Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 2. (Budapest, 2007)

Abstracts

LAURA UMBRAI The History of Municipal Housing Construction in Budapest, 1937-1948 In order to protect the housing market and to stimulate private sector construction, at the beginning of the 1930s, the government gradually dismantled the system of fixed flat management, which protected tenants by keeping rents at artificially low levels. As a result, the capital witnessed an enormous surge in evictions, and slums mushroomed all over the city. Meanwhile, the housing situation in the capital improved little, since with the war approaching, most entrepreneurs found more lucrative investments for their capital. The city then again took matters into its own hands, and launched another flatlet construction scheme. For last, after a decade of delay, the city's leadership looked for a comprehensive solution to assist those in need. During the early 1940s, two types of habitations were constructed within the frame of this programme. For people, whose living conditions improved but lived in temporary accommodations, one-storey, brick transitional homes were built, which exist to this today. In turn, the inhabitants of the slums to be demolished were resettled into the now vacant temporary accommodations. For those who could either afford the rent of better quality flatlets, or who became solvent due to having large families, and thus were entitled to receive as much as 25% reduction from their rent via the capital's family protection programme, modern, multi-storey blocks of flats were constructed. Later, in 1943, another housing programme was launched in Angyalföld, setting the goal of building 1800 flats. However, it was left unfinished due to the war, and was completed only in the early 1950s. As a result of even scarcer financial means, the buildings erected in the 1940s differ from earlier welfare habitations in many respects, most strikingly in terms of their equipment and quality. Despite the sacrifices made by the city's leadership over several decades, the housing shortage in Budapest would be solved only with socialist mass housing, and even then, only for a few decades. LEA KŐSZEGHY A Sociological Analysis of City Planning in Budapest, 1960-1975 This research examines a special period in the capital's development: the period beginning in 1960, which was dominated by the political platform of mass housing. The analysis focuses on how city planning actually worked. Given that the latter