Urbanity

In the international urban research programme titled URBANITY, architects, politicians, photographers, art historians, sociologists, and artists from seven major European capitals - Prague, Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Warsaw, Vienna - reflected on the radical changes in the urban landscape of the past twenty years.

At the invitation of the initiator, CCEA (Central European Architectural Centre), Hungary's KÉK participated in the project, during which the largely similar social changes of Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw were compared with Vienna, Berlin, Ljubljana, and other Central European cities with different backgrounds and strategies. Each location was researched and documented based on the political changes that occurred within them, exploring the new face, identity, and role of Central European cities in the 'new' Europe.

The core of the programme consisted of a comprehensive urban research and vision-seeking workshop, conducted in collaboration with final-year architecture students from the participating capitals' universities.

Organised by URBANITY in Budapest's Millenáris Park, a large-scale public photo exhibition introduced the wider public to city interpretations by seven renowned photographers, inspired by the sociological studies of the seven capitals. Hungary was represented by Kudász Gábor Arion.

The Contemporary Architecture Centre participated in the URBANITY project through joint research, collaborative thinking, mobilising local - Budapest-based - urban architectural and other related sectoral relationships, and professional coordination.