the residential quarter through measures that develop the local society. One crucial project of the program is our sample area, the renewal of Mátyás square, where a green rehabilitation program also launched in 2005 is used to evoke socio-economic effects and thereby boost the residential quarter in a social sense too.
1 This study was supported by Grant No. K63637 of OTKA and the Bólyai János Scholarship 2 Senior Research Fellow. Geographical Research Institute – Hungarian Academy of Sciences (GRI HAS), 1112 Budapest, Budaörsi út 45. E-mail: [email protected]
122 Urban Green Book Of course, in order to improve the social situation of a residential quarter, the assessment of local needs and expectations is indispensable. The expectations and ideas of the local people concerning their residential neighbourhood must (should) be taken into account in the course of the renewal process. Although in our days urban rehabilitation programs are not meant to improve the quality of life of local people in every case, these programs may hopefully take this direction in the near future. In our hopes the projects aimed at renewal will give increasingly more priority to resolving local social issues, in addition to introducing intervention programs that almost exclusively have an impact on the physical environment, since there is considerable interaction between the built environment and the social environment, so their transformation would also require integrated programs.
The goal of this study is to explore the expectations of the local society concerning the green rehabilitation program launched in Mátyás square, what hopes and ideas the local people cherish regarding the likely development process. We also tried to examine the issue how the people living in the primary area of the square view the impact such an intervention may have on the quality of their life and what they should expect in this respect in the short and in the long run.
A short theoretical and methodological overview
The primary aim of our research was to investigate the social impact of urban rehabilitation, with special regard to its impact on the quality of life. The scope of the present study does not make it possible to present a comprehensive picture of the theory of the quality of life and its research findings, so here we will briefly outline only some basic information regarding our survey.
Quality of life is hard to define in a simple way. This is shown by the fact that each discipline gives a different definition of the quality of life, so today we have over one hundred different definitions for the term. Quality of life essentially means „good life”, which in itself does not appear to be a complex notion, but if we wish to define what should be meant by „good life”, we are not in the least certain about the matter. In any case, the definition of the quality of life appeared and began to spread in the 1920s in scientific parlance (Pigou, A. C. 1920). For nearly thirty years the quality of life had been measured exclusive by means of „material” indicators (e.g. GDP), until finally there came a breakthrough at the end of the 1950s in this field and „non-material” (e.g. political, social and environmental) values began to appear in its interpretation (Galbraith, J. K. 1958). The emergence of social indicators in the quality of life research in the second half of the 1960s (Bauer, R. A. 1960) also deserves mention here. The accomplishment of the social indicator movement opened up new prospects for such research.
Urban Green Book 123 Figure 1 The sample area of the survey
124 Urban Green Book There were basically two trends taking shape in science for the study of the quality of life: the Scandinavian approach, which used objective indicators (such as the basic area of the flat, net income, etc.) and interpreted the quality of life and welfare as a sense of satisfaction with basic needs (Erikson, R. 1993), while the American trend relied on the experience of the individual and investigated welfare by means of indicators that measure the individual’s subjective satisfaction and happiness (Moller, V. – Huschka, D. 2002). Both research schools divide the quality of life into 9 basic segments (life in general; living conditions and circumstances; employment and the workplace; safety and public security; leisure time and recreation; financial situation; personal vision; family, neighbours and friends) and the indicators that measure these segments into 4 large dimension (social dimension – e.g. health, social relations, social status; political dimension – political stability, participation in civic society and politics; social services, tax system; economic dimension – economic stability, employment, utilization of resources; environmental dimension – transport, waste management ) (Zapf, W. – Glatzer, W, 1984, Baaske W. – Sulzbacher, R. 1997).
After having reviewed the theoretical background and the research on the quality of life in Hungary (e.g. Utasi Á. 2006) we have worked out the research plan that attempts to investigate the issue from the point of view of the individual by means of subjective indicators, including as many of the segments and dimensions mentioned above as possible. Then we compiled a household questionnaire and had it reviewed by experts, which was the starting point for the empirical studies to explore the social effects of the ongoing rehabilitation process in Mátyás square. The household questionnaire contained 35, mostly closed questions about the head of the household’s satisfaction with the home, the neighbourhood, everyday life, quality of life and the green rehabilitation process taking place in the area, and the expectations, hopes and experiences concerning this process (subjective indicators). In addition, the questionnaire asked about demographic data and information about the housing situation (objective indicators).
We conducted the survey in the summer of 2006 with the help of students of Eötvös Loránd University in the primary area of Mátyás square within a diameter of 300 m (Figure 1). The organisation and implementation of the survey were supported in the background by the fact that the investment project was launched in Mátyás square in 2006, so we had a chance to monitor the attitude of the local people before green rehabilitation began. We are planning to repeat the survey after the completion of the project in 2008, so we will be able to measure the impact of urban rehabilitation and green space renewal in a direct way.
The interrogators personally visited the households that were selected by random sampling. Altogether 69 questionnaires were filled in, which is not representative from a statistical point of view, but it is suitable for exploring and modelling the main trends and expectations regarding the quality of life among the local people.
Urban Green Book 125 The key features of the demographic and housing situation of the sample area
The leader of the Józsefváros rehabilitation program, Rév8 Zrt. prepared a 15-year development strategy for the Józsefváros district in 2004. The document divides Józsefváros into 11 regional units, called quarters, each with an independent image of its own, in which the different image and identity of each quarter played the most important role. The integrated programs developed for each quarter define the necessary development on the basis of the special features and situation of the given quarter. One of the core areas of development is the Magdolna Quarter, a residential quarter with closed rows of buildings mostly built at the turn of the 20th century, which had seen better times befo- re and which became a critical area after World War Two due to the gradual deterioration of the building and housing stock and the social devaluation of the area. One of the target areas of the renewal program of the residential quarter (the Magdolna Quarter Program) is Mátyás square and its neighbourhood. The subprogram that nails its flag to the mast of the rehabilitation of this public space aims at improving the residential neighbourhood by means of green rehabilitation that actively involves the people, thereby rebuilding and strengthening the local society.
Demographic conditions
In the next section we will review the main demographic features of the quarter and the sample area as well as the problems that affect the housing situation. We have used some of the partial results of a questionnaire survey of 500 households conducted by Rév8 Zrt. in 2005 and 2007 (Erdôsi S. 2007).
The Magdolna Quarter includes 15% of the district’s population, some 12 thousand people. By age the population of the quarter is younger than that of the district. The ratio of economically active population (40%) is somewhat lower but that of the unemployed is somewhat higher (13%) than in the entire Józsefváros. The most challenging problem of the Magdolna Quarter is the high ratio of people with low school qualification (nearly 40% of the population aged 15 to 60 only completed 8 years of primary school). The demographic composition of the population shows considerable variance in the quarter; among other things this is one of the reasons why our samples taken in the vicinity of Mátyás square often differ from those taken in the Magdolna Quarter. At the same time, the high degree of similarity between the demographic composition of the two areas suggest that despite the small number of items sampling was successful and our claims regarding the residential population are most likely reliable.
126 Urban Green Book The average age of people included in the questionnaire is 45,5 years. This relatively high average is partly due to the fact that only adult Hungarian citizens could be included in the sample and senior citizens are somewhat overrepresented (the ratio of people over 60 years of age is 21,7%). This is partly because this was the age group that could be reached easily in the area at the time of taking the survey (in the morning and early afternoon). The distribution of the heads of the families by age that participated in the survey shows 52% of middle-aged people, between 35 and 59 years of age, which would suggest a favourable situation from the aspect of activity rate; however, it is not so. This is because 56,5% of the heads of families are not active working people, but most of them (30,4%) are retired or unemployed (15,9%). We can get a more subtle picture if we look at the composition of the full sample (that is, the heads of families and their family members) by profession. The highest Figure 2 Composition by school qualification ratio of the active population is comprised by those who view themselves as intellectuals (31,7%), and every fourth of them as an active working skilled worker. The inactive population includes pensioners and students (30–30%) as well as a relatively high percentage (13,65) of unemployed people within the target population.
The distribution of the heads of households by school qualification suggests that there is a social breakdown in the local society and polarization has emerged. 23,2% of the respondents have higher degrees, which in itself is a good ratio; however, it is coupled with a high ratio of skilled workers (24,6%), people with primary school qualification (29%) and those who have not comp- leted the 8 years of primary school (5,85%) (Figure 2). The key issue from the point of view of further developing the residential quarter and preventing its further devaluation is keeping the residents with the highest qualification. Figure 3 Composition by households
Urban Green Book 127 The families with the highest representation in the surveyed populations include families with (young) children, although occasionally these families have 5 or 6 children (Figure 3). Families of two (married couples or common-law partners) also represent a high ratio (27,5%), while the percentage of single-member households remains below 20%. The composition of the population by household paints a „colourful” picture of society, not free from social problems either (big families with several children, single parents raising their kids on their own).
We attempted to assess the financial situation of our respondents by putting questions about durable and high-value consumer goods owned by the households and the holiday making habits of these households. Two-thirds of the households have a DVD player or writer, and 43,5% of the families have a computer. The number of households with internet access is slightly lower that that (29%). One-fourth of the house- holds have a car, which in itself is a low ratio, although there are families with several cars too. A holiday home or a weekend cottage is the privilege of only very few residents (8,7%). When looking at the financial situation of the households, we can see that the residents living in the target area mostly comprise lower middle-class and low-class people. This is also shown by the fact that only roughly half of the families participating in the survey went on a summer vacation in the past 5 years. As for holiday making habits, the households surveyed have very different possibilities; that is, there are households in which members had only one chance to go on vacation within the country once du- ring the investigated period (10,1%), but some of them go abroad on vacation every year for a shorter or longer period of time (7,2%). The composition of the households by net monthly income also supports our previous claims concerning social status: over 70% of the households have a monthly net income of HUF 160 000 (EUR 630) to live on, which is equal to a net amount of HUF 30–60 000 (EUR 120–240) per person (Table 1). There were only a few households that declared a net monthly income of over HUF 100 000 (EUR 400).
If we could consider our survey to be representative, we could characterize the social stratification of the local population by social status as follows: the local population could be symbolized by an upside down pyramid. People with a low status represent a high ratio within the broad base of the local population, including mostly skilled workers or residents with a lower qualification, and as a result, with lower wages per person, and households with average facilities and rather little savings. The lower-middle class also represents a relatively high ratio. These are people with clearly higher qualification but with a relatively low income per person (young families, often with children, and pensioners). Representatives of a relatively more well-to-do layer, although they can be found in the residential quarter, number very few and are underrep- resented in the local society. We could not establish the presence of representatives of the higher-middle class and the upper social stratum in our survey.
128 Urban Green Book One crucial question regarding the further development of the residential Frequency Share quarter is whether it will be possible to reduce the social conflicts of interest Under HUF 40 000 7 10,1 between the disadvantaged and the more well-to-do layers of society and HUF 40 000–80 000 19 27,5 between the different age groups. HUF 80 000–120 000 16 23,2 HUF 120 000–160 000 7 10,1 Housing situation HUF 160 000–200 000 4 5,8 HUF 200 000–240 000 3 4,3 According to the 2001 census there are 5564 homes and occupied premises not HUF 240 000–280 000 2 2,9 meant for residential purposes. According to a survey conducted in 2007 38% HUF 280 000–320 000 1 1,4 of the housing stock is in municipal ownership. The high ratio of one-roomed Above 320 000 3 4,3 No answer 7 10,1 flats and flats without basic amenities or limited amenities continues to be a Total 69 100 major problem in the residential quarter (the ratio of flats with all amenities and with basic amenities was 79%). Table 1 Distribution of households by net monthly income
Our survey demonstrates that the building and housing stock in Mátyás square and its broader neighbourhood have rather unfavourable indicators. This is supported by data showing that half of the respondents live in a flat smaller than 40 m2 with one room, which can ensure less favourable living conditions than the average as far as the quality of life is concerned, due to the high ratio of overcrowded homes. The basic area exceeds 80 m2 only in 11,6% of the flats included in the survey. The situation is further worsened by the fact that one-fourth of the households included in the survey have a toilet outside the flat and in 14,5% of them there is no bathroom facility. 15,9% of the flats have central heating that is quite energy-effective under the local circumstances. More than half of the homes use gas convectors for heating and many of them (26,1%) are heated by single stoves (tile stove, fire-place, oil or electrical stove). Knowing the relationship between the quality, the equipment and the amenity category of the homes, we can conclude from the above that the flats Subject picture 1 (Rév8 Zrt., 2004)
Urban Green Book 129 owned by the municipality most likely represent a high percentage in the entire housing stock3. Our assumption proves to be right, since 52,2% of the surveyed homes are in municipal ownership, while the ratio of flats in private ownership is 40,6%.
Our respondents say that nearly three-fourth of their residential buildings are in a condition that definitely requires renewal. Buildings that do not require renewal represent a very low ratio of the entire housing stock. However, it is fortunate that one-fifth of the surveyed buildings have already been renewed in some way.
The degree of satisfaction with flats, the residential neighbourhood and some socio-cultural factors
We investigated the respondents’ satisfaction with their homes, their residential neighbourhood and some social factors in the course of our survey. We can divide the investigated factors into three groups in terms of their composition by the degree of satisfaction4: a) the respondents are basically satisfied (rather satisfied than not) with their flat, the shopping possibilities in the neighbourhood, the services offered by the residential quarter and the broader neighbourhood, their health and their neighbours; b) positive and negative opinions are nearly equally distributed (that is, the ratio between satisfied and dissatisfied residents is fairly balanced) regarding their job and the circumstances at the workplace; c) the respondents are definitely dissatisfied with their residential building, the orderliness, neatness, quietness and public security of the residential neighbourhood, the cultural, sporting and recreational opportunities offered by the neighbourhood, and their living standard and financial situation.
Our earlier research on urban rehabilitation demonstrates that the expectations and demands of people concerning their home and residential neighbourhood have increased considerably since the political transition. In addition, the degree of satisfaction with flats the is in generally higher that with the residential neighbourhood in the investigated residential quarters. This is no accident, since residents usually shape their homes, which embody their most intimate private sphere and serve as the scene for everyday life, in accordance with their own ideas and expectations. There is much less opportunity to do so in a residential quarter with „less privacy” and the „opportunity to have their voice” in
3 In the course of the privatization process taking place in the 1990s after the political transition, of all flats it was the flats in the worst condition with low quality and basic area that remained in municipal ownership. 4 We collapsed the groups of satisfied and very satisfied people and those of dissatisfied and very dissatisfied people, and only then did we classify the three factors in the three groups
130 Urban Green Book the transformation of the residential quarter is also much more limited for the men in the street.
When we look at the degree of satisfaction with the size and the equipment of flats, we can establish that 42% of the respondents are essentially satisfied with their size and 50% are content with their equipment and amenities (Figure 4). Residents are slightly more satisfied with the size of flats, which partly supports our earlier results too, in which one of the most important reasons for the intention to change residence was the degree of dissatisfaction with the size of the home.
When we leave the private sphere offered by the flat, our results indicate more serious problems. This is when the desolation and neglect of the built Figure 4 Degree of satisfaction with the flat and the residential building environment and the need for renewal become striking, also reflected by the dissatisfaction of our respondents in a very clear way. Residents are essentially dissatisfied with the condition and equipment of their residential buildings; this is what nearly 70% of them said when asked this question. So we can not see even a single sign of satisfaction regarding the building that we could observe in the case of flats. One possible interpretation of this finding is this: the moment a resident leaves his home, he enters into an environment that he is not pleased with at all and views it with a lot of criticism. Thus, the general opinion of the population makes it all the more justifiable to renew the building stock.
We can report a similarly high degree of dissatisfaction when it comes to the Subject picture 2 (Rév8 Zrt., 2004) opinions on the residential neighbourhood. Residents are most dissatisfied with the orderliness and neatness of the neighbourhood. The ratio of very dissatisfied people is 46,5%, and the ratio of dissatisfied residents is 27,5%,
Urban Green Book 131 Very so these two categories make up nearly three-fourths of all the Dissatisfied So-so dissatisfied respondents (Table 2). On the basis of our findings we can say that Orderliness and neatness of the residential 46,4 27,5 20,3 the degree of satisfaction of the local population with the residenti- neighbourhood al neighbourhood could be improved significantly by keeping streets, Quietness of the residential 40,6 15,9 23,2 neighbourhood public spaces and parks tidy and cleaning them on a regular basis. Green areas 17,4 42,0 24,6 Entertainment and cultural opportunities 43,5 15,9 10,1 The respondents are also dissatisfied with sporting and recreational Opportunities for sport and recreation 50,7 18,8 7,2 opportunities. More than 50% of them are very dissatisfied and another Opportunities for daily shopping 1,4 2,9 5,8 nearly 20% are dissatisfied. Accordingly, high priority should be given Services 1,4 2,9 18,8 to the development of sporting and recreational possibilities in Má- Public security 23,2 24,6 26,1 tyás square and its broader environment. Of course, the nature of the Transport opportunities 2,9 4,3 5,8 built environment with the closed rows of buildings severely restricts The residential neighbourhood as a whole 8,7 20,3 43,5 the available options, but a better exploitation of the available vacant
Very Does not spaces and the establishment of new community centres and clubs in Satisfied satisfied know municipal buildings could improve the situation significantly. In this Orderliness and neatness of the residential 5,8 0,0 0,0 respect it was a clearly good decision to create a space for young neighbourhood people in Mátyás square to pursue some sports. Quietness of the residential 18,8 1,4 0,0 neighbourhood Green areas 13,0 1,4 1,4 The assessment of entertainment and cultural opportunities is not Entertainment and cultural opportunities 10,1 2,9 17,4 viewed more favourably by the residents either, since 60% of the Opportunities for sport and recreation 5,8 17,4 0,0 respondents are essentially dissatisfied with these opportunities. At Opportunities for daily shopping 29,0 60,9 0,0 the same time the location of the residential quarter, the vicinity Services 24,6 50,7 1,4 of the city centre makes the situation a little bit better, since pla- Public security 20,3 5,8 0,0 ces of amusement and cultural opportunities offered by the capital Transport opportunities 34,8 52,2 0,0 are within easy reach. We need to mention the quietness of the The residential neighbourhood as a whole 26,1 1,4 0,0 neighbourhood too as a factor that evokes dissatisfaction among the people. 40,6% of the respondents are very dissatisfied with the Table 2 Degree of satisfaction with certain factors of the residential neighbourhood neighbourhood from this aspect, and another 15,9% also voiced their
132 Urban Green Book dissatisfaction. Mátyás square and its environment have a very busy car and bus traffic, so it is no accident that long-term plans include the reduction of traffic as a major objective in certain parts of the area. When discussing issues regarding quietness it is also worth addressing the question how playing, doing sports and other free time activities in the square influence people’s peace.
The presence of children and young people may disturb mostly senior, retired residents in Mátyás square during the day. Physical exercise in late afternoon and the evening may affect a broader range of the population. In this respect some progress has already been made in that the square has been enclosed by a fence and a surveillance system has been installed, which can improve the situation from the point of view of peace and quietness in the square – especially in the evening and at night.
One of the explicit goals of the survey was to assess the expected changes in the quality of life of the population thanks to the renewal of Mátyás square. Since the focus of renewal is green rehabilitation, one of the key factors in the survey was the degree of satisfaction with gre- en spaces before and after the intervention. Before the green rehabilitation program began, nearly 60% of the respondents had been rather dissatisfied with the green spaces in the area, and close to one-fifth of the sample had given voice to total dissatisfaction.
When evaluating the opinion on the residential neighbourhood we would also like to address the issues of public security, opportunities for daily shopping and transport. Opinions are rather divided on public security among the respondents: in addition to a relatively low ratio of people who are very satisfied (5,8%), the other categories of opinion are fairly balanced. The degree of satisfaction with public security depends on a number of factors and is influenced not only by the location of the given place of residence (flat) but also by the demographic features of the respondents (sex, age, qualification), their way of life (profession, activity during the day or the night) and their personal attitude towards the environment. Thus, it is extremely difficult to sum up the respondents’ opinion in this respect, but we can still establish that there is a lot to be done about the safety of the residential quarter.
The issue of public security and safety and the people’s opinion about it generally represent a key factor in the assessment of a residential quarter and in the people’s view on the quality of life. We investigated the issue of public security in Mátyás square to see what differences could be observed between security during the day and at night on the one hand, and how urban rehabilitation influenced the safety of the residential quarter on the other. The respondents rated the safety of the neighbourhood average in both parts of the day. Naturally, the night period was given a somewhat lower average rating (the average was 2,94 during the day and 2,73 at night). We can get more information if we look at the positive and negative sides of the scale. 27,5% of the respondents say that public safety is bad or very bad during the day, while
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