Strong local communities and identity

A district's compactness does not depend only on its density and its transport. For local life to truly be organised within the district, the economy, the community and identity also have to take hold locally. This overarching goal deals with the "soft" side of compact development — with what binds residents to their place.

1. Strengthening the community use of public spaces

A significant part of the district's public areas today is transitional, transport-purpose space, not an organising element of urban life. Active use is held back by the lack of ground-floor functions and the limits of public-space quality, yet filling the spaces is not only a construction question but also a matter of programming.

• Organising local-history and cultural programmes. The aim is for local-history and cultural content to become more visible in the public spaces: through district cultural festivals, local-history walks, temporary cultural installations, memorial sites and programmes that draw on local historical narratives. These are not primarily for tourism but strengthen the population's inner attachment.
• Organising community programmes in public spaces. Regular community programmes — market-square events, open-air screenings, sports events, children's programmes and seasonal festivals — can bring the spaces to life. Suitable venues are Kossuth Lajos Square, the Kondor Béla promenade, Piac Square and Szarvas csárda Square, but even the temporary opening of streets can serve this (for example on Thököly Road or Baross Street). The programmes are strongest when combined with tactical-urbanism interventions: here the public-space event and the physical transformation of space reinforce one another, while also bringing footfall and visibility to local entrepreneurs.

2. Developing local identity

The acceptance of compact developments depends on whether the population feels the district — and the changes taking place within it — as their own.

• Campaigns encouraging local shopping. One feature of District 18's retail structure is that the surrounding areas contain several large-floor-area shopping centres. These exert a significant pull effect on the district's population: part of everyday shopping does not take place locally, which increases individual car use and weakens the local economy. The aim of this intervention direction is for deliberate communication campaigns and incentive programmes to orient the population towards shopping within the district. These can include loyalty programmes, developing the City Card, promotions publicising local businesses, and events linked to the district's markets.
• Implementing community-planning processes. Compact urban development inevitably affects residents' living conditions and living environment, and so densification and transport reorganisation can provoke resistance, which we know as the NIMBY phenomenon. The answer is not to bypass the population but to involve them meaningfully: local residents should appear not merely as commentators but as active participants in the planning process. The toolkit includes planning workshops, residents' forums, consultation platforms, as well as walking tours and space-use surveys that involve local communities. Participation increases not only acceptance but also the quality of decisions, since local knowledge is built into the developments.
• Building district and neighbourhood identity. The identity of District 18 consists of several layers. Pestszentlőrinc and Pestszentimre existed as two separate settlements, and even today they have a perceptibly different character. The housing estates form their own micro-communities, while the suburban character is an identity-forming factor that a significant part of the population values. Deliberate identity-building moves on two levels at once:
  • Strengthening a self-identity for the whole district: a shared name, common cultural references, a district brand.
  • Recognising and showcasing the distinct character of the city districts and neighbourhoods: neighbourhood-level visual-identity elements, local-history plaques, a district map and targeted communication campaigns.

From the perspective of the acceptance of compact developments, this is the most sensitive point. It is crucial that the changes appear not as a denial of the district's character but as the further development of the existing identity.

With this article the 18-part journey is complete: from the concepts, through the diagnosis of District 18, to the concrete proposals. In the end the compact city is not a recipe but a direction — and of that direction, community and identity are the most personal layer.