Restricted freedom of choice
Abstract
The different development strategies of habitation areas are becoming more important in the midst of suburbanization processes in the Budapest agglomeration. In the following article three different development strategies are discussed based on their goals, ideological backgrounds, tools and effects on regional development. After describing these developmental models attempt will be made to arrange them in the region and evaluate them in the context of regulatory, economic, political and social effects. Further assessment follows in terms of forming a coherent regional development policy. In areas around the world´s major cities, towns that are part of the suburbanization explosion are going through changes that are just as dramatic as those of the city centres. Their strategies have a strong influence on the forms of suburbanization, on the spatial structure of the changes, and on the success of central (regional, city centre) experiments in controlling globalization processes. In the years since the political transition that began in 1989, the towns of the greater Budapest agglomeration have come up against frequent and often fundamental changes in the legal, regulatory, and economic environments. At the same time, they needed to - and still do need to - weigh the options and risks that accompany accelerated suburbanization, and balance between them. These options and risks regularly exceed the towns´ normal capacities to deal with them. Because of the liberal municipal government system, the success of a chosen strategy certainly cannot be judged by whether it furthers the interests of the capital or of a region, but rather by the continuance of the town´s viability, the satisfaction of the local residents with the uncontrolled or regulated processes, and the political impact of all the above on the local government election results.