Paper

Historical Study of the Garden Plots in the Danube Bend from the 19th Century to the Present

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Abstract

In our study we follow the land use changes in the Pilis settlements of the Danube Bend on a historical scale, from the 1800s to the present. The garden plot is a special Hungarian concept, which designated areas that were located outside the settlements. They were not suitable for large-scale agricultural farming, small-scale farming was conducted, ranging from traditional vineyards, orchards and other vegetables grown in the garden. The garden plot is no longer a legal concept, which emerged as a consequence of the political and economic changes in Hungary. The law that contained the garden plots was created in 1959. The fragmented lands were originally created for agricultural production purposes, and later provided holiday and other recreational activities in the 1960s. The modernization of holiday houses in the gardenplot areas and the introduction of public utilities made many people stay, so they moved out of the cities in increasing numbers, creating a permanent population in the garden-plot areas. The pilot area of our study is situated in the Pilis region, the geographic location and soil conditions of which were very favorable for the cultivation of vines. Although the cultivation of vines is practised to this day, significant recreational, later residential garden plots were established. Throughout the study, we will present the process of landscape change, using the available land cover, land use maps and spatial statistics, exploring the socio-economic factors of the change. Our aim is to survey and compare the garden-plot areas of the Pilis Region as a landscape value, in the fullness of these areas, before they had fragmented, and in the 60s-70s, 70s-80s, 80s-90s and the present days.

Keywords: Land use, landscape change, garden, garden plot, vineyard

How to Cite:

Molnárné, K. A. & Vaszόcsik, V., (2019) “Historical Study of the Garden Plots in the Danube Bend from the 19th Century to the Present”, Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning 6(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/de1w-2j46