348
green belt with villas. The area is centred around a brownfi eld regeneration project,
which used to be the site of an earlier turbine factory but which in the early 2000s
gave way, with a complete change of its functions, to a recreational and cultural
centre, retaining and utilising some of the earlier industrial structures and incorporating them into a public park. Another characteristic example of green space in the
area is a park called Mechwart liget, which was renewed during the last few years,
keeping intact its proportion of green space. The area also comprises several streets,
such as Retek utca and Kis Rókus utca, which, along with Keleti Károly utca, provide typical examples of city canyons, with practically no trees.
Thus climate-conscious replanning of the area will offer, on the one hand, an
opportunity for computer modelling that can project climatic conditions for a relatively diverse set of spaces, and, on the other hand, a potential starting point for the
examination and analysis of many other modelling regions.
In addition, both the method of analysing data from the modelling regions and
the content of the action plan can help to provide a framework for elected representatives in the local government of the targeted Budapest district to conduct informed
discussions on the subject. The material may also provide ideas for the climateconscious construction of projects for the new EU planning period.
13.4 Methodology – The Tools
The methods applied within the UHI Project are not new to public space planning:
it is well known both in and outside professional circles that vegetation, for example, cools the environment through evapotranspiration; and these methods represent
the primary tools employed in the redevelopment of outdoor public spaces in general. The novelty of the project – which is hopefully of revolutionary signifi cance –
lies in its ability to predict and calculate reliably the climatic effects of the tools
employed, as well as the possibility to distribute these tools widely. Unfortunately,
in Hungary – as in several other European countries – with the increase of solid
paved surfaces, the currently fashionable trends in planning open public spaces
often not only fail to improve but actually contribute to the deterioration of climatic
conditions in the redeveloped areas, yet this effect is diffi cult to estimate in practice
without reliable quantifi able methods. The methods tested within the UHI Project,
designed to be made readily available for wide circulation, are expected to help
specialists in organisations responsible for the regeneration of public spaces in
accepting only commissioned plans that improve, rather than deteriorate, climatic
conditions; otherwise visitors using public spaces will have a less comforTab. experience in the summer, and even though there might be temporary stop-gap measures
taken, such as the installation of mist cooling gates, the new public spaces will be
used less often than the old ones were.
Within the pilot area, the planners of the Budapest modelling regions used the
following tools provided by the climate specialists of UHI:
– Single Row of Street Trees
– Double Row of Street Trees
G. Baranka et al.
green belt with villas. The area is centred around a brownfi eld regeneration project,
which used to be the site of an earlier turbine factory but which in the early 2000s
gave way, with a complete change of its functions, to a recreational and cultural
centre, retaining and utilising some of the earlier industrial structures and incorporating them into a public park. Another characteristic example of green space in the
area is a park called Mechwart liget, which was renewed during the last few years,
keeping intact its proportion of green space. The area also comprises several streets,
such as Retek utca and Kis Rókus utca, which, along with Keleti Károly utca, provide typical examples of city canyons, with practically no trees.
Thus climate-conscious replanning of the area will offer, on the one hand, an
opportunity for computer modelling that can project climatic conditions for a relatively diverse set of spaces, and, on the other hand, a potential starting point for the
examination and analysis of many other modelling regions.
In addition, both the method of analysing data from the modelling regions and
the content of the action plan can help to provide a framework for elected representatives in the local government of the targeted Budapest district to conduct informed
discussions on the subject. The material may also provide ideas for the climateconscious construction of projects for the new EU planning period.
13.4 Methodology – The Tools
The methods applied within the UHI Project are not new to public space planning:
it is well known both in and outside professional circles that vegetation, for example, cools the environment through evapotranspiration; and these methods represent
the primary tools employed in the redevelopment of outdoor public spaces in general. The novelty of the project – which is hopefully of revolutionary signifi cance –
lies in its ability to predict and calculate reliably the climatic effects of the tools
employed, as well as the possibility to distribute these tools widely. Unfortunately,
in Hungary – as in several other European countries – with the increase of solid
paved surfaces, the currently fashionable trends in planning open public spaces
often not only fail to improve but actually contribute to the deterioration of climatic
conditions in the redeveloped areas, yet this effect is diffi cult to estimate in practice
without reliable quantifi able methods. The methods tested within the UHI Project,
designed to be made readily available for wide circulation, are expected to help
specialists in organisations responsible for the regeneration of public spaces in
accepting only commissioned plans that improve, rather than deteriorate, climatic
conditions; otherwise visitors using public spaces will have a less comforTab. experience in the summer, and even though there might be temporary stop-gap measures
taken, such as the installation of mist cooling gates, the new public spaces will be
used less often than the old ones were.
Within the pilot area, the planners of the Budapest modelling regions used the
following tools provided by the climate specialists of UHI:
– Single Row of Street Trees
– Double Row of Street Trees
G. Baranka et al.