Relationships between politics, cities and architecture based on the examples of two Hungarian New Towns

During the state socialist era, a small number of New Towns were also built in Hungary. Few of these were true 'green-field' projects, as most of them were developed into larger towns from one or more smaller settlements. Nevertheless, we can still call them New Towns, since they were turned into cities of national importance in a short time through a conceptual construction process. They provide many lessons to be learned. The heyday of their construction lasted a few years beginning from the early 50s, the period when Hungary underwent significant changes in political and social values which noticeably left their mark on our built environment. According to the contemporary press, the building of these towns was also a kind of experiment. Today this is well-known. Also, it is clear that these towns should be much more flexible in order to adapt to the many changes of the past 65 years. The following paper analyses the first two Hungarian socialist New Towns to be constructed. It describes the political context, the political and economic reasons behind the construction of industrial New Towns, and their impact on the planning process, structure and architecture of these settlements. Regarding the questions of how a municipality can deal with this kind of historic heritage today and whether it can replace its lost identity with new elements in a very different social political situation, it highlights the role of reinterpretations of central public areas in (mental and physical) urban renewal.