The Urban Walking Tour as an Experience-based Methodology for Built Environment Education in Budapest

Abstract

Built Environment Education (BEE) plays an important role in urban sustainability as citizens who are more aware of the surrounding architectural heritage have better opportunities to develop a sense of place and place attachment. Themes and stories make the architectural fabric of a city more legible that is why urban walking tours are such a popular format for BEE initiatives. These experience-based educative events are originally constructed for visitors (mainly tourists) of a city to receive in-situ impressions of the built heritage during their visit. But in recent years, the new phenomenon of proximity tourism appeared, inviting locals to participate in walking tours to discover their own neighbourhood, rendering this tourist-focused activity into a BEE tool for adults.
Urban walks have been used in architectural education at the university level for quite some time, and recently organisations focusing on BEE have adapted the format as well, which therefore can reach a wide range of audiences.
This research presents the quantitative and geo-referenced analysis of 449 photos taken during the walking tours by participants and a qualitative content analysis of the photos. The results of a questionnaire completed by 119 students upon the end of their walking tour are presented and analysed to determine the effectiveness of this BEE methodology. Results show that the experience-based format of urban walking tours in the context of BEE can contribute to the forming of sense of place for participants, and therefore should be considered as an educational tool.