22/05/2026
Summary of the “Cultural repositioning of our industrial cities – Interactive urban planning conference”
On May 19, 2026, Ajka hosted an interactive urban planning conference titled “Cultural Repositioning of Our Domestic Industrial Cities.” The event took place at a special and symbolic venue: the Krypton Factory in Ajka.
The building is not merely an industrial facility but a significant piece of our technical heritage: it was here that the gas necessary for krypton light bulbs was produced, based on the patents of Imre Bródy and Mihály Polányi. The krypton bulb, an invention of Bródy and his colleagues, provided “more and whiter light” than previous argon-nitrogen filled bulbs and increased the lifespan of tungsten filaments due to the higher atomic weight of krypton.
In the Csingervölgy district of Ajka, the factory began production on October 23, 1937, which lasted until 1944. The factory could not be restarted, as the machinery was dismantled and transported to the Soviet Union as war reparations.
In the 1950s, the building housed a repair shop for the state-owned bus company Mávaut, later the Ajka Glass Factory, and following privatization, Ajka Kristály Kft. After the bankruptcy of Ajka Chrystal, the building stood abandoned for decades.
In 2023, the renovation and cultural repurposing of the building began, including the creation of exhibition and event spaces and a digital experience center.
The conference was opened by Gábor László Porhajas, a board member of the Hungarian Urban Planning Association, who also served as the program host and moderator.
First, Member of Parliament Péter Balatincz welcomed the participants, highlighting the necessity of utilizing industrial buildings both for environmental reasons and to preserve the aesthetic beauty of industrial architecture.
Béla Schwartz, the Mayor of Ajka, gave a detailed overview of Ajka’s industrial past (coal mines, alumina plant, glass production, power plant), touched upon the red sludge tragedy, and outlined future development plans for the city.
Márton Péti, an associate professor at the Pannon University presented the university’s regional development activities and shared lessons learned from his recent visit to Ukraine and the regional development practices currently underway there.
The professional presentations were introduced by Gábor László Porhajas. He contrasted dying cities and settlements with livable ones. He emphasized that development and searching for a common path are necessary to preserve settlements, citing the repositioning of Kazincbarcika and its "KolorCity" project as positive examples.
Péter Szegvári, a senior urban development consultant, presented the many years of cumulative work done in building Ajka as a cultural brand—from participating in Technical Assistance programs and connecting to the Veszprém-European Capital of Culture program to the present day. The city carries out its developments according to the principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB): aesthetics, sustainability, and inclusivity.
Gergely Tóth, a strategic development advisor, presented two of Ajka’s development projects. One was the Interreg RAISE-CE project, which aims to ensure that the development of Ajka’s railway station is not just a transport project but also a community development initiative involving the local population. The second was the revitalization of the Torna stream, launched within the framework of the KEHOP 2.1.3-15 project, aimed at increasing water retention to prevent flooding, reducing summer temperatures, and providing space for floods and increasing natural habitats (e.g., beaver dams).
Norbert Halász presented Kazincbarcika’s KolorCity project via a pre-recorded, documentary-style video. KolorCity is an innovative city branding and cultural initiative designed to make the city more livable, youthful, and visually exciting. As part of this, dozens of building facades were decorated with murals, colorful public art installations were erected, and various cultural events were organized around the concept.
During the break, Andrea Varga, Managing Director of Csingervölgy Nonprofit Kft.—the mastermind behind the Krypton Factory concept and project coordinator—explained the history of the Krypton Factory and the stages of its revitalization, and provided a tour of the building and the interactive elements of the digital experience center.
After the break, Kamilla Pelle and Dorina Pataki, students from the László Rajk College for Advanced Studies, presented the results of their research conducted in Ajka in November 2025. Based on their data collection via questionnaires and personal interviews, Ajka is a livable city, with respondents highlighting the magic of nature, the parks, and the atmosphere.
This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Fanni Sipos, an innovation consultant at Urbavis Kft., which explored the cultural utilization of brownfield sites in Hungary.
György Alföldi, President of the Hungarian Urban Planning Association, emphasized that urban developments should be shaped around a specific theme or narrative, leveraging the power of the community, and that multi-level decision-making should be used during implementation instead of completely centralized decision-making.
Péter Lamos, Chief Architect of Várpalota, presented the approach used during the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture project. From the beginning, they did not think in terms of greenfield cultural developments but in the reuse of existing, unused, or brownfield areas. On one hand, they collected data on usable areas; on the other, they gathered suggestions from content developers and creative professionals. By pairing these, project proposals were formed, such as the creation of the Gyárkert CulturePark through the cultural reuse of the abandoned brownfield site of the former Balaton Furniture Factory.
Zsófia Tóth, co-founder of Puzl CowOrKing Budapest, started from the market demand that IT developers and creative youth do not prefer traditional office buildings, but rather locations that are more unique, greener, and have more community space. Therefore, Puzl CowOrKing specifically converts industrial buildings with distinct character for office and coworking purposes. This is how they chose the dilapidated building of the former Goldberger Textile Factory, which they repurposed with high-quality, unique solutions.
The final program was a bus tour of Ajka’s industrial history and unique architectural sites with Mariann Fonyódi, an associate professor at BME (Budapest University of Technology and Economics). Mariann Fonyódi has been involved in developing the plans for the reuse of the Krypton Factory from the beginning, and as a native of Ajka, she shared many interesting stories about the city's past and architectural values during the bus tour. During the short sightseeing trip, we were able to view the Ármin mine, the power plant, the city center, and the buildings of various worker colonies.
It was an excellent program; thanks are due to the organizers: the Municipality of Ajka, the Hungarian Urban Planning Association, Urbavis Kft., the Cloud Média team, and the Pannon University.
(Text and photos by Károly Teleki)
