Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 2. (Budapest, 2007)
Abstracts
the entire period, levels of water consumption differed according to the social hierarchy of upper, middle and lower class districts. The situation in the poorer areas improved only after the turn of the century. As concerns gas supply, the city council adhered to the liberal credo of private sector investment. By the middle of the century, the English "Impcrial-ContinentalGas-Association" acquired a dominant position on this market, which it kept until the 1890s despite fierce criticisms of inflated prices and poor standards. It was only after the electoral victory of the Christian socialists that a municipal gasworks was created, which began operation in 1899, and by 1914, gas supply was almost entirely socialized. In the area of telecommunications, for a long time, state and private networks existed alongside, however, by 1895, both the telegraph and telephone services were fully socialized. Moreover, between 1875 and 1913, an efficient pneumatic post network was constantly developed. The advance of high voltage engineering played an important role in development. From 1889, private electric utilities emerged. Accordingly, electricity was concentrated in economically attractive upper and middle class residential areas and business zones. A change was brought about again by the socialization policy of the Christian Socialist Party. In 1902, a publicly owned electric utility began operation, and despite severe conflicts with private companies, electricity was fully socialized by 1914. The term "segregating integration" may be applied to the consistent pattern of infrastructural network growth: historically established social-spatial disparities remained in place, however, the development of networks led to the overall improvement of utilities in the entire metropolitan area. FERENC VADAS Gasworks in Vienna and Budapest In the 19 th century, the imperial capital of Vienna was ahead of Budapest in the domain of gas production, just like in nearly every other respect. While Vienna set up its first public gas lamp in 1838, gas supply was established in Budapest only in 1856. Both cities entrusted private entrepreneurs to introduce the new technology. In Vienna, several companies competed fiercely, while in Budapest one company was given monopoly. By the end of the century, both cities deemed it necessary to create municipal gasworks and redeem private companies. After long preparations, they took these two related steps simultaneously: Vienna was the first to do so in 1899, while Budapest followed in 1910 and 1913.
