The world’s population and the proportion of it living in cities and urban areas has exploded in recent decades. In the European Union, 62% of the population lives in urban areas and 80% in suburban areas, and these proportions are projected to increase further in the coming decades. It has long been researched and proven that ‘urban greenery’ can play a major role in mitigating the so-called urban heat island effect, and during the COVID-19 pandemic the role of daily recreation has come to the forefront. The combined memorial, recreational, and touristic use of cemeteries can help to ensure their economic management, and thus the long-term preservation of their value. In international tourism the model of managing cemeteries as tourist attractions already exists; however, this is not yet part of conventional practice. In addition to traditional cemetery tourism (e.g., visiting the graves of celebrities or enjoying artistic treasures and values), cemeteries are used as venues for events and sports activities. In Western Europe forest and park cemeteries have been established since the 19th century, and their large green areas and open spaces are a prerequisite for their use as public parks. Thus, the use of cemeteries as public parks is a common if quite specific practice. Our aim with this article is to identify the green space values of Budapest’s cemeteries, in addition to their well-known cultural and architectural significance, as well as to define the potential and means of their involvement in tourism-related activities. Another aim of our study is to raise awareness of green cemeteries within the tourism profession as potentially wider tourist attractions. We consider it important to draw the attention of decision-makers to the significance of the greenspace values when preserving or reusing closed cemeteries. Based on our work, other major cities in Hungary can identify and exploit the touristic and green space potential of their cemeteries.

An essential condition for the success of rural areas is the harmonious enforcement of ecologic, economic, and other educational, cultural, aesthetic goods/services of landscape, diversity of landscape functions. Landscape function analysis is a useful tool for the complex evaluation of rural regions. Using statistic and spatial data, we explored the landscape resources, potentials, and limitations of two pilot regions. But what about the future? Based on the landscape function analysis, we have defined special types of regions/landscape visions according to the long-term ability to retain population by the comparison of economic, production, and habitat value of the landscape.

Abstract. Land use and valuable landscape features are such kind of elements of the landscape, which are worth to be taken into account in a landscape plan that deals with the continuous sustainable transformation of landscapes, and provides frame for management, development and protection. The ratio of land use types and landscape features can be determined as landscape values that are relevant for management, protection, or planning purposes. The article focuses on land use driven landscape changes of the last few decades in general, and in a study area in Budapest Agglomeration called Southern Buda Region. It concentrates on changing landscapes represented by land use changes and remaining landscape values with lost functions in transformed or abandoned landscapes. The statistical documentation of land use types is relevant from the end of the 19 th century but surveying, inventarisation and protection of landscape values started at our department at the end of the 1970s. From that time it is obvious that the sprawling settlements endanger the existence of the valuable characteristic landscape elements of the past. This paper interprets such an analysis which concentrates on transforming character, altering landscape functions and the re-usability of landscape values of past landscapes in the pilot area.

Cemeteries, like urban public parks, are an important part of the urban ecosystem, providing semi-natural habitats for many plant and animal species as well as a wide range of ecosystem services: they improve air quality, reduce the urban heat island phenomenon and provide aesthetic and recreational value. This paper explores the role of the cemeteries in the green infrastructure network beyond their sacred and memorial role and their importance as a habitat for urban flora and fauna. In our study, we compared two large public cemeteries of Budapest (Nemzeti Sírkert/National Graveyard and Új Köztemető/New Public Cemetery) with the Zentralfriedhof Wien (Central Cemetery of Vienna), the latter of which has been forward-looking in terms of green infrastructure development and habitat creation in the past years. Our goal was to determine which maintenance technologies and green space development methods are most beneficial in terms of sustainable habitat creation and the use of appropriate plant species in public cemeteries.

Fertő/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape, as a transboundary World Heritage Site of Hungary and Austria, possesses unique cultural and natural values. The examined areas can be characterised as meeting places of different cultures. We examined the role of small towns in Fertő/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape, which play an important role in regional development. In the last 25 years, different levels of cooperation started among the Hungarian and Austrian settlements aiming at nature and cultural heritage protection and tourism development. We formulated suggestions to maintain and strengthen the existing co-operation and relations.