Losonci public realm revitalisation – ecological change will bring social change too

The Losonci public realm revitalisation took place in the VIII. district of Budapest, completed in 2023, following a long design process with public consultations.

In a socialist housing block deprived of green spaces, however with great potential and residential wish for development, the client Rev8 (a company of the district municipality) appointed Wildscape Projects with an undefinite project brief to create something out of the asphalt jungle on 3 agreed sites. Understanding the very diverse background of residents that live here, and the conflicts that arose from the way they used the public realm, we imagined that leading the way with a quality change in the landscape could bring communities closer to resolving these issues. We did not only want to give them a higher quality, functional environment to live in, but also bring a better understanding and appreciation of both their living space and each other. We concluded that finding a way to engage locals with the landscape could be the starting point of this process.

By living outdoor life on paved surfaces, with access to only low diversity and disfunctional green spaces people stop using the public realm for its purpose: connecting with each other and with nature. However, we all have a deep, innate desire to reach back to the natural world – we experience this when seeing a flowering meadow, berry on hawthorn or a bench under a mature tree where we can reunite and rest. It is also clear that this is regardless of one’s social background. Therefore, we wanted to bring changes to the life of people, bring them out to the streets, create not only functional but amiable spaces for them, bring nature into their everydays. And it was our hope that ecological changes will bring social changes too.

The project had 3 pillars from the beginning: the ecological, the social and the economical aspects. With an undefined brief and project budget, we explored options and highlighted that extending the original scope could lead to better outcomes. The original intervention areas within the building block were: the Forum, the Back garden, the Grund. This got extended by a connecting Long Walk and results in a more legible, connected public realm in the length of the block.

The fundamentals of bringing ecological change is to allow natural processes to happen. This was our baseline design principle, and achieved by innovative technologies – as the Stockholm tree pit system, raingardens to utilise and slow rainwater or permeable surfaces. But also we put planting design and biodiversity at the forefront of the design to create base for a successional, resilient landscape. The strong seasonal characters of the design bring people closer to their local landscape as well as the universal elements of nature – people can now touch, smell and submerge in the ever-changing faces of the landscape. We had very diverse microclimatic conditions and therefore each site has its own character – the Forum a more urban planting with a grid of trees, the Back garden a woodland garden and the Grund a steppe garden. We found the gaps between existing infrastructure and utilities to maximise new green space, that also helped to keep the project economically viable. It was key to understand that if we wanted to pursue this idea of bringing socal change through ecological changes, we needed to keep costs the lowest possible.

We knew that creating green spaces as a backdrop will not help us achieving all we aimed for. Therefore, with a system of paths, edges and bridges we created a playable landscape, where people can also relax, work, meet up or walk around.

An undoubtedly flexible client – Rév8 – was also needed for the realisation of such project – we were able to push the brief to create something visionary and we were allowed to unlock the potential of the place by allowing nature to come first and bring life to the public spaces.

The third season of the project this year shows how quality landscape can make changes in people’s life. Comments all say that locals enjoy being outdoors now, but this is also visible when we spend time here. This project also proves that high quality landscape is accessible and affordable. It needs to be, since it is now a vital question that our cities find their way back to nature. From the 3 year monitoring however, it also becomes clear that however powerful ecology is, designed landscapes need a caring eye on them. The intermittent activities organised by the municipality show that more is needed and demanded as well. As the lead designer of the project I also imagine that visionary horticultural care and activities could bring people even closer to their local landscape and the much desired social understanding forward.

Landscape design: Wildscape Projects – Adrienn Nagy, Lilla Torsán (planting design)
Client: Rev8 Zrt

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