Ghettoization or gentrification? Post-socialist scenarios for Budapest

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Uneven transformations: Space, economy and society 20 years after the collapse of state socialism

“…As a consequence, poverty rates increased rapidly, incomes polarized and unemployment started to become a structural problem, particularly in some of the most economically marginalized communities. Although a good deal of attention has been focused on high concentrations of unemployment and poverty in marginal regions (Váradi, 2005; see also Rainnie et al, 2002), other more recent work has also highlighted that poverty and inequality have been associated with areas of high economic growth as well as with processes of 'ghettoization' and the exclusion and impoverishment of Roma minorities in urban space (see, inter alia, Smith et al, 2008b;Stenning et al, 2010, on in-work poverty, and Ladányi, 1993, and Kovács, 2006, on the exclusion of Roma populations in city spaces).…”

Post-Socialist Gentrification Processes in Polish Cities

“…In the first decade of the system transformation, the process of social upgrading was most advanced in central districts of East Berlin (Bernt and Holm, 2005). In East-Central Europe, the gentrification process was slow and was confined to small parts of inner cities (Brade et al ., 2009;Chelcea, 2006;Kovács, 1998;Sýkora, 2005) . Remodelling of the social structure of inner city residents was more advanced in the capitals, but also in some other large cities in this part of Europe (Haase et al, 2012;Kaczmarek and Marcińczak, 2013;Marcińczak and Sagan, 2011;Murzyn-Kupisz, 2013;Nagy and Timar, 2012).…”

“…Quick liberalisation of the economy, reintroduction of land rent, privatisation and restitution of residential buildings and land created opportunity for profit-driven rehabilitation of potentially attractive areas , such as deteriorated central districts of large post-socialist cities (Kovács, 1998;Sýkora, 2005) . Inner cities in East-Central Europe appeared to be perfect spaces for gentrification, which soon began its progress and brought specific social and spatial transformations (Smith, 1996) .…”

On Sustainable Property Development – The Case of Budapest

“…The questions concerned the motivations for selecting certain business strategies, achievability of different sustainability dimensions, expectations about property/land value increases, compatibility with the surrounding land use and neighbourhood characteristics, whether any marketing incentives were considered for the buyers and to what extent any cooperation with the municipality occurred. 4 The starting point here is the massive privatization of the municipally owned (and formerly state owned) housing stock that occurred in the early 1990s [26,27]. Subsequently Budapest councils used this privatization revenue as a reserve of funds for many regeneration projects during the late 1990s.…”

“…A literature on spatial differences in the physical deterioration of the building stock and socio-economic inequalities across Budapest emerged already in the 1990s [26,28,29]. This body of studies is however not explicitly dealing with sustainability.…”