The twin phenomena of globalization and urbanization—an increasingly integrated planetary economy, and the absorption by metropolitan areas of most all our planet’s population growth over the coming decades— are current subjects of scholarly focus. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to the associated demographic and economic decline of small towns and their hinterlands.
Hillary Brown, Professor at City University of New York and Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture, tried in a recent paper she titled: Resiliency and Regeneration in the Pannonian Region of Hungary: Towards a Circular Economy", to assess options for optimizing long-term sustainable growth within the rapidly changing Pannonian region located in western Hungary and formulates practical solutions to revitalization and resiliency of its rural and small city settlements.
She tackled sectors of water, forestry and agriculture, energy and economic development.
As in the figure, contextual master plan expands upon K˝oszeg’s existing natural and physical assets: the town’s historic fabric (considered the “Jewel Box of Hungary”), the channeled but still romantic Gy¨ongy¨os River, the K˝oszeg forest with its trail system, its natural bogs, and historic monuments and the town’s array of educational facilities and under-occupied building stock, all loosely connected along the Gy¨ongy¨os river’s spine.
Executed across multiple phases, the plan would integrate these resources with upgraded, sustainably oriented infrastructure (green color) to better serve an expanding local and tourist population. It links key features educational features (blue color) with the proposed Eco- Innovation campuses—one planned downstream in future,(orange color)—to stimulate further economic growth across all sectors of the economy.
The Gy¨ongy¨os River constitutes the organizing element of the proposed master plan (see fig). Originating in Austria as the G¨uns River, the Gy¨ongy¨os crosses the border and continues downstream for almost 50 kilometers until it joins the Raba River. The narrow river basin connects several key recreational resources in K˝oszeg, including the Boating Lake and Lake Ab´ert, and accommodates the (discontinuous) biking and walking paths that connect to K˝oszeg’s historic district and regional trail system. The Gy¨ongy¨os is not currently a primary tourist destination in K˝oszeg, but offers great potential as an integrating spine for all its attractions, connecting several disused mills, parks and miscellaneous structures that have redevelopment potential and scenic value.
While many well-used paths and green spaces exist in K˝oszeg, they are fragmented and in need of upgrade. Over time, the connection of existing and new pedestrian and bike pathways along the river and through the town would create better access to existing physical, cultural and natural amenities, linking citizens to the proposed educational programs at the EI Center. Improvements to the bike lanes, current riverside park areas, and pedestrian pathways would promote beneficial access between the new intermodal transit station planned for the southern end of town, the town center, and north to the EI Center campus, also linking to the important regional trail networks that have important tourist value, including the Iron Curtain bike trail that runs along the Austro-Hungarian border, the European Long Distance Walking Route E4 and the Alpannonia trail network.
This interdisciplinary inventory of natural, historic, industrial, and commercial resources identified the critical features of the town’s and bioregion’s asset pool that could be integrated, internalized, and thereby “circularized”— within a boundaried setting. Potential benefits include: a reduced need for imports of more costly energy, materials and services; job creation and training of a next generation workforce around sustainability principles; wealthbuilding by attracting regional and even foreign investment in these future-proofing enterprises; and a network
for business development in state-of-the-art renewable materials and energy technologies. The resultant masterThis interdisciplinary inventory of natural, historic, industrial, and commercial resources identified the criticalfeatures of the town’s and bioregion’s asset pool that could be integrated, internalized, and thereby “circularized”— within a boundaried setting. Potential benefits include: a reduced need for imports of more costly energy, materials and services; job creation and training of a next generation workforce around sustainability principles; wealthbuilding by attracting regional and even foreign investment in these future-proofing enterprises; and a network for business development in state-of-the-art renewable materials and energy technologies.
The resultant master plan supports a resilient and future-thinking K˝oszeg that may entice young people and families to stay. As a demonstration project, the K˝oszeg Center for Eco Innovation intentionally models the possibilities of a circular economy and has the potential to launch a movement towards these practices that extends to the surrounding region and beyond.
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