Challenges of the Spatial Planning in Hungary in the 1990s: from Regional Strategies to Programming and Impact Analysis

Abstract

During the socio-economic transformation of Hungary, planning including spatial planning has become a symbol of the former planning economy. At the start of the Transition, the institutional system of planning was abolished both at national and county levet.

Hungary has become a joint member of the European Union (EU) since 1991. Based on Phare aid program, Hungary has started the preparation for accession. A special program was set up to promote the EU conform transformation of the Hungarian regional policy. Professionals recognised that the EU regional policy utilises planning significantly, especially the methodology of strategic planning. As in whole Europe, the 1990s became the decade of the renaissance ofplanning in Hungary.

During this decade we have started from the preparation of long tern visions and strategies and has reached the phase of operative programmes. This process has run along the different spatial levels of the Hungarian regional policy defined in the Act XXI on Regional Development and Physical Planning: national, regional, county, small region.

Among the increasing number of actors in regional and spatial planning Centre for Regional Studies (RKK) including West Hungarian Research Institute (NYUTI) has played a leading role adopting and developing new methods in planning. This paper provides a special view of this process through the glasses of NYUTI based on the planning projects has been implemented by NYUTI during this period.

The paper is dealing with county, regional, national and transnational plans. The core of the study is that what was/are the new challenges of spatial planning for Hungary according to EU accession. What role has NYUTI played in dissemination of the innovative methods in spatial planning in Hungary?

The paper discusses this process in four chapters. The first chapter describes the changing needs for regional studies at the end of the 1980s. The basis of the second chapter is the requirements of the renewal of Hungarian spatial planing according to EU accession and Maastricht principles, and the need for foundation of strategic planning. The third chapter deals with planning in consorcium and the transnationalisation of planning. The forth chapter discusses programming as a new challenges of the pre-accession period.

Evaluating this process, we can conclude that the described actions did not look beyond planning until now. A planning cycle will close and a new will start soon. We miss the monitoring and the impact analysis of plans. What impacts are the planned strategies and programs on the national, Central European and European regional development? What synergies can be find among plans prepared in different spatial levels? Monitoring and impact analysis will be the most important challenge for Hungarian planners in near future. We believe that NYUTI will play a pioneer role to work out and test the new methods as it did in the last ten years.