The Role of Built Cultural Heritage in Urban Development Strategies. Case Studies from Budapest

The competition among cities is becoming more intense, widespread and comprehensive nowadays. To be successful in this competition, cities have to consider the needs of residents, visitors, investors and other actors at the same time. Urban areas are able to satisfy all the various needs only if they can simultaneously strengthen the residents' local identity, the feeling of home, and also offer a pleasant milieu for visitors and economic actors. In this process, the role of local cultural heritage is increasing. The aim of this study is to find out whether cultural heritage is given these kinds of roles in three culturally rich areas of Budapest. To answer this question, we analysed the Integrated Development Strategies (IDS) relevant for the three research areas. With the help of content analysis it became evident that in these areas the built cultural heritage is indeed acknowledged to have an outstanding role. Subsequently, the IDSs show that built cultural heritage is considered to be a development key-factor in all of the cases, but the specific roles they are assigned differ a great deal according to the characteristics and functions of the areas.