Where have all the planners gone? The Law of the Wolf in an Era of Ignorance

In the post-socialist countries the sustainability of urban property developments has experienced various destinies amidst a changing housing and planning context. Since the regime changes of 1990 the tendency of the land use and real estate economic system in Hungary has been an extreme variant of neoliberal, opportunistic and large-scale developments and project planning, where typically the plan follows the physical changes with a lag. As a result of project planning, urban regeneration in metropolitan Budapest is almost exclusively based on private investment. A great deal of such projects are already implemented, but many are in a marketing stage, where the difficulty is to attract and convince investors in the midst of falling demand and existing excess new dwelling and office space supply. With the possible exception of mega-projects where government has an interest in securing the provision of infrastructure, the government only gives permission to develop/build. In this paper, first the general imperative for government intervention in the property development is outlined. After that a description of urban regeneration and other property development in the Budapest region is provided. The paper concludes with an evaluation in relation to sustainability and a critical comment on the state of affairs in this context.