On 17 November 2023, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Budapest, an international conference was held in Vienna, hosted by the Collegium Hungaricum Wien, with guests from the countries of the former Habsburg-Hungarian Monarchy. At the event, entitled ‘Rings of Growth’, I had the honour of sharing my thoughts on Budapest’s – ultimately non-existent – green rings in a lecture. It was inspiring to listen to historians, architects and professors from different countries talk about the huge development of the former Monarchy’s cities, and to explore the invisible threads that still connect us here in Central Europe.
