Hungarian Towns Research Articles

Heritage Making in Former Socialist Towns in Hungary

AbstractCentral and Eastern European countries generally view their socialist heritage as an unwanted, unpleasant burden. The new identity-building processes after the regime change were initially dominated by efforts to rewrite, suppress, or erase the socialist past, while for Western tourists the consumption of key attractions and sites of the built heritage represents a particular form of heritage tourism through which they can experience a slice of an “exotic” past beyond the Iron Curtain. At the national and local levels, there is a vast dissonance between the material heritage of socialism and the identity and aspirations of post-socialist communities, which is even more evident in the case of newly-built, former socialist towns. Through the example of Tiszaújváros and Dunaújváros, my study primarily examines the institutional strategies chosen by these towns to address their socialist heritage. What principles prevailed in the compilation of the local collection of values? What kind of representation of the past do local museums offer, what role does the ethnographic heritage of the annexed villages play in museum presentation and collection, and how are local/regional traditions integrated into the town's image? Finally, through a specific community of memory, a Facebook page, I examine how the recent past appears in individual and collective – often nostalgic – memory, what values the community associates with the town, and how all these relate to the heritagization practices of the local elite.

Maintaining spatial and social order: the role of housing development in governing urban margins

This paper investigates processes of spatially ordered marginality of Roma in a former industrial town in Hungary. The analysis focuses on local poverty governance tactics and practices that aim to maintain social and spatial order through the regulation and selective displacement of Roma within the city. These practices of controlling Roma marginality are clear manifestations of the spatialization and racialization of poverty and I argue that spatial containment constitutes a new mode of poverty governance that aims to temper local tensions and cement local power. Moreover, these local policies reflect continuity from socialist era practices in terms of governing Roma marginality through disciplining and displacement. In the present context, EU-funded urban rehabilitation projects represent a vital local resource. While ostensibly targeting social integration, the local government in question has used these resources to promote the mobility of ‘deserving’ vulnerable groups and control ‘undeserving’ marginalized Roma through enclosure. Those who are seen as undeserving are racialized and subject to punitive containment while the ‘deserving’ enjoy material support and a sense of belonging to local society, provided they accept the conditions dictated by local government actors. In this way, the emphasis on individual responsibility masks the structural deficiencies of social housing and related social issues and perpetuates different forms of racism.

Seasonal trends in the Early Twentieth Century Warming (ETCW) in a centennial instrumental temperature record from Central Europe

The goal of the present paper is to investigate whether any objectively defined and statistically significant changes can be discovered in one of the longest homogenized instrumental temperature records in East-Central Europe. Thus, it is hoped that the present analysis will add to earlier attempts and elucidate the persistence of the warming period observed in the early 20th century. Similar to the global tendency, the Early Twentieth Century Warming (hereinafter, ETCW) period can be identified between 1931 and 1951 in the annual mean temperature time series of Keszthely, a small town in Hungary. The Mann-Kendall trend test was used to determine whether a monotonic trend was present, as it is not possible to regard the residuals of the linear trend as normally distributed. A significant rising trend can be observed in the warming period in spring of the years between 1925 and 1951. In case of summer and autumn, this period cannot be characterized as having any significant identifiable trend. A rise in the mean can, however, be recognized. Overall, the specific regional manifestation of the global ETCW may clearly be illustrated in this study via detailed statistical analysis of the temperature records for Keszthely, a location with one of the longest temperature records in Hungary. However, other regions surrounding Hungary show similar climatic trends, emphasizing the fact that the behaviour presented here is not unique to Central and Eastern Europe.

Local participants and uninvolved citizens: life beyond participatory research

ABSTRACT Participatory ethnography brings together strands of academic and local knowledge, transforming the positionality of both academic and local participants in the research site. The extent of citizen involvement in participatory (action) research and the ethical dilemmas for both academic and civil researchers have long been the subject of debate [Lenette, Caroline. 2022. Participatory Action Research: Ethics and Decolonization. New York: Oxford Academic]. Our paper focuses on how local participants manage their new knowledge and transformed ideologies in a local reality that remains highly (in)securitised. The research site presented in this paper is a small town in Hungary with a large Romani-speaking community. We organised monthly workshops in the town with the participation of academics, local Hungarian-Romani bilingual and Hungarian monolingual citizens. The present study is based on the findings of these workshops and on ethnographic work conducted by the academic participants with citizens not involved in the workshops. We draw attention to the fact that the dissemination of workshop results in the locality can be successful only if local citizens succeed in developing a transformative voice of their own which disrupts conventionalised discourse repertoires. The intersubjective dynamics between local v. non-local and participating v. non-participating actors determines the long-term sustainability and impact of participatory research projects.

From (in)securitisation to conviviality: the reconciliatory potential of participatory ethnography

Abstract Racialised bilinguals experience marginalisation all over the world. In South-East Europe, millions of bilingual Roma share this experience alongside emerging aspirations of conviviality, which remain rare. This paper considers marginalisation as a consequence of (in)securitisation. The concept of (in)securitisation addresses discursive techniques of power which advocate the protection of some at the price of excluding others. These discursive techniques are exerted on different levels of social interaction, creating and maintaining uncertainty. The paper discusses individual aspirations to conviviality, or peaceful cohabitation, in (in)securitised local realities in a town in Hungary, where 20 % of the population are bilingual Roma. Furthermore, it explores whether the leveraging of translingual practices can be an effective tool for conviviality. The argument is based on long-term field research, and the data used comes from a series of participatory workshops, attended by academic non-local and local participants. Using the method of Moment Analysis to understand workshop discussions, the article focuses on the ways in which participants negotiate the dependencies of (in)securitisation while trying to forge convivial capabilities. Experience shows that acts of (in)securitisation and racialised social roles define relations even within the research group, and only certain types of capabilities considered convivial are suitable to override them.

School Buildings in the Urban FABRIC as a Result of 21st-Century Suburbanisation: Case Studies on Two Middle-Sized Towns in the Agglomeration of Budapest, Vác and Dunakeszi

Our study explores the question: what kind of landscape situations emerge between the urban fabric and a school building as a result of 21st-century suburbanisation? To answer this question, we will compare a traditional school town and a suburban settlement. Located less than thirty kilometres from Budapest, the traditional town is Vác, one of the most important historical school towns in Hungary. Dunakeszi, on the other hand, directly borders the capital and was a rural settlement at the beginning of the 20th century. This settlement is a typical example of urban sprawl. Its schools have occupied a place in the urban fabric since the second half of the 20th century. During our research, we used thick description and thoroughly analysed where the buildings are situated within the given urban structure, how their appearance can be described, and what their architecture communicates. Our basic argument is that while traditional settlement schools are a central element of the urban fabric, in the suburbs, schools occupy empty spaces of ‘leftover plots’ or develop new campuses in the interurban landscape. The results showed that regardless of the historical past of a given settlement, 21st-century educational institutions create separated, closed campuses in areas affected by suburbanisation processes. The primary reason for moving out is simply a lack of space in downtown areas, which is universally apparent in larger cities. The various roles and tasks schools fulfil also contribute to the process, for example the integration of sports fields or the increasing expectation to be accessible by car.

Extension of the Áprily Lajos primary school in Visegrád

Abstract Visegrád is one of the smallest towns in Hungary with 1800 inhabitants, which was given the status of town because of its historical importance. Archaeological excavations revealed the remains of the medieval town's former main square and the surrounding buildings. Based on the archeological research the new town center was designed by the A+ Architect Studio and won the Pro Architectura and ICOMOS awards in 2016. Years later the need arose to expand the Áprily Lajos Primary School, which is located next to the site, and to accommodate new classrooms, special training rooms, and music school practice rooms in a new, modern building. The new three-story school building on the street frontage was constructed on the former place of a century-old, dilapidated building and was also designed by A+ Architect Studio.

The social representation of radicalism among young people

In the study, using data from an international research (Myplace), relying on the theory ofsocial representations, we examined the understanding of radicalism of young people aged 15to 26 and living in two towns in Hungary (Ózd and Sopron) which differ significantly regardingtheir political socialization. In accordance with an empirical method based on the theory,we analyzed the relationship between young people’s attitudes towards nationalism and thedemocratic principles and the representation of radicalism, following the structural and contentcharacterization of the representation of radicalism through the quantification of associationalresponses received in the questionnaire survey conducted in 2012.

The Situation of Orphaned Children in the World of Serfs and Peasants

AbstractThe present study, authored by a legal historian, examines the relationship between legal history and legal folklore through an investigation, centered on the market town of Szentes, one of a distinctive group of market towns in Hungary's Southern Great Plain, of the legal folklore that emerged at the end of the 18th century as a result of historical antecedents as well as demographic, economic, and social changes. The system of norms and values, the customary law, and the wealth of legal folklore that developed in these towns in the 18–19th centuries in the process of the emergence of the local middle class subsequently influenced the development of civil law at central level. The present study analyzes regulatory practice concerning orphans in the wills of the serfs and peasants living in the market towns of Hungary's Southern Great Plain, preserved primarily in local sources, based on entries in the “Book of Agreements” of the market town of Szentes. It seeks to identify the specific characteristics of guardianship customs in the world of the “lower class,” including how the position of widowed women and their responsibility for their children evolved, as well as expectations concerning stepfathers in the absence of guardianship. It also investigates how it became common practice in the market towns of the Southern Great Plain for the inheritance of the orphans of serfs not to be preserved in kind but rather sold, and, in an effort to preserve its value, the money was loaned out and the resulting interest was used to provide the bare necessities for the orphans.

Pécs Chatter. A Digital Anthropological Study on the Impact of a Facebook Group on Local Politics

Abstract Research on the political role of digital media, including social media, is often based on the assumption that new communication platforms can contribute to new forms of political participation such as taking part in deliberative political debates more actively and exercising the right to vote more often. Most of the studies focus on national processes: nationwide political campaigns and general elections. In this paper, we offer a different angle on these issues, focusing on a specific locality, more specifically the activities of a politically themed local Facebook group in a middle-sized town in Hungary. We also apply a digital anthropology approach that enables us to use a hybrid methodology combining online and offline tools in our research design. Results are presented in this paper in a research report format. We are far from a final conclusion about the interplay of social media use and political activity, but hopefully the experiences we share will shed some light on the functioning of these types of online communities.

Selective and optimal dynamic pricing strategy for residential electricity consumers based on genetic algorithms

The continuous increase in residential population implies an increase in electricity demand. The demand prediction performed by the utility company (UC) to schedule and plan the next energy purchase from the market may not be efficient since the actual demand consistently exceeds the supply. To use the energy production infrastructure efficiently and decrease the grid system's overload, the UC seeks to match the demand with the supply. Dynamic pricing is a simple yet effective way to influence consumption as price-sensitive consumers may reschedule the operation of some of the appliances. This paper presents a novel, consumption data-driven, selective and dynamic Time-of-Use (ToU) electricity pricing strategy applicable by the UC for residential electricity consumers. The method consists of clustering real consumption data using the k-means clustering technique and heuristically categorizing clusters based only on their consumption data to simplify the design of the ToU tariffs and limit the number of different tariffs in the same population. The method includes a heuristic determination of the time period for the ToU tariff changes for each category. The ToU tariff parameters are determined by minimizing a single cost function using genetic algorithms and considering all consumer clusters such that the consumer behavior model is based on price elasticity. The optimal ToU tariffs result in decreasing the demand in power peaks by targeting the overconsumer categories in the latter. Implementing the ToU tariff results in a profit margin distributed among the UC and the consumer. Moreover, the optimal prices guarantee positive gains for both of them with the presence of a wide range of parameter uncertainties. The proposed pricing strategy necessitates the presence of consumption data only, which implies the conservation of the consumers' privacy. Real consumption data obtained for two towns in Hungary over three years is used to show the efficiency of the proposed pricing strategy.

Land Use Changes in Peri-Urban Open Spaces of Small Towns in Eastern Hungary

Changes in land use were studied in 2 km wide peri-urban open spaces of seven small Hungarian towns as part of a RENATUR Interreg Europe (2019–2023) project. The aim of the project is to present best practices related to the sustainable and wise use of the peri-urban open spaces of small European towns. The rate and tendencies of conversion from one land use type to another were evaluated on the basis of a comparison of Corine Land Cover and Land Cover Change databases from 1990, 2000 and 2018. Land use changes in the study areas in different time periods were studied for which the Corine categories were aggregated. Subsequently, there were field verification surveys carried out between March and June of 2021. Most significant changes—due to the significant increase of built-up areas—were found in the case of the towns that were developed to form the suburbs of Debrecen, the core settlement of their region with a population of 200,000. In the case of settlements further away from the major city, the population is either stagnating or decreasing, and the size of built-up areas hardly increases. In the case of cities that are surrounded by high-quality chernozem soils with profitable agriculture, large-scale arable lands have become dominant in the border zones of the settlements, as the spatial extent of gardens, orchards and grasslands has decreased. Highly diverse and mosaic land use (dominated by small plots) is not characteristic anywhere.

K problematike pečatného symbolu a erbu mesta Krupina

The author discusses the existence and dating of the Krupina town’s seals and the motivations for accepting the seal symbol (later the coat of arms as well) of the Lamb of God of Krupina, whereas based on the analogies of towns in Hungary or abroad he contemplates the influence of the paradigm of medieval society and its focus on eternal life that leads to the Kingdom of heaven to the Savior, Jesus Christ. The author points to the possible connection of the symbol with the church dedication of the main parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He also deals with the view of older literature, which derived its acceptance into the seals of the town from the coins of Hungarian rulers who were associated with the origins of the town of Krupina. Jesus Christ (symbolically depicted as the Lamb of God) is an attribute of the Virgin Mary in Christian iconography and was constantly depicted together with the mother, Virgin Mary, similarly to the fashion it was implemented in Krupina. At the same time, the Lamb was a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem, a perfect city, which was a model and ideal of the earthly city, and thus of the community of the Krupina townspeople. The authority of the Savior is thus symbolically linked to the authority of the king and also to the authority of the burghers, as well as to the legal force of the documents they issued. This could have been one of the motivations of the Krupina townspeople to adopt this symbol into the seals of the town. At the same time, it is possible to assume an increase in the influence of rectors of the main parish church in the town, who probably performed the duties of the first notaries of the town of Krupina.

Az okos város fogalom megjelenése a magyar közép- és nagyvárosok fejlesztési dokumentumaiban

Recently, there has been a tremendous spread of the term “smart city” in theoretical works as well as in urban planning practices. This study investigates the impact of this process in the Hungarian context. The main goal of the paper is to analyse specific policy documents of the thirty-one most populous towns in Hungary. The sample excludes the capital city, Budapest, which differs significantly from these towns in size and in the grade of international embeddedness. The majority of the scrutinised documents were written in the same time period and in the same structure, which makes them a good basis for comparison. The results show that the term “smart city” started to appear in urban development plans in 2014. This is when most of the documents still in force today were written. The term was used in many different ways, however. In some cases, policy documents presented a detailed “smart city vision” for the future. In five municipalities, the local government even approved a smart city strategy. In many other towns, policy documents only referred to the “smart city” either with regard to a specific project or in very broad terms. Moreover, documents in 40% of the examined towns do not mention the term at all. For factors influencing the emergence of the term (or its absence), geographical location does not show a clear relevance, and settlement size seems to play a role only in the five most populous cities. However, the results suggest some correlation with central urban functions.

When Spatial Dimension Matters: Comparing Personal Network Characteristics in Different Segregated Areas

Living in segregated areas with concentrated neighbourhood poverty negatively affects the quality of life, including the availability of local jobs, access to services, and supportive social relationships. However, even with similar neighbourhood poverty levels, the degree and structure of spatial separation vary markedly between such areas. We expected that the level of spatial segregation aggravates the social exclusion of its inhabitants by negatively affecting their social capital. To test this hypothesis, we identified three low‐income neighbourhoods with high poverty rates (78%) in a medium‐sized town in Hungary, with different levels of integration in the city (based on characteristics such as the degree of spatial separation, infrastructure, and availability of services). The three neighbourhoods were located in two areas of differing degrees of integration in the fabric of the city: fully integrated, semi‐integrated (integrated into the surrounding residential area but isolated from the city), and non‐integrated. 69% of the 394 households in these areas were represented in our sample (one respondent per household). We interviewed respondents regarding the size and composition of their personal networks. Our results, which also distinguished between Roma and non‐Roma inhabitants, showed that those living in the spatially more integrated area not only have the largest and most diverse networks but seem to have a strong, “bonding‐based” cohesive community network as well. Even the non‐Roma who live there have ethnically heterogeneous—in other words—Roma network members. The disintegrated area, on the other hand, is characterised by both spatial and social isolation.

The Beginnings of the Cooperation of Free Royal Towns in the Kingdom of Hungary in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The study presents the possibilities and framework for cooperation between towns in Hungary through the operation of the Town League of Upper Hungary. The cooperation of towns in the Kingdom of Hungary happened primarily through regional relations. At first, the basis for cooperation was provided by common economic interests, but this area broadened considerably in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. After the battle of Mohács (1526), the towns of Hungary became full members of the Hungarian Estates. The Kingdom of Hungary, which was part of the Habsburg Monarchy, gained considerable autonomy in internal politics. This was based on a compromise with the Habsburg rulers to ensure protection against the Ottoman Empire. The free royal towns were the least influential members of this country that had strong Estates. Nevertheless, cooperation between the towns became nationwide. The diets provided the forum for all free royal towns in the country to represent their common interests in a coordinated way. There are traces of this nationwide cooperation as early as the mid-sixteenth century, but it was from the early seventeenth century that it was the strongest. The reason was that in those decades state taxes were becoming heavier and more burdensome for towns. This nationwide cooperation was not only manifested in the field of taxation, but from the first quarter of the seventeenth century onwards, it increasingly extended to religious matters. In the background, there was the increasing recatholization of the Habsburg Monarchy. In this special matter, close links were forged also with the otherwise strongly anti-urban lower nobility.

The birth of oppida: small towns in Hungary in the Angevin period

AbstractThis article revisits the origins of small towns in medieval Hungary from the perspective of their owners and seigneurs. The fourteenth-century development of small towns on the estates of private landowners resulted from the coincidence of several factors. Among these, the article considers the intersection of royal and private interests. The aristocrats’ concern to endow their estate centres with privileges or attract new settlers to their lands was dependent on royal approval; likewise, the right to hold annual fairs had to be granted by the kings, and one had to be a loyal retainer to be worthy of these grants. The royal model of supporting the mendicant orders, which were gaining ground in Hungary from the thirteenth century onwards, added a further dimension to the overlords’ development strategies. This shows that royal influence, directly or indirectly, had a major impact on the development of towns on private lands in the Angevin period (1301–87).

Translanguaging as a rhizomatic multiplicity

ABSTRACT Translanguaging is an increasingly popular concept used in the description of multilingual practices and in language policy and language pedagogy research. In this paper, I argue that the main reason for the rapid increase in the use of this concept is that it has rhizomatic characteristics. My argument is supported by evidence supplied by a project conducted among members of a Romani-Hungarian bilingual Roma community in a small town in Hungary. After introducing Deleuze and Guattaris’ rhizome-metaphor (1987) and its reception in sociolinguistics, I survey dimensions of translanguaging and point out that its interpretation as a rhizomatic multiplicity opens up new possibilities for the description of multilingual practices and helps to understand the versatility of the concept. Based on evidence supplied by the project referred to above, I claim that the concept of translanguaging, in virtue of its rhizomatic features offers new emphases in the interpretation of multilingual linguistic practices, and that the concept itself has the characteristics of a rhizomatic multiplicity, enabling it to connect to other multiplicities. Such an understanding of translanguaging may help determine pedagogical stance or influence and shape efforts made to maintain minority languages.

Households’ Electricity Consumption in Hungarian Urban Areas

The aim of this study is to examine the factors influencing the electricity consumption of urban households and to prove these with statistically significant results. The study includes 46 small and medium-sized towns in Hungary. The methodology of the study is mainly provided by a model that can be used for this purpose; however, the results obtained with the traditional regression method are compared with the results of another, more complex estimation method, the artificial neural network, which has the advantage of being able to use different types of models. The focus of our article is on methodological alignment, not necessarily the discovery of new results. Certain demographic characteristics significantly determine the energy demand of a household sector in a municipality. In this case, as the ratio of people aged 60 or over within a city rises by 1%, the urban household average energy consumption decreases by 61 kilowatt hours, and when it rises by 1%, the amount of pollutants expelled from urban households’ average energy consumption may decrease by 22.8745 kg. The research area of our paper was greatly influenced by the availability of the statistical data. The results can be used in the planning of urban developments.

“Towns in captivity” : Transformation of the Towns of Transylvania in the Interwar Period: the Hungarian Point of View

In this paper I look at the Hungarian representation of the way towns in Transylvania changed after these had become part of Romania after World War I. While, according to the census of 1910, Hungarians made up a third of the total population of Transylvania, their share was about 60% in urban contexts. Besides the place urban spaces occupied in Hungarian historical consciousness, this factor determined the way Hungarian commentators interpreted the “loss” of Transylvanian towns. The idea that the “loss of Hungarian towns” changed the formerly Hungarian character of the towns, and their “Balkanization” were central motifs of Hungarian discourse in the interwar period. Some of these elements are present even today. Although the texts I investigate are part of the Hungarian discourse of ressentiment, I argue that they offer some insight into the changes in the “identity of the city”: the urban world which belonged to Central-Europe shifted to another cultural context, to that of Southeastern Europe. Moreover, I will show that these texts also reveal the process of nationalisation of towns, which became an important goal for the national elites since the 19th century within the project of building the modern national state.