The ARTENTO ECOCENTRE was established to bring people closer to nature and to showcase the diversity of the natural world through engaging, hands-on experiences. With the support of the Municipality of Józsefváros, the community space opened in 2023 on Baross Street and welcomes children, families and adults interested in nature.

At the Ecocentre’s permanent natural history exhibition, visitors can discover the rich diversity of the living world, from fossils and minerals to insects, birds and mammals. In addition to the permanent exhibition, temporary exhibitions are regularly organised, offering new perspectives on nature and ecological awareness.

Interactive activities also play a key role, allowing children and families to explore how nature works in a playful and engaging way while developing environmental awareness. The Ecocentre aims to provide an inspiring meeting place for all age groups, fostering a love of nature, curiosity and shared community experiences.

Since its establishment, the ARTENTO ECOCENTRE has become an active part of the community and cultural life of Józsefváros. Through its regular exhibitions, educational programmes and family events, it helps local residents connect more closely with both nature and one another.

The Auróra Climate Garden is more than just a small forest in the heart of Budapest’s 8th district. It is a nature-based model that makes the city greener using only locally generated waste and the work of volunteers. In just five years, we transformed a gravel parking lot into a green space that functions like a young, natural forest.

In 2024, the tree canopy closed, and since then we have used only rainwater for irrigation, making the forest completely self-sustaining. Since 2019, the garden has also served as a community composting point.

By promoting nature-based solutions, we encourage people to recognise the importance of small-scale, local interventions in creating climate-friendly cities. At the Climate Garden, we organise themed walks and workshops for children and adults, where participants can gain practical knowledge and skills to care for their own surroundings.

The Climate Garden is an open space where we can learn from one another and from nature.

Béres Sándor has lived in the small MÁV housing estate in Józsefváros for more than thirty years, where he has become a key figure and organiser in community life and a dedicated advocate for the neighbourhood. As a lifelong resident of Józsefváros, he has always considered it important to take an active role in improving his neighbourhood and supporting the local community.

For years, he worked to enable families living in municipally owned rental housing on the small MÁV estate to purchase their homes. Through his involvement in negotiations with the municipality, many families were given the opportunity to build a safer and more secure future. He was the driving force behind and one of the founders of Józsefvárosi MÁV-telepért Egyesület, and has played an active role in running the organisation ever since its establishment. He contributes to organising community programmes, preparing grant applications, and carrying out the association’s administrative and financial tasks. The organisation’s distinctive logo was also created based on his design.

He can be relied upon both in organising and running community events and in the less visible work behind the scenes. Whether it involves preparing an event, providing hospitality for more than a hundred participants, or lending a hand with practical tasks, he is always happy to contribute. He firmly believes that shared programmes, conversations and time spent together strengthen the local community.

Through his quiet, persistent and selfless community-building work, Béres Sándor has played a defining role in the life of the small MÁV estate for decades. His helpfulness, dedication and exemplary commitment to his community have created a lasting legacy in Józsefváros.

As the head of the Repair Café at Teleki Square in Józsefváros, Gégény Noémi works to make sustainability, community cooperation and knowledge-sharing part of everyday life. Thanks to her work, the repair workshop has become an open community space where people not only give broken objects a new lease of life, but also learn from one another, build connections and receive support.

At the Repair Café, local residents can repair broken everyday items, clothes and small household appliances with the help of skilled professionals. Repairing things together not only helps reduce waste but also provides participants with practical skills, encouraging more conscious and sustainable everyday habits.

Under Noémi’s leadership, the Repair Café has become an important community space in the district. University students come here for internships, school groups learn about sustainability, and the workshop regularly hosts workshops, educational programmes and community events. Alongside environmental sustainability, social solidarity also plays a central role in the workshop’s activities.

The Repair Café’s openness and inclusive approach extend far beyond the boundaries of the district. Volunteers, donors and visitors from different parts of the country take part in the life of the community, while the workshop demonstrates every day that repair is not only about objects, but also about human connections and taking responsibility for one another.

Through her dedicated work, Gégény Noémi has built a community space in Józsefváros that promotes sustainability, social solidarity and community building. Her work contributes to making the district a more open, cohesive and environmentally conscious community.

Gólya is one of Józsefváros’s best-known cultural venues and community spaces, but it is much more than that. The cooperative that operates it was founded in 2012 as a community enterprise. Its members organise their work around collectively agreed goals and a shared mission.

The cooperative’s best-known activity remains hospitality through Gólya Presszó, an iconic venue in Budapest’s 8th district, but Gólya Szövetség also works in several other areas to serve the public good. Its spaces are open and provide a base for partner organisations, allies and local residents.

In 2019, Gólya moved to its current location on Orczy Road. Several other organisations also found a home there, and together they established a larger community institution called Kazán Közösségi Ház. In 2020, Gólya launched two new services: Gólya Építők and Gólya Futárszolgálat.

Gólya Szövetség operates through a unique model: it establishes member cooperatives, connects them through a solidarity-based distribution system, and manages the resources they generate. To strengthen the solidarity economy, it builds partnerships and works towards creating a self-sustaining economic system while promoting cooperative principles.

Józsefvárosi Bérlői Érdekvédelmi Közösség is an advocacy organisation representing tenants living in buildings and apartments owned by the Municipality of Józsefváros. The group has been organising for several years, and its members live in many different municipal buildings across the district.

Their ongoing advocacy and community organising have played an important role in prompting the municipality to begin developing JGK, its property management company, and making its services more tenant-friendly. They also play a key role in amplifying the voices and representing the interests of residents living on Diószegi Street and in the surrounding area whose homes are affected by state expropriation.

The group has organised several public forums with decision-makers and politicians, as well as numerous community events. They also organised the most recent demonstration in defence of residents whose homes are affected by the expropriation process.

Through their persistent work, they contribute to strengthening the community of tenants in Józsefváros, helping residents become more informed, united and effective in representing their interests.

Láthatatlan Tanoda has been working for more than ten years to provide disadvantaged children living in Józsefváros with a safe space and a supportive community, as well as access to high-quality education and the opportunity to succeed at school. To achieve this, they provide regular programmes aimed at developing children’s skills and abilities.

With the involvement of volunteers, children receive weekly mentoring. Alongside individual support, Láthatatlan Tanoda also organises group sessions and community programmes, all of which contribute to the children’s personal and academic development.

For secondary school students, they offer entrance exam preparation and career guidance sessions, helping young people make more informed decisions about their further education and future paths.

Láthatatlan Tanoda has been active in Józsefváros since 2013 and has worked continuously with around 37 families and 75 children. Through its dedicated work, Láthatatlan Tanoda helps ensure that more children in Józsefváros have the opportunity to build a fuller and more successful future.

At Menedék – Migránsokat Segítő Egyesület, we have been working for more than 30 years to help people arriving in Hungary from abroad find a home here. Through integration programmes, language courses and community activities, we support them in learning about Hungarian culture and customs, finding employment and housing, and navigating administrative procedures.

We also provide training for teachers and professionals working in social services, healthcare and law enforcement. Through our educational and cultural programmes, we aim to raise social awareness about migration and promote openness and inclusion.

Józsefváros holds a particularly important place in our work. Our office was based in the district for many years, and we continue to organise summer camps for children from migrant backgrounds, our children’s club, Christmas celebrations and our traditional May festival here.

As part of the Nyitva! Festival, we also operated a donation point on Nagy Fuvaros Street, where we had the opportunity to meet local residents and strengthen connections within the local community.

MIRA Interkulturális Közösség was created to help refugees and other non-Hungarian-speaking residents living in Budapest find a sense of home in the city. In addition to offering a wide range of cultural and community programmes for Hungarians and people from abroad alike, MIRA also provides practical support to help newcomers navigate everyday life.

Their mentoring programme connects local residents with newcomers, supporting integration while fostering friendships across cultures. Their Hungarian language classes help participants learn the language while also providing a meeting point for people from different backgrounds.

MIRA aims to create opportunities for people from different cultures to meet, move beyond prejudices and learn from one another. Their free, regular community events are open to everyone.

MIRA was established by Artemisszió Alapítvány, which works to build a cooperative and inclusive society in Hungary where cultural diversity is recognised as a value and a resource.

Zöld Palotanegyedért was established as a civic group to protect the heritage of the former Magyar Rádió buildings, which form an important part of the identity of the Palotanegyed neighbourhood, and to advocate for the sustainable development of the area.

Through negotiations, street demonstrations and, at times, acts of civil resistance, the group has worked to ensure a more reasonable scale for the Pázmány Campus development imposed on the neighbourhood by the previous government. They have been at the forefront of public consultation surrounding the development and regularly organise protests. They stand up for the rights of local residents, call for transparency in the development process, and campaigned to preserve Studio 6, unfortunately without success. They also consider the preservation of green spaces to be a key priority throughout the development.

Through their persistent work, they strive to ensure that Palotanegyed remains a liveable, green neighbourhood that preserves its heritage, community and environment for future generations.

The Zöld Palotanegyedért initiative began as an informal community and carries out its activities in close cooperation with Civilek a Palotanegyedért Egyesület.