Key Projects - Revival of public spaces and parks

City Centre of Pécs

Major changes will take place in the city centre. All the green spaces in the area from Kórház Square through Széchenyi Square and Búza Square – including the South Transdanubian Regional Library and Knowledge Centre and the Pécs Concert and Conference Centre – up to the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter will be renewed in a uniform manner to create a pleasant, popular and usable environment for people walking in the city. The renewed streets will link the borders of the city centre with its central location, Széchenyi Square in a north-to-south direction.

Under this programme component the following places will be renewed: Széchenyi Square, Hunyadi Street, Megye Close, Szepesy I. Street, Irgalmasok Street, Kátalan Street together with the Baranya County Museums, Esperanto Park, Kossuth Square, Hal Square, Kórház Square, Ferencesek Street, Király Street and Búza Square.

The biggest change in traffic will affect the city centre; after the renewal work is completed, traffic will be banned from Széchenyi Square. Buses will bypass the city centre. The areas thus freed from traffic will be turned into multi-coloured, spacious surfaces that pedestrians will surely like very much. There will be an opportunity to open outdoor cafés. The main square will become a venue for relaxation and different programmes. Street furniture, benches and plants will decorate public spaces. Széchenyi Square will have different kinds of wells, in the form of babbling or dribbling fountains – it will be left up to the fantasy of designers. Irgalmasok Street will become a venue for promenading, walking and looking around, just like Ferencesek Street is today. Furthermore, Kórház Square, as the western gate to the city centre, and the streets directly adjoining it, the end of Ferencesek Street, Váradi Antal Street and the southern section of Klimó György Street, will all be renewed. These developments will assist improving the broader environment of the UNESCO World Heritage area and the renewal of Kórház Square that plays a key role in the local transport of the city. Pedestrian streets will have a uniform, decorative pavement and a lot more plants. The eastern border of the city centre will grow in beauty considerably. The end of Király Street will also have decorative pavement and, in accordance with previous plans, Búza Square will turn into a pleasant, stately public square with water running overground, lots of works of arts and benches.

The design competition was announced in March 2008, and following the preparatory licensing procedures construction began in June 2009.