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The Hungarian economy has gone through rapid transformation and modernization since the political changes of 1989/90. One of the signs of successful economic restructuring and re-integration to the world economy was the growing role of creative economy. In the present paper we analyse the changing geographical pattern of creative economy in Hungary, based on longitudinal statistical data. Our findings suggest growing core-periphery relations in the spatial pattern of creative economy, especially cince the recent financial crisis. The relative weight of Budapest and its urban region has been continuously growing and even major regional centres are unable to keep pace with the Hungarian capital. We also found that cities in the Hungarian urban system became highly differentiated according to their attractiveness for creative firms and labour, and there is a growing competition among secondary cities for knowledge based and creative activities. The growing geographical concentration of the creative economy (especially the knowledge intensive industries) is partly the result of previous neoliberal regional and urban policies.

The study offers a short geographical overview of migration studies and theories, doing so in the context of the European migration crisis of 2015–2016. It outlines the history of international migrations affecting Europe (immigration, emigration, migration within Europe and between countries) and the demographic effects of such migration on the present European population. It then analyses and examines the global and regional causes of recent migration to Europe (the European Economic Area, EEA), the countries of origin of the migrants, the main routes of migration, and the destination areas in Europe. As far as intercontinental migration is concerned, Europe was characterised by emigration between the 16th and mid-20th centuries (partly in consequence of colonisation) and mainly by immigration thereafter. Immigration has principally affected Western Europe, the more developed part of the continent. In consequence of post-World War II reconstruction, dynamic economic development, local labour shortages, and the decolonisation process, Western Europe received many migrants, initially from the Mediterranean region and subsequently (i.e. after the collapse of communism in 1989–1990) from the post communist European countries. Meanwhile, the core areas of the EEA became the main destination for migrants coming from predominantly Muslim regions in Asia and Africa (SW Asia, Muslim Africa). This decades-old process has recently accelerated and now constitutes mass migration. The global and regional causes of such intercontinental migration in the sending areas are as follows: the population boom, economic backwardness, unemployment, growing poverty, climate change, desertification, negative ecological changes, global political rivalries and local power changes (e.g. the Arab Spring, 2011), growing political instability, wartime destruction, multiple and cumulative crises, general hopelessness and despair.

Even though the concept of polycentric urban development has been high on the agenda in the literature it has rarely come to the fore in academic papers dealing with the postsocialist cities. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the evolving polycentric pattern of urban development in the metropolitan region of Budapest. For the purpose of study we use commuting data of the 1990, 2001 and 2011 national census. The rapid transformation of Budapest after 1989 the re-establishment of market mechanisms, the privatisation of housing, the liberalisation of the property market, and the growing re-integration of the city to the world economy aff ected not only the core city but also the metropolitan periphery. The previously rather homogeneous structure of the metropolitan periphery experienced significant changes in the course of the transformation. The advantages of location, which had been insignificant during the state-socialist period, once again became truly beneficial which resulted in growing disparities in the metropolitan periphery. Since 1990 the functional interplay, cooperation, interdependence as well as physical infrastructural linkages between Budapest and its metropolitan zone have been further intensified. Residential suburbanisation and the suburbanisation of business activities led to new flows of commuting within the metropolitan region. Our findings show that the reallocation of urban functions took place in the wider metropolitan zone of Budapest among existing centres, which fits to the European version of post-suburbanisation concept rather than the US one.

At the turn of the millennium about one third of the inhabitants of Budapest lived at housing estates. Since then this rate has slightly declined because of new constructions. Demographic trends have also contributed to the decrease of the share of population living on housing estates. The rate of ageing is especially high in case of the older housing estates, nevertheless, the share of the families with children has still remained above average. The rehabilitation of large housing estates seems to be the best way to avoid their demographic erosion and social decline. This paper explores the rehabilitation initiatives carried out in Budapest in the last decade, with special attention to their outcomes, and their effects. We also examine whether renovations resulted in some new socio-spatial differentiations at large housing estates.

The study presents an analysis of inner-city neighbourhoods of Budapest. The major findings are as follows: (1) The real estate prices increased in all parts of the inner-city in the last decade but the rate of change was varied. The most deteriorated quarters rapidly developed because of the reconstructions and the new constructions, however the highest prices are still recorded in the traditionally most prestigious neighbourhoods. (2) The social structure of the inner city signifi cantly changed. The new inhabitants – who moved to the inner city after 2000 – are younger, more educated than the traditional inhabitants who did not leave the inner-city after 1990. The reasons for moving into the inner-city are different in the two groups. The location became the most important factor, and some special quarter related reasons emerged (good reputation). (3) The inhabitant’s views about the inner-city also transformed, mainly because the housing preferences of the old and new inhabitants are different. The older inhabitants have a more critical attitude toward the inner-city than the new ones. The family house in the suburban greenbelt is their most preferred housing type. The satisfaction with the neighbourhoods depends on mostly the condition of buildings and the new functions of the quarters. The emergence of different social groups in the neighbourhood is already perceived by the local population.