ERASMUS Intensive Programme
The idea of this project came in the context of the Erasmus Programme on European Cultural Management Policies and Practices for the Creative Use of Cultural Heritage which took place at the University of Pécs, Faculty of HRD and Adult Education, which was the host institution, with the participation of the University of Patras, Fernando Pessoa University of Porto and the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, in April 2013. Within the broader theme of the Erasmus Program, there was a stream focused on the evaluation of the social benefits of cultural heritage projects. Nine students participated in this stream:
Ana Reina, Co-operation and Development, Fernando Pessoa University Porto Anastasia Rousopoulou, Architecture, University of Patras
Diána Jandala, Cultural Mediator, University of Pécs
Emilia Robescu, Cultural Managment, Lucian Blaga University Sibiu Enikő Demény, Cultural Mediator, University of Pécs
Hugo Morango, Interpretive Design and Anthropology, Fernando Pessoa University Porto Marco Novo, Marketing, Fernando Pessoa University Porto
Victor Kiraly, Cultural Management, Lucian Blaga University Sibiu
The team decided to design a project intended to connect all of the generations that have Uránváros as their home, since the end of the 1950ʼs up to the present moment, giving them the opportunity to better share and preserve their history and express their identity.
This project is a theoretic proposal, with the possibility of being developed in partnership with the local community. We consider this an attempt to change the self-perception of the local community in a positive way and to make Uránváros a lively centre, by drawing the local community into a space of creativity and cultural life where their neighbourhood, instead of representing a peripheral, marginal area of the city could become a privileged location. We expect to raise awareness in the importance of one's cultural heritage, as something to be cherished, celebrated and shared with other members of the community. Finally, this process will hopefully culminate in a redrawing of the map of Pécs, especially and most importantly, in the community's perception, provoking a positive change both in outsiders and locals.
A brief historical introduction to Uránváros
Uránváros is a housing estate built during socialism, between the years 1955 – 1974. in the Western part of Pécs, a medium sized city located in the South-West of Hungary. The construction of the new district was triggered by the heavy industry-based economic and urban development ideology of socialism. A Russian-Hungarian expedition discovered uranium just about 10-15 km from Pécs, in the Western part of the Mecsek Hills in 1953.The whole process of exploration and the setting up of the uranium industry was kept secret for a long time from the Hungarian public sphere because of the harmful and unverifiable ecological consequences of the uranium. This political secrecy is reflected in the various names given to the housing estate: first it was called the West District (Nyugati Városrész), after that the New Mecsek Bottom (Újmecsekalja).
By Enikő Demény
The name it bears today, Uranium City (Uránváros) was for a long time banned. The mining industry was set up as a common Russian-Hungarian enterprise in the surrounding rural areas shortly after the discovery of uranium. Great number of workers accompanied by their families soon arrived in the Pécs area from extensive regions of Hungary. The Ministry of Heavy Industry ordered the building of the housing estate in the fall of 1955 to meet the housing needs of the new working population migrating to the city. The new district was built in the Western part of the city at approximately 3-5 km of the city centre on a green field which until then had functioned as an airfield. The estimated number of apartments was 5000 on 100 hectares of land, but 7350 apartments had been built by the end of 1974. The investment capital for the new housing estate was mainly funded by the Uranium Mine of Mecsek (Mecseki Ércbányász) Corporation.
Panoramic view of Uránváros
Iván Szelényi and György Konrád, the pioneers of Hungarian urban sociology, conducted research in 1968 which inquired into the social stratification of the population which had moved in to the newly built housing estates from across the country. In their comparative research (investigating four housing estates from four Hungarian cities, namely Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged and Pécs) they concluded that the socialist housing policy regarding the newly built districts favoured the middle class elite, mostly young couples and families. Generally, most of the people getting an apartment worked in the tertiary sector (professionals, technicians, administrative staff). This was not the case with Uránváros. Due to the mining industry, many workers were recruited from the close-by villages. Subsequently the number of blue-collar workers was higher in Uránváros (47,1% of the total population) compared to the other three housing estates (27-31%).
There are some other special features that distinguish Uránváros from other housing estates built during socialism. The housing estate didn't merge physically with the industrial site due to the available free territory between the historical city centre and the mining area, but mostly due to the dangers posed by the uranium.
Furthermore, the planning concept of Ödön Dénesi (the main architect and planner) was to build a self-sufficient district, which through its modernist architecture, complex service-providing institutions and aesthetic appearance would support a modern lifestyle. Dénesi concludes in an article published in the Hungarian Architecture Magazine (Magyar Építőművészet) in the year 1965 that after eight years the new district of Pécs is not a rigid and dull suburb of the city but a homelike, modern place with booming life and atmosphere. The recognition of the quality planning and architecture of Uranium City was applauded by many contemporaries of Dénesi as well as by many architects of today.
Many recognise its value in the idea of an unified construction plan which aimed to develop a housing environment on a human scale. Dénesi summed up some of the main ideas that influenced the work of the architects’ team in the following ways: housing units developed as smaller building blocks; diverse and mixed combinations of the otherwise limited apartment and building types; the use of numerous building materials, keeping free views towards the Mecsek Hills and the city centre for their aesthetic value; the preservation of the
traditional concept of the city centre; the provision of a whole range of cultural, social, commercial and sport facilities. The smaller housing units would interlock with rich green spaces.
The level of green space in Uránváros is still the highest per inhabitant at city level at the present. Furthermore each block of housing has its own educational unit consisting of nurseries, kindergartens, primary and high schools. Dénesi also planned a rich network of cultural and commercial institutions and sites for outdoor activities in order to strength the modern urban character and lifestyle of the housing estate. The planned institutions gradually opened after the building of the first blocks. The Olympia, functioning as restaurant, café, pub and patisserie opened in 1960 and served as the main cultural and social public space of the district. The Mecsek Shopping Centre was inaugurated in 1969 and for a long period of time was the biggest and best-equipped mall in the whole city. The Endre Ságvári Community and Cultural Centre opened in 1978. The Healthcare Centre opened its doors in 1970. Unfortunately not all the plans were accomplished, but Uránváros still bears a great number of features that make it a unique and exciting landscape of the city.
The old Olympia Restaurant and Café (Source: http://egykor.hu/pecs/345) Present-day Uránváros
Today Uránváros is the second biggest housing estate in Pécs. According to the 2001 census it is inhabited by approximately 14,000 people. The main characteristics of its population are the following: the majority elderly (the generation which moved in first during the 50 – 70's); a low rate of young people and children (the elderly people represent 23,3% of the population); low numbers of active earners (because of the high levels of pensioned ex-miners). The proximity to the university campus across Route 6 (from the 90's on) has lead to an increase on the number of students renting apartments in the district. A recent study assumed that they make up to one third of the inhabitants. There is also a tendency for low-income young couples (with small or no children) to rent or buy apartments here. The last two social groups can be seen as a transit-population. They use the housing estate as a temporary place during their studies or for period of imnproving their finances. The main issue raised by the temporariness of their residence status is the lack of local identity and an active participation in the public issues related to social, cultural and economic aspects of the housing estate.
The biggest change in the physical environment of the housing estate was brought by the Pécs 2010 European Capitals of Culture (ECC) year. The central square and the nearby playground of Uránváros were rejuvenated as
a part of this major project. Several public art projects bringing into the foreground the questions of the identity and cultural heritage of the housing estate also took place in the framework of ECC.
Uránváros, a once vibrant and modern neighbourhood of the city (during the 60 – 70ʼs) is confronted with several social and cultural problems today. Its ageing population, the weak social and community ties among its inhabitants, the lack of interaction between the newly moved-in young people and the older generations are some of the social problems that confront the district today. Uránváros needs to redefine itself in economical, infrastructural, social and cultural terms.
Pécs 2010 ECC originated some major transformations in the physical outlook of the district. The main square of the neighbourhood has been rehabilitated for the first time in the past twenty years, ie. since the change of the regime in 1990. The underlying purpose of this physical renewal was that the central square could become a place for social encounters for the inhabitants. A public art sculpture called 37 square meters – the winner of the Victor Vasarely International Public Art Contest promoted by the ECC – reflecting on the sociocultural aspects of the housing estate, was inaugurated in 2011. Its intention is to offer a common symbol with which the citizens could identify. Despite the positive aspects of these interventions, the changes that have taken place don't necessarily reflect needs and expectations of the community. This is mainly due to the lack of involvement and participation of the locals in the decision making process. However, there was a post-ECC project held in the Spring of 2012 that tried to build up a dialogue with the local community. The program was structured around thematic lectures and workshops debating the impacts that the cultural capital projects had on the neighbourhood. It also took up the present situation and future prospects of Uránváros in terms of its economical, infrastructural, social and cultural renewal. The program was successful in gathering and exchanging knowledge of different fields of expertise (city developers, architects, sociologists, geographers, representatives of local cultural institutions), but failed in engaging the local people. The organisers and invited participants to the program experienced passivity and discontent on the side of the local people, the very ones who should have been the most concerned with these issues.
The newly rehabilitated center of Uránváros/Public art works done during the ECC year.1
1 Source: http://www.pecskep.hu/logic/pages/showdoc.php?id=1040