The park at II. János Pál pápa tér is one of the most exciting, free and diverse green spaces in Józsefváros. Many people use it for many different purposes – for sport, recreation, play, walking the dog or even for fun. The Municipality of Józsefváros would like to gradually renew the park in cooperation with its owner, the Municipality of Budapest. Our aim is to assess the needs of the different user groups – children and adults, the elderly and the young, the poor and the better off, dog owners and people who don’t have dogs – as best we can, and then create a park where everyone feels at home and where people in Józsefváros can do the activities they like, respecting each other and the space, and protecting the green spaces.
The full-scale renovation of the park would require a large financial investment, which none of the local authorities can afford at the moment, so we are planning small-scale interventions to help people live together and share the space. 1) In the 2022 participatory budgeting, the residents of Józsefváros voted 10 million HUF for the dog-friendly development of the park 2) The Józsefváros Municipality plans to allocate an additional 30 million HUF for the development of the park, 3) the Municipality of Budapest also dedicates 30 million HUF for the renewal of the park. This makes a total of HUF 70 million available.
The renovation will be preceded by a public consultation to assess the experiences and needs of the current users of the space. The public consultation consists of several elements.
A needs assessment survey with adults and children
Two questionnaires have been created to find out the habits, opinions and needs of users of the II. János Pál pápa tér park. One questionnaire is aimed at adults and the other is specifically for children, as the square is used by many children.
The questionnaire can be completed online and in person between 5 May and 5 June 2023.
The questionnaire for adults in English can be found here >>>
The questionnaire for adults in Hungarian can be found here >>>
The questionnaire for children in Hungarian can be found here >>>
Community events and forums
The Office of Community Participation will be organising community events and a public forum to complement the needs assessment questionnaire. The aim of the latter is to identify and discuss controversial issues relating to using the park with dogs. The exact dates of the community events and forums will be announced on jozsefvaros.hu and on the Józsefvárosi Önkormányzat Facebook page.
Municipal-citizen working group
The comments received during the public consultation will be processed by the Office of Community Participation and will be published on the Józsefváros Municipality website. The aggregated development needs will be prioritised and assessed by a working group of district residents and officials from the Józsefváros and Budapest municipalities. On the basis of the proposal, the Municipality of Józsefváros and the Municipality of Budapest will conclude an agreement on the renovation of the park and the financial framework. It is planned that the improvements will be completed in the autumn of 2023 by the Józsefváros and Budapest Municipalities.
Join the working group developing the plans for the square!
Based on the results of the consultation on II. János Pál pápa tér, a working group of district and metropolitan authorities and residents will propose improvements and rules for the use of the square. If you would like to become a volunteer member of this working group, please apply here (in Hungarian) >>>
For more information:
Office of Community Participation (Közösségi Részvételi Iroda)
+36 1/459-2139
reszvetel@jozsefvaros.hu