Urban Strategic Planning from the Perspective of Well-Being: Evaluation of the Hungarian Practice

Zoltán Bajmócy; Judit Gébert; György Málovics; Boglárka Méreiné Berki; Judit Juhász

doi:10.18778/1231-1952.27.1.10

Authors

Zoltán Bajmócy University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Research Centre, H-6722 Szeged, Kálvária sgt. 1., Hungary
Judit Gébert Judit JUHÁSZ, University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Research Centre, H-6722 Szeged, Kálvária sgt. 1., Hungary
György Málovics Judit JUHÁSZ, University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Research Centre, H-6722 Szeged, Kálvária sgt. 1., Hungary
Boglárka Méreiné Berki Judit JUHÁSZ, University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Research Centre, H-6722 Szeged, Kálvária sgt. 1., Hungary
Judit Juhász Judit JUHÁSZ, University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Research Centre, H-6722 Szeged, Kálvária sgt. 1., Hungary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1231-1952.27.1.10

Keywords:

urban strategic planning, capability approach (CA), well-being, agency, Hungary

Abstract

The present paper evaluates Hungarian strategic urban planning from the perspective of well-being. It conceptualises well-being in line with Amartya Sen’s capability approach (CA). We argue that the CA provides a meaningful concept of common good or public interest for evaluation. The open-ended nature of CA allows one to embrace the complexity of strategic planning, but it is definite enough to provide a clear normative framework for evaluation. We base our conclusions on 49 interviews with various local actors in three second-tier cities. We conclude that the CA-based evaluation can supplement the dominantly used conformance or performance-based evaluation approaches. We also found that instead of depicting an unachievable ideal state, the CA is able to provide guidance for feasible steps to further well-being.

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