Pál Csonka Doctoral School 

BME Építészmérnöki Kar, Department of Urban Planning and Design

Supervisor: Dr. KÁDÁR Bálint

The identity-shaping impact of thematic urban walks: showcasing the built environment as an urban development tool

Introducing the research area

My research focuses on the impact of urban-built heritage on place identity. By knowing the architectural heritage of our own neighborhood, we develop a stronger sense of place, which plays an important role in creating resilient and conscious urban communities that care for and nurture their built environment. Furthermore, tourists visiting our cities looking for authentic experiences seek out places that are popular with locals. The development of a strong sense of place is therefore an important factor in the sustainable development of urban tourism. Local heritage festivals in open houses, educational workshops in high schools, or architectural city walks offer a wide range of activities for city dwellers to get to know Budapest, which, if planned in a conscious way, can become an important tool in urban development.

 

Brief introduction of the research place

The BME Department of Urban Planning and Design, which has a nearly 100-year history, is a teaching and research institute within the Faculty of Architecture, where students and staff have the opportunity to study urban architecture and city planning in an interdisciplinary way through technical, artistic, and human sciences. The department offers both PhD and DLA courses for doctoral students and hosts the popular Urbanist postgraduate program.

 

History and context of the research

International academic literature started to focus on the relationship between place identity and the built environment in the second half of the 20th century [1]. In many cases, well-known architectural works help orient us when creating a mental map of our own city [2], but the architectural character of neighborhoods also plays an important role in the neighborhood units that form the basis of today's 15-minute city concept. The activation of local communities in the life of the city is closely linked to the discovery of local history and cultural values [3].

The last three decades have seen an unprecedented boom in global tourism, with urban tourism as one of the most popular genres [4,5]. The growing demand for authentic experiences has led to an increasing emphasis on local stories and urban legends in shaping the tourism narrative. A relatively new phenomenon is 'proximity tourism' [6], where locals participate in programs and experiences originally designed for international visitors. One of the most obvious examples is the urban walk, which has been growing in popularity in Budapest since 2008 (Figure 1). The urban walk is a complex phenomenon that can be studied not only from the perspectives of tourism, communication, history, and geography, but also from the perspective of urban spatial theory, environmental psychology, and sustainability in the context of architecture. It is also a phenomenon worth exploring from an urban planning perspective. A number of local organizations are active in the field of built environment education, of which the programs of the Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre (KÉK) are a key research focus.

 

Figure 1: Companies organizing local-themed city walks in Budapest, by number of Facebook likes. (Source: author)

 

The research goals, open questions

The research aims, among other things, to situate thematic urban walks on the palette of 20th-century urban studies and spatial theory literature. As a means to this end, the objectives also include the development of a new methodology for measuring changes in urban identity, to enable the study of the attachment of city dwellers to their local built heritage. Finally, the analysis of the spatial system of tourism in Budapest and proposals for its development is also an important element of doctoral research. The practical application of methodologies related to built environment education is ongoing in parallel with the research, within the framework of the programs of the KÉK and the educational framework of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the BME.

The hypotheses of the research are that thematic urban walks have an identity-forming effect, which plays an important role in the development of urban identity and a sense of place among locals. The heterogeneous urban fabric and historical layers of Budapest make the city particularly suitable for thematic urban walks. The research also looks at the potential of promoting the rediscovery of built heritage as a way of expanding the tourism space system, as tourists seek out authentic places in the city that locals already consider part of their own urban identity.

Methods

Thematic urban walks provide several opportunities to collect data for scientific research. Firstly, the walks themselves are at the heart of the research, so their structure, narrative, spatial, and temporal scope are repeatedly investigated.

As part of the classic research methodology, walks can be used to measure the social background and changes in place identity of participants through sociological and environmental psychology questionnaires.

As a second tool, it is possible to measure attitudes toward the built environment through the quantitative and qualitative analysis of geo-tagged photographs taken by visitors during a walk [7]. The spatial and quantitative distribution of photographs taken during a walk can shed light on the intensity of the architectural experience. Moreover, by examining the content of the photographs, it is possible to gain deeper insights into the elements, architectural details, and urban situations that aroused the interest of the participants.

Photographs shared publicly on social media can also be seen as an important database, whose data can be analyzed to understand the experiences of tourists and locals in space and time, revealing new trends and tendencies. Data from public photos uploaded to Instagram can be downloaded en masse using computer algorithms. As a result of this "scraping" process, photos can be analyzed, among other things, by hashtags, which allows for a comparative analysis of specific buildings, neighborhoods, and motifs.

A new method that has not yet been used in a similar context in this country is to track emotions during walks [8]. The mood of walk participants is measured by bracelets with PPG sensors, which, when correlated with location data, provide spatial insights into the emotions they experience during the walk.

In addition to analyzing the national and international literature, I will complement this picture of the urban walking world by conducting interviews. Conversations with organizers, walk leaders, walk participants and locals will largely help to shape the practical representation of thematic walks.

In connection with the doctoral research, as one of the curators of KÉK, it is possible to launch pilot walks and apply the methodologies described above in the context of KÉK's Urban Walks and Budapest100 programs. And, of course, within the framework of the subjects taught by the BME Department of Urban Planning and Design, the university also provides a space for the organization of numerous urban walks and the conduct of research.

 

Results

The research started before my doctoral studies, as a project leader of the KÉK Urban Walks, I tried out the practical possibilities of organizing and leading walks. During the first three years of my doctoral studies, I published several international publications.

 

First of all, research was carried out on the analysis of scientific literature and the local conditions in Budapest. The data collected during the COVID-19 outbreak revealed exciting and internationally novel insights into the sustainability of proximity tourism based on the experiences of walking tour companies in Budapest. The results were presented at an international academic forum and the introductory research was summarized in an article published in the International Journal on Tour Guiding Research.

 

Figure 2: Number of guided walks 2018-2020. Source: Hosszúlépés. (Edited by the author)

 

I introduced the quantitative and qualitative analysis of geo-localized photos in the context of thematic urban walks by a presentation and scientific publication for the DOCONF 2021 conference. Through a comparative study of two socialist housing estates of different styles, it was demonstrated that visitors participating in the walk have a stronger impression of the ornamentation of the buildings and that their attachment to the place changes as a result of the information they learn during the walk.

 

Figure 3: Spatial placement of visitor photos in the social housing estate on Kerepesi Road. (Source: author)

 

In a large-scale third study, analyzing 10,000 publicly available photos uploaded to Instagram, we demonstrated in a co-authored article with my supervisor that the branding power of architectural-urban festivals can also drive trends in a sustainable way through social media. Photographs taken during the Budapest100 festival are tagged with #budapest100 at the request of the organizers, making them easy to find on social media, but the research shows that since 2019, not only photographs taken during the festival but also at tourist attractions unrelated to the festival have been tagged. Also, as a result of the research, it was possible to observe the role of returning visitors in the evolution of the trend. The research, published in an international journal, has been cited by eight other studies in the span of a year, including a comprehensive article analyzing urban tourism research [5].

 

Figure 4: #budapest100 trends by Instagram posts 2012-2022. (Source: author)

 

The current phase of doctoral research involves a mixed use of several methodologies. During the Budapest100 Walking Day in 2022 and 2023, hundreds of questionnaires will be analyzed to gain insights into the walking experience of participants. Within the framework of the ÚNKP research, I will analyze the history and practice of urban walks in the Department of Urban Planning and Design and the walking experience of first-year architecture students. A more complete picture of the practical side of built environment education can be obtained through an urban studies program for high school students organized by the KÉK. Research is also underway to analyze the historical development of the spatial system of tourism in Budapest through the analysis of historical maps, which will help to assess the current situation and to plan for the future.

 

Expected impact and further research

Through the analysis of data collected using different methodologies, the research also aims to investigate the impact of architectural awareness on place identity. I am continuously publishing the results of my research in international journals, and my dissertation is being written in English. Several study trips abroad (USA, France, Germany) are planned until the end of the course, with the aim of preparing international case studies. The major expected impact of this research is the practical urban development tool of identity-shaping thematic walks for local residents.

Publications, references, links

List of corresponding own publications.

 

Kádár, B., & Klaniczay, J. (2022). Branding Built Heritage through Cultural Urban Festivals: An Instagram Analysis Related to Sustainable Co-Creation, in Budapest. Sustainability, 14(9), 5020. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095020 WoS, Scopus, Q1

 

Klaniczay, J. (2022). The Resilience of Proximity Tourism During the Pandemic: Local Walking Tours of Budapest. International Journal of Tour Guiding Research, 3(1), 3. https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijtgr/vol3/iss1/3/

 

Klaniczay, J. (2021). Measuring the Architectural Experience: Comparing the ’50s and the ’70s using Urban Walking Tours. In Benkő, M. (Ed.), DOCONF2021 - Facing post-socialist urban heritage: Proceedings (pp. 194–205). BME Department of Urban Planning and Design. http://doconf.architect.bme.hu/2021-proceedings/

 

Klaniczay, J. (2022). 14+ Budapest: Városi Séták Gimnazistáknak 2022. Építészfórum. https://epiteszforum.hu/14-budapest-varosi-setak-gimnazistaknak-2022

 

Klaniczay, J. (2020). Páratlan Budapest - Városi séták a környékeden. Építészfórum.

https://epiteszforum.hu/paratlan-budapest-varosi-setak-a-kornyekeden

 

Klaniczay, J., & Dávid, D. (2020). 14+ Budapest: a KÉK Városi Séták gimnáziumi programja. Építészfórum.

 https://epiteszforum.hu/14-budapest-a-kek-varosi-setak-gimnaziumi-programja

 

Table of links.

 

Department of Urban Planning and Design

Contemporary Architecture Centre

Budapest100

KÉK Urban Walks

 

List of references.

 

[1] Proshansky, H. M. (1978). The city and self-identity. Environment and Behavior, 10(2), 147–169.

[2] Lynch, K. (1964). The image of the city. MIT Press.

[3] Jacobs, J. (2016). The death and life of great American cities. Vintage.

[4] Ashworth, G., & Page, S. J. (2011). Urban tourism research: Recent progress and current paradoxes. Tourism Management, 32(1), 1–15.

[5] Page, S. J., & Duignan, M. (2023). Progress in Tourism Management: Is urban tourism a paradoxical research domain? Progress since 2011 and prospects for the future. Tourism Management, 98, 104737.

[6] Diaz-Soria, I. (2017). Being a tourist as a chosen experience in a proximity destination. Tourism Geographies, 19(1), 96–117.

[7] Kádár, B. (2014). Measuring tourist activities in cities using geotagged photography. Tourism Geographies, 16(1), 88–104.

[8] Shoval, N., & Ahas, R. (2016). The use of tracking technologies in tourism research: the first decade. Tourism Geographies, 18(5), 587–606.

 

 

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