Join us for a four-day Metropolitan Field Trip to Budapest (9 - 12 October) during which we will study the dynamics of this Eastern European metropolis. How does the urban planning work? What is the responsibility of the municipality and the state, and to what extend may citizens and entrepreneurs interfere in shaping its form?

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| MFT Bucharest – MFT Rome – [MFT Budapest] – MFT Copenhagen MFT Athens – MFT Lisbon – MFT Brussels
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Metropolitan Field Trips (2014-2015)
This Metropolitan Field Trip to Budapest is the third in a series, in which a high-profile (mainly Dutch) group searches for mechanisms of urban change. We're looking for connections with our colleague planners, cultural entrepeneurs, architects, urban planners, administrators, artists, developers and designers. We will also develop sustainable relationships through setting up international 'City Embassies' in a European network of people and organisations which are active in the field of “metropolitan development”. The first | Metropolitan Field Trip Bucarest | was organised from May 14 - 17, 2014 and the second | Metropolitan Field Trip Rome | from September 28 - October 1.
Today's Budapest is working itself through a political context that is increasingly centralized both in decision-making and in funding, but which also has strong interests and embedded legacies in decentralizing core elements of development (regulations, policies, directed funding). As the city is short on many resources, the importance of non-governmental initiatives is growing in development and services, but these also contest the incumbent political establishment. So while there are major lobbies for redistributing power between national and city government and districts, an increasing number of alternative and parallel networks are taking over tasks that are not fulfilled or distorted by political or other biases. These tasks include culture, arts, social issues, public discussions on developments, urban communication, access to spaces and bottom-up funding models.
Pakhuis de Zwijger, Deltametropolis Association and Brainville together with local partners (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Roeleveld-Sikkes Architects Budapest, KÉK Center for Contemporary Architecture Budapest, Design Week Budapest), organize a four-day Metropolitan Field Trip during which we will study the dynamics of this Eastern European metropolis. How does the urban planning work? What is the responsibility of the municipality and the state, and to what extend may citizens and entrepreneurs interfere in shaping its form? How do cultural entrepreneurs relate to their urban surroundings; do they for example take a role in the transformation of vacant real estate? To what extend is the maintenance of the cultural heritage safeguarded for future generations?
What will the Field Trip entail?
With a broad perspective on transition and innovation in urban development we will study Budapest as a city and a metropolis. Visits to the offices of planners and architects will be complemented with encounters with professional peers, residents, entrepreneurs, wherein we will look for small-scale, often informal urban interventions.
Preliminary programme (subject to change)
Day 1 - October 9, 2014 - social rehabilitation and community projects
10:00-11:30 Kick-off presentation about Budapest (FUGA Budapest Architecture Center)
Overview of the urban, governmental, decision making structure of Budapest. Key projects and issues in the last 10 years, urban and area developments, communities. Planned developments, policies, projects and fields of cooperation for the 2014-2020 period.
11:30 Visit to Design Terminal National Centre for Creative Industries. If time permits, visit to Higgs Field cultural space.
12.30-13.30 lunch
13.30 City Tour I (Social rehabilitation and community projects) through the 8th district of Budapest. Meetings with local stakeholders, planners and organisations. Tour leader: Edit Imricskó-Nemes, Roeleveld Sikkes Architects
Day 2 - October 10, 2014 - from programmed streets to temporary and second hand spaces
Morning meeting: Off Biennale Budapest, János Szoboszlai
12:00 lunch at Gerlóczy café
City Tour II (from programmed streets to temporary and second hand spaces). Downtown led by Levente Polyák, KÉK Center for Contemporary Architecture.
13:00 Rögtön Jövök! (Coming Soon!) project gallery
13:30 Gerlóczy street pop-up stores
14:00 Printa
14:15 Király street, Central Passage és Gozsdu court
14:45 Kocka and Tesla (by minusplus architects)
15:15 Heti betevő
15:45 Chimera, Szimpla
16:30 Müszi
19:00 Reception at the residence of the Ambassador of the Netherlands
Day 3 - October 11, 2014 - new frameworks for culture
10:00 Meeting with VaLyo (proposed venue: Bálna Budapest, bus pickup from there)
11:00-16:00 City Tour III (New frameworks for culture). Recent years have seen a profound transformation of the spatial, financial and production landscape of culture. New venues seek mixed market-based models and independent operation to replace the lost, missing or compromised mainstream institutions and sometimes take over their tasks. Lunch organised on one of the stopovers.
Buda initiatives: Margit utca 9, Jurányi cultural centre
Brown field sites and projects: Soroksári út, Csepel complex, Kőbányai út, Graphisoft park, Sorsok háza Jewish centre
16:00-18:00 Afternoon consultation and networking session at the Design Ecosystems conference
19:00 Dutch Party at the Budapest Design Week
Day 4 - October 12, 2014
Free programme and departure .
Why should you join the Metropolitan Field Trip to Budapest?
Because you are somewhat actively engaged in the transition of cities, or urban development in general. You want to broaden your horizon and witness how things are done elsewhere in Europe. You want to meet new people within your field of interest or profession, and want to establish sustainable (inter)national contacts. And first and foremost, you want to get a unique perspective on Budapest, gain this in the company of an inspiring group of peers and have the practicalities fully taken care off.
Practical information
The costs for the Field trip are € 700,- per person.
- Including: hotel (3 nights), breakfast, lunch and diner, local transport, tours and presentations.
- Excluding: transportation to and from Budapest
Regular flights to Budapest leave from Amsterdam (KLM), Rotterdam (Transavia, Lufthansa) and Eindhoven (Wizz air). Booking the flights is the responsibility of the participants.
Partners
| Brainville |
The New Planning is a collaborative research project between Deltametropolis Association and TU Delft. A consortium of academic, civil society, government and market sectors is being created to meet the urgent need for a new model of strategic spatial planning that will keep the Netherlands at the forefront of territorial governance.