‘Historic’ level urban development project on the horizon in Budapest?

Budapest’s concept for hosting the Olympics in the future should come with “historic” levels of urban development instead of just sports-related investment projects for their own sake, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, told a press conference on Friday.

Historic urban development needed for the Budapest Olympics, says Karácsony

Karácsony’s remarks come after the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) and the Hungarian Paralympic Committee (MPB) on Thursday presented a request to the city assembly regarding the participation of his administration and party officials in an exploratory process regarding a possible future Budapest Olympics.

The mayor said Budapest could only host the Olympics if the event had majority support behind it and if it involved “historic” urban development.

Budapest will have to examine what hosting a Summer Olympics would mean, Karácsony said, pointing out that the MOB and the MPB’s request did not mean that an immediate decision had to be made, but that the city should debate what kind of an Olympics it could host.

He said the request could not be denied, and the city would have to explore this opportunity without making any commitment to host the event.

Budapest residents will decide

Karácsony said that at next week’s session of the city assembly he will recommend that he and elected city representatives take part in the planning process together.

He said that if they could find common ground with the MOB and the MPB then they would also have to hold talks with the government because its guarantee was a necessary part of the process. He added that once a concept was finalised, it would be up to Budapest residents to make a decision on bidding for the Olympics.

Karácsony said Budapest already had the sports infrastructure for hosting the Olympics, adding that the city’s plan should involve “historic levels” of developments in transport, green infrastructure and housing rather than more sports-related investment projects. He said it needed to be made clear that Budapest was facing a housing crisis, and a future Olympic village should also be suitable for increasing the number of student hostel spaces and rental homes.