On the instructions of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Government of Hungary would build a new campus for Pázmány Péter Catholic University on the former site of the Hungarian Radio. This project is designated as a priority project under Hungarian law and is planned to be completed by September 2027.
The project which aims to expand and develop the educational facilities of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, is of great significance and scale, affecting the entire neighbourhood. This will not only determine the architectural environment of the Palotanegyed (i.e., the inner areas) of Józsefváros, but also local society and the everyday experience and quality of life of the people living there. The new campus could only fit into Palotanegyed if it is designed in a meaningful dialogue with its neighbours, the thousands of Palotanegyed residents, and if it is built in the spirit of consensus.
For this reason, the Municipality of Józsefváros carried out a public consultation to find out the views of the residents of the area on the project.
The form for submitting an opinion can be found here.
About the public consultation
The consultation ran from 10 April to 10 May 2024.
Residents could fill in the questionnaire online and in person.
Two public forums were held during the consultation. These can be viewed on the municipality’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jozsefvaros.hu/videos
Staff and volunteers of the Office of Community Participation also personally visited residents of directly affected houses and placed leaflets and posters in houses throughout the Palotanegyed.
A brief summary of the results of the consultation based on the responses received is given below, with a more detailed breakdown of the responses from the residents of Palotanegyed, but you can read a detailed summary of the consultation in the document at the end of this website news. (Only available in Hungarian)
Short summary of the results
A total of 1191 people completed the public questionnaire on the plans for the Pázmány campus, of which 1134 completed it online, 41 on paper and 16 in English. In addition, 20 organisations completed the questionnaire addressed to organisations.
More than half of the respondents do not live in Józsefváros. The percentage of respondents who live in the Palotanegyed is 29.58 percent (of which 13.53 percent live in directly affected houses). The percentage of respondents who live in Józsefváros but not in directly affected houses is 13.61 percent. In total, 43.19 per cent (514 people) of the respondents live in Józsefváros.In terms of age, the most active age groups were the 12-24 age group and the 45-54 age group, but apart from the 75+ age group, the other age groups were almost equally likely to share their views by completing the questionnaire.
I. Opinions on the new campus of Pázmány Péter Catholic University
43.1 percent of all respondents did not support the project, 44.2 percent supported it, and 12.7 percent of respondents only partially supported it.
When looking at support by place of residence, it is clear that respondents living in directly affected houses have significantly higher rates of refusal than those not directly affected, and higher rates of partial support than those not living in the district. Those who do not live in Józsefváros have the highest rate of support for the project.
If we look specifically only at the responses of those who live in Palotanegyed, we see that 52% do not support the project, 22% partially support it and 26% support it.
II. Summary of issues related to the demolition of the buildings concerned
For each of the affected buildings to be demolished, respondents were asked how much and in what form they support their demolition or use.
More than half of the respondents do not support the demolition of the former Hungarian Radio building in any form and would prefer to see it renovated.
Apart from the former Hungarian Radio building, the buildings least supported for demolition are 25/a and 25/b Szentkirályi utca and 27, and the Studio Palace. In most cases, respondents support the use of the buildings instead of demolition.
If we look only at the responses of those living in Palotanegyed, we can see that in their case the support for renovation and use of buildings is even higher.
III. Functions of the new campus buildings
We also wanted to know how respondents felt about the spaces and functions proposed in the plans for the demolition of each building. To what extent they supported their creation and how they felt about the demolition plans for the spaces to be developed to fulfill these functions.
Based on the responses, we can see that the respondents are most opposed to the construction of a sports hall with 200 seats and a grandstand on the basement level -4 of the new educational block. The construction of the sports hall would cause the demolition of the Studio Palace, 25-27 Szentkirályi u., the Central Radio Office Building and the bunker. Apart from that, the fitness room and the dormitory are considered less favoured ideas. For the community space and the library, more than half of the respondents are open to demolition.
The responses of respondents show that there is greater support for functions that do not involve the demolition of a building.
If we look only at the opinion of those who live in Palotanegyed, we see that they are even more opposed to certain functions. In addition to the sports hall, the dormitory and the fitness centre, they are more opposed to the planned underground parking garage.
IV. Change in public spaces
Respondents were also asked about their views on the planned changes of public spaces.
In general, looking at the responses of all respondents, more than half of them are in favour of the renovation of all the public spaces concerned. The highest level of support is for the planned transformation of Pollack Mihály tér. However, the proportion of partial support is very high for all projects (18.6-21.5 percent).
Support for the renewal of Pollack Mihály tér is also high among the residents of Palotanegyed, but we find that there is a higher level of no or partial support for plans to renew public spaces on other streets. When we asked respondents to describe what they would change about their plans for the public space, the most popular requests were for greening and preserving access to parking.
V. Overall, how satisfied are you with the plans for the Pázmány campus?
At the end of the questionnaire on the plans, we also wanted to know how the plans for the campus were assessed overall in the light of the previous findings. Respondents were asked to rate their overall satisfaction with the plans on a scale of 1 to 6.
The responses show that 54 percent of respondents gave a score of 3 or less (36 percent of whom were not at all satisfied), while 27 percent were very satisfied with the plans they saw.
However, looking at the responses of the respondents in Palotanegyed, we see a very different result. In their case, 71% of respondents gave a score of 3 or less (of which 49% were not at all satisfied), while only 15% were very satisfied with the plans they saw.
The full summary of the opinion can be viewed and downloaded here:
Summary of results (only in hungarian)
What will happen next?
On 19 June 2024, the Municipality of Józsefváros presented the summary of the opinion to the representatives of the Ministry of Construction and Transport and Pázmány Péter Catholic University.
The municipality will carry out durability tests on the directly affected houses. This is to determine exactly how much they are at risk from planned and unsubsidized demolitions.
Once the results of the durability tests have been established, the parties will continue negotiations.
Any questions?
Municipality of Józsefváros Office of Community Participation
reszvetel@jozsefvaros.hu
+36 1/459-2139