COMPLEX+ 2022 spring
RESULTS OF THE FIRST ROUND OF THE APPLICATION PROCEDURE HERE
ALL THE ADMITTED STUDENTS AND STUDENTS ON THE WAITING LIST ARE KINDLY ASKED TO SEND A CONFIRMATION EMAIL TO hory.gergely@urb.bme.hu ABOUT WHETHER THEY WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COURSE OR NOT! PLEASE WRITE THIS EMAIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SINCE IT IS NEEDED TO FORMULATE THE FINAL LIST OF ADMITTED STUDENTS! THANK YOU!
Comprehensive Design 1.
Future in Budapest City Centre (?)
Challenges of Urban Housing, Tourism and Cultural Heritage Preservation in Inner-Erzsébetváros
Course code / BME EPUIT81, 1BME EPUIM1K1
Credit points / 10
Tutors / Csaba Bajusz / Gergely Hory PhD
2021/2022/II
Focus area: area framed by the Erzsébet körút – Rákóczi út – Károly körút, and Király utca
Keywords: Urban Housing / Tourism / Cultural heritage / Jewish district / “Bulinegyed” / Budapest / Inner-Erzsébetváros
The Comprehensive Design studio at the Department of Urban Planning and Design in 2022 focuses on challenges the historic city centre of Budapest has to face today. There has been a trend in recent decades that a growing number of residents move to suburban areas due to inadequate living conditions in the inner districts of Budapest. This process contributes to negative environmental effects (due to increased vehicle use or the extended area of built land for instance) that induce irreversible threats to the quality of life characteristic in developed European countries today. Thus it is an ever urgent issue to provide an affordable, healthy and comfortable living environment for residents in the city centre as well.
There is a phenomenon however that adversely impacts the potential of residential use in the historic city centre: The presence of mass tourism that contributes to the increased real estate prices, density, and noise pollution. However, the economical benefits of urban tourism are unquestionable since it provides significant income to the city, attracts investments and creates jobs. The present recession in the sector caused by the recent pandemia also provides an opportunity to rethink concerns about urban tourism and propose a more conscious and sustainable policy for its future development.
Mass tourism is a potential threat to the sustainability of the city’s rich cultural identity. If the tourism sector is only developed from economical aspects it may controversially undermine valuable cultural products – not only physical ones such as buildings but communities, events, and traditions – onto which tourism is originally built. In order to save the cultural heritage of the city centre for the future local residents are needed who are able to sustain it through their practice of everyday life.
The basic question of the research-based design studium is summarized as the following: How to create healthy living conditions for residents in Inner-Erzsébetváros while preserving its attractiveness for international tourism and sustaining its cultural identity?
During the semester, students create long-term future urban visions for the focus area in teams that have to be presented by texts and visual representations. Based on the urban vision, students have to choose a plot for the individual architectural design of a proposed building. The topic of the individual project has to provide complex answers to the present-day challenges of urban housing, urban tourism and cultural heritage preservation. During the semester there will be one-day-long design exercises when students have to create proposals for pop-up, and other temporary interventions that contribute to the long-term realization of the proposed visions.
During the semester the theoretical background of the studio’s topic will be discussed in detail, discussions will be made with experts of the housing and tourism industry, and international case studies will be evaluated. All of these programs are aimed at helping the development of individual projects. Though the studio focuses on Budapest, knowledge learned during the semester can be easily adapted to other cities in the world as well, so international students will be able to utilize the acquired principles effectively in their future professional life.
Programs complementing the design process:
– lectures about the past and present of Inner-Erzsébetváros
– on-site excursions
– discussions with experts and local actors of the “Bulinegyed” scene
Preliminary application to the course:
First, please fill-in the following form: https://forms.gle/VU1i3de8kxwTHHA96
Then please send a simple portfolio in a single pdf file to hory.gergely@urb.bme.hu containing only your DD3 project and your favourite project! The deadline for filling the form and sending the portfolio is 7th January 2022. 12:00 noon!
