Budapest - NbS for climate resilience and pollution control

Objective:

To address these challenges, Budapest has drafted several strategic documents, in which NbS are promoted as a way to improve the environment, sustainability, and quality of life. These documents include:

The Budapest 2030 Long-Term Urban Development Concept. This strategic document aims to protect and increase green areas, so as to ensure ecological connectivity and develop walking and cycling corridors. It also promotes greater investment in brownfield sites, the prevention of urban sprawl, and 'smart' city development.
The Integrated Urban Development Strategy 2020. This strategy prioritises making Budapest a liveable and environmentally-conscious city.
The Budapest Green Infrastructure Strategy (under development). The Green Infrastructure Strategy aims to compile an inventory of green infrastructure, draw conclusions on previous investments, and identify development objectives and areas for action. The strategy will seek to promote biodiversity and connectivity; adapt to climate change; increase the quality of social and health conditions; and improve the economic and tourism potential of the city.
The Budapest Environmental Program 2017-2021 (under development).
The Spatial Management Plan of Budapest.

Actions:

Budapest is implementing several projects to tackle the challenges mentioned above. One of the projects is the creation of so-called 'pocket parks', which have been established in the first district of the city. Apartment buildings in the centre of Budapest typically have internal common gardens...

Lessons learned:

The FP7 projects FASUDIR and ARTS have provided valuable lessons on how to involve city authorities in urban sustainability processes. In the FASUDIR project, city authorities were involved in developing a new software tool for city-level modelling. The ARTS project showed the importance of building alliances through coupling mechanisms that involved different stakeholders. This connected municipal authorities and civil society organisations. The project also brought to light the need for transparency in planning, decision-making, and programme implementation. Overall, ARTS stressed the importance of building trust and capacity, and the integration of local knowledge into decision-making.

Financing:

NbS are typically funded from municipal budgets, national sources and EU funding mechanisms.

Contacts:

András Reith, ABUD and László Pintér and Logan Strenchock, Central European University

Keywords:

DG RTD Review, DG-RTD, Rivers and lakes, Think Nature, Urban, Woodland and forest