Migrants and the Hungarian Society. Dignity, Justice and Civic Integration

The aim of the research was to explore the integration, political and civic participation of "third country nationals residing in Hungary" (hereafter, immigrants or migrants). How immigrants and Hungarian society interpret political and civic activity was examined, along with how this is correlated to their material, cultural and social resources (using such concepts as identity and action potential, as well as the sense of fairness and dignity). The samples do represent Hungarian society and those people staying in Hungary with immigration or residence permits/ permanent residence (collectively labeled as immigrants). It should be stressed that the immigrants we studied are not refugee camp dwellers or foreigners employed illegally in Hungary. Though themselves faced with a lot of problems, the immigrants we interviewed are in a far more favorable position than refugees or aliens employed in the grey economy. This is an important fact to be remembered when reading about the research.

Az esztétikai alapú várostervezés és kapcsolata a tájépítészettel a XX. században. Út a "New Urbanism" és a gyalogosbarát város elméletéhez

Kutatásunk két korszakot vizsgál alaposabban. A XIX. század végének és a XX. század első évtizedeinek városépítészetelméletéből a „Civic Art”-ot mutatjuk be, valamint az ennek alapjain, a modernizmus városépítészetének kritikájaként létrejött, az 1960-as évektől kezdődő „Urban Design”-t. Mindkét éra jellemezhető egy olyan tervezői attitűddel, városépítészet elméleti kultúrával, amelynek célja a jól használható terek (Cultures of good place-making) kialakítása volt (Bohl, 2009). A két korszak összehasonlításánál fontos megemlíteni, hogy egyrészt sok szempontból azonos gazdasági-társadalmi jelenségek zajlottak, másrészt az ezekre nyújtott reakció azonos társadalmi csoportoktól érkezett. Az előbbi példájaként lehet említeni a drámai gazdasági és technológiai változásokat, a gyors iramú városfejlődést és migrációt, valamint a hagyományos városközpontok felbomlását. Az ezekre a problémákra felmerülő válaszok mindkét esetben a tervező mellett a közösségek építésében szerepet játszó szakmák (ingatlan és üzleti szféra, ipar, államszervezet), valamint a lakosság különböző csoportjaiban fogalmazódtak meg (Bohl, 2009). Tanulmányunk a tájépítészet szerepét kívánja feltérképezni ezen irányzatokban, s választ keres arra, hogy szakmánk jelentősége és érdekeltsége hogyan változott az idők során. A kérdés, hogy a napjainkig meghatározó „urban design” teoretika a városi szabadterek alakítása terén tudott-e a „Civic Art” korszakának tanulságaiból meríteni?

More Than Words, Brand Destruction in the Online Sphere

The focus of this paper is brand destruction, however in a slightly different sense than the traditional marketing literature depicts it. The concept of brand destruction basically tends to be discussed either (1) as an accidental, counter-productive event in a campaign which leads to the ruining of the brand, or (2) an intentional act by competitors in the market, which results the same breakdown mentioned above. As this paper shows, there are other ways to consider as well, when speaking about brand destruction. An often overlooked type of brand destruction is a rather new phenomenon: destroying the brand by customers or business partners. The adequate scene for this case is the internet itself, especially different social media platforms, e. g. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. Also popular weblogs can play an important role in brand destruction made by customers or business partners (general cases related to social media are depicted in Lipsman – Mud – Rich – Bruich, 2012). This paper presents a couple of cases in the online field and focuses basically on online communicative activities, in which a brand’s negative properties come to discussion. Both Hungarian and foreign examples are easy to find and they all demonstrate the growing power of consumers. This observation led marketing experts to start talking about the ‘smooth seizure of power by consumers’. Whilst the critic of this concept is considered to be relevant, this paper describes the elements and methods of the ‘seizure’ – from an online social point of view. The key of handling brand destruction cases efficiently lies in the role of social media users. They are not only consumers, but the opportunity for producing online contents is in their hands as well – this fact results in the idea of ‘prosumers’. Thus customers on social media platforms must be handled as a ‘critical mass’: as civic warriors with strong weapons in their armoury. No companies are allowed to feel safe, as the slightest error may well be punished by the crowd.

Interpreting innovation – in another way

Innovation helps to uncover the future social and economic possibilities. Subsequently familiarising with innovation processes, mapping those involved in innovation and researching the relations and influencing factors is becoming more and more valuable. The authors carried out innovation research in three middle-sized and small towns in Hungary on the basis of a request by a municipality among enterprises involved in the intelligent specialisation strategic program. In the course of the research the role of regional universities, the relationship between organisations involved in social innovation and the researched enterprises, as well as traditional innovation areas were dealt with. The innovation performance of enterprises in all three regions are – despite smaller differences – around the Hungarian average. The presence of a university in the region can be felt, however, it does not remarkably influence the innovation potential of enterprises. It seemed that outside the traditional links to chambers of commerce and industry there were no other civic protagonists in the processes of creating knowledge, and even the relations are rather loose, or mediocre. In the wake of these results, the authors formulated specific suggestions for improving the economic and social possibilities of the involved regions by establishing innovative environments.