Budapest’s leadership wants fewer cars, more grazing sheep in the city

According to landscape architect Sándor Bardóczi, the ultimate answer to maintaining urban greenery in Budapest would be sheep grazing in the middle of the city. On the other hand, he and the mayor would like to see fewer cars in the capital. 

Cars should be banned in Budapest

As ripost.hu writes, both Gergely Karácsony and Sándor Bardóczi have expressed their opinions about banning cars in Budapest. A serious debate is taking place in the capital about thinning out the car traffic on the lower quay of Pest. Bardóczi put it this way: “Fortunately, there has been a switch in the way residents are thinking about this issue. More and more people are realising that it is not necessary to drive, they switch to public transport, and the number of bikers and pedestrians is growing. The next step is for people to move closer to their workplaces, which will eventually positively affect the structure of the city. All the big cities in the west are crowding out cars. There is no other way for Budapest either. ”

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Grazing sheep in the city?

“In our nature conservation areas, where the goal is to maintain meadows to preserve biodiversity, we want to introduce grazing due to the complex task.” – the architect said to Qubit.

According to Bardóczi, there are three possible places for grazing sheep: 3rd district Mocsárosdűlő, the Tétényi Plateau in Újbuda and the meadows of Felsőrákos in the 10th district.

“It is important to set the right proportions so that the grazing pressure would primarily serve the ecosystem instead of providing economic benefit. The aim is no to breed gray cattle or sheep to meet the needs of a starving city during an unforeseen famine, but to preserve the natural values of the urban areas.” As telex.hu writes this is not the first time flocks of sheep were grazing in big cities. Last year in Szeged, they chewed the grass instead of the lawnmowers.

In the meantime: another green area disappears

While the main architect of Budapest is planning to introduce flocks in the city, another green area disappears. According to Index, the forest of Kiscelli Park in Óbuda will no longer be as green as it was before. Despite the protest of locals, the local government is determined to build a playground in the park. In their view, this development is in the interests of the locals. Viktória Kun, a spokeswoman of the community, said the forest would need maintenance in the first place. In addition, she does not understand why they chose to build an artificial playground. “The forest itself is the playground”.

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Source: ripost.hu, telex.hu, Index, Qubit