Urban hierarchy in the Budapest metropolitan area

Abstract

Budapest is an interesting showcase of changing urban patterns for several reasons. Firstly, Budapest’s geographical characteristics—the hilly Buda side and the flat Pest side—have always influenced spatial patterns. Secondly, after the collapse of the socialist regime in 1989, major changes took place: not simply new firms, but whole new sectors settled in the Hungarian capital. And thirdly, the slow and segmented change in regulation affected the construction of new real estate. In this chapter, the effects of these changes on the retail and the office sector are presented. In the case of retail, the absence of modern retail space offered large opportunities for developers, and the supply of modern retail space has grown continuously over the past two decades. The chapter describes the process of conversion to the widespread construction of hypermarkets. In the case of the office sector, we describe the formation of sub-centres on the Budapest office market and the associated changes in the urban hierarchy.