Application of Integrated Development Approach in the Hungarian Urban Policy Process: The Road from Governance to Government

Abstract

The chapter investigates and discusses the impact of the political and administrative recentralisation process that has been going on in Hungary since 2011 on local government and urban governance, which has reduced the autonomy of both local and subnational self-governments. This chapter was written to confront the Hungarian urban policy with the challenges related to the new urban paradigm and the special principles of sustainable urban development defined in the New Urban Agenda, which was approved by the United Nations. The critical analysis identifies the tools of the state designed to penetrate more and more into the autonomy of local authorities and the impacts of these. Ist shines a light on the difficulties of the implementation of local governance by using the example of a post-socialist country. The chapter focuses on the role of large- and medium-sized Hungarian cities in the design and implementation of urban policy, based on the findings of an in-depth qualitative research made with city leaders. Throughout this, the analytical framework of the research is provided by multi-level governance and horizontal and vertical branches of cooperation and coordination. The findings point out that the operation of the Hungarian local governmental system has become fragmented in regard to urban and economic development. There are hardly any institutionalised arenas for horizontal cooperation, and unfortunately this is true for the cooperation among the governmental tiers. According to the conclusions drawn from the research, there is a tension between both the characteristics of the unitary nation state’s institutional structure and its urban policy and the elements of the New Urban Agenda. In the unitary state, the chances for the implementation of multi-level governance can be limited.