Issues around the City Park: whose right?

„Only when it is understood that those who build and sustain urban life have a primary claim to that which they have produced, and that one of their claims is to the unalienated right to make a city more after their own heart's desire, will we arrive at a politics of the urban that will make sense.” (Harvey 2012) The City Park Városliget exists more than 200 years in Budapest. Some of the trees were planted in the 19th century. Parks are of crucial importance to satisfy basic needs of the city dwellers. The impact of city parks can be seen in daily life and in greater dimensions as a factor of balancing climate change. Those positive impacts are endangered by the plan of building a new museum-quarter in Városliget, which is currently realized. For 150 milliard Forints (480 Million Euro) – the needed money for the investment constantly rising and currently only financed by the state itself - around eight new buildings will be placed in the park. This includes the national gallery whereupon the president can move into the current location of the gallery – the castle. Budapest has relatively few natural areas and parks, whereas smog alarm occurs regularly. The park Városliget is an important destination for people for recreation, relaxation and movement. As surveys made in the park show, many people also have a need to be in nature. Furthermore the park serves as an important place for social life as a meeting point. Many other reasons can be named which make the existence of the park indispensable. As scientific studies show, raising temperatures as a consequence of climate change can be moderated by city parks –the surface of the park creates a much lower temperature than the rest of the city. Economic reasons can also be examined, as recreation is necessary for every person to be able to work with new energy again. Parks determine the attractiveness of a city for tourists or inhabitants as well – and thus the economic situation of the city. Another important thing should be considered here, when thinking of museums in Városliget and that is the possibility to be and fulfill all this needs named above in a space where consumption is not required. Places like that in cities are rare and becoming less over time. Although parks never are uncontrolled places – they were planed and created in a specific way – the segregation of which specific groups of people are welcome in the park and which are not can become stronger through building museums or other facilities: “This homogenization typically has advanced by “disneyfying” space and place – creating landscapes in which every interaction is carefully planned. […] Public spaces of spectacle, theater and consumption create images that define the public, and these images exclude as “undesirable” the homeless and the political activist.” (Don Mitchell 1995) Citizens’ possibility to participate in decision-making and shape their environment decreases in our times. As a survey made by Greenpeace and Ipsos Public Affairs shows most of the citizens of Budapest are against building museums in the park. They prefer a renewal of the greenspace which currently is not in a good condition. Protests against the new museum quarter are ongoing, in September 2016 thousand people moved to the streets to show there disagreement. The resistance against the investment is organized by a civilian group called “Ligetvédők” (“Park Protectors”) who are camping in the park for one year now and raise attention for the preservation of the park. The constructions are ongoing and are planned to be finished in 2019.

Location

Hungary, Budapest, Városliget

Environmental impact

• Air pollution
• Biodiversity loss – Ecosystem destruction
• Depletion of natural resources (fossil and mineral, forest, water, etc)
• Hazards related to extreme weather events – natural disaster
• Alteration of landscape aesthetics and built heritage

Ethical/ legal issues

• Health and well-being
• A clean and prosperous environment and a safe and pleasant habitat
• Opportunities to work and leisure
• Access to public goods/ resources and products
• Democratic participation to decision-making on community and national affairs

Information sources & materials

Contributor(s)

Lisa Jürgens, [email protected], Internship at Artemisszió Foundation, Hungary

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