Dynamics of Green Infrastructure Changes and Urban Growth in Hungarian Functional Urban Areas After the Regime Change

The green infrastructure (GI) within urban environment is a core issue in the sustainable development discourse of international literature and organisations. Several strategies and guidelines (such as Convention on Biological Diversity, The European Green Deal, EU biodiversity strategy for 2030) help to preserve and improve the natural environment and to implement effective measures for degraded ecosystems. The importance of GI is highlighted in urban and urbanised environment, because the negative effects of human activities often accumulate there, such as air pollution, soil degradation, water management, etc. As the European population is concentrated into cities and towns, one of the most effective ways to ensure a good quality of life is to develop urban green infrastructure (UGI). The study gives an overview about the change of green infrastructure and new artificial land uses in Hungarian functional urban areas. Based on the Corine Land Cover Inventory, Land Use Changes (CLC CHA) database (1990 – 2018) and Urban Atlas (2012 – 2018) this paper fills this gap by analysing 19 towns and cities affected by the emerging artificial surfaces with the help of landscape metrics. The results show the importance of structural changes and regional differences and identify the change of quality of green infrastructure: The growth of urban living areas between 1990–2006, the dominance of motorway constructions and the marginal role of new urban green areas in the urban sprawl, as well as decreasing ratio of pastures and agricultural areas are identified. The study also describes some strengths and concerns about current spatial policy in Hungary, in order to support the planners, leaders in strategic planning.