It’s not just in Budapest that seemingly exciting plans for urban renewal never go anywhere. But the case of a series of well-publicized plans for the reconstruction of the Buda Castle may take the cake. According to index.hu, the plans – dubbed “Center of the Country Project” – turn out to have been created by university students for a media art assignment.
The creators said the plans were deliberately extreme in order to spark interest and launch a “conversation.” Three websites were created with different plans, which appeared genuine to the media until Index started an investigation following a press conference announced for September 12 where none of the prominent invited guests – including Budapest Mayor István Tarlós – showed up.
The three websites, “Building the Center of the Country”, “The Lungs of the Country” – which proposes an ecological park for the Castle District – and “Civilians for the Castle” now all contain a warning saying that their content is fictitious. Now if only the people behind the “real” urban renewal plans would do that…