Part of the transdisciplinary focus Rural–Urban Relations.

Where does the urban end and the rural begin? How do they shape one another? What do the countryside and the city give each other, and who bears the burdens of this relationship?

On the second day of the focus, we invite you to a discussion, forum, and ‘landscape tasting’, where, together with researchers, farmers, representatives of environmental organizations, urban and regional development professionals, and artists, we will explore the relationship between the urban and the rural as a pressing social and political issue.

Together, we will reflect on the changes currently underway, urgencies, and what kinds of new alliances and forms of cooperation might arise between city and countryside.

16:00 – Bernadett Csurgó: Beyond the Divide - the City and the Countryside as Interconnected Spaces  – keynote opening the discussion

Bernadett Csurgó is a sociologist and researcher at the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, where she heads the Research Centre for Social Ecology and Climate Change. For more than twenty years, she has been researching social change in rural Hungary, focusing on rural communities. Her main areas of research include migration from cities to rural areas, the notion of the ‘rural idyll’, local identities and communities, the social position and experiences of women in rural communities, and sustainability. In her work, she approaches the countryside not as the opposite of the city, but as a constantly changing space shaped by diverse social meanings and practices.

17:00 – Hungarian Rural Pact roundtable discussion

Invited guests: Lívia Böröcz, Anita László, Lajos Mikula

The Hungarian Rural Pact was initiated in April 2026, immediately following the parliamentary elections, by 21 nationwide organizations working in agriculture, rural and regional development, and nature and environmental protection. By bringing together civil society, professional, academic, economic, and institutional actors, the initiative seeks to contribute to the development of a comprehensive, long-term rural and agricultural strategy.

The alliance aims to foster broad professional cooperation by coordinating agricultural strategy, rural development, social, and environmental perspectives, and by laying the foundations for sustainable rural development.

18:30–20:00 – Landscape Tasting and Conversation with farmers and artists

Participants: Csaba Szabó (Helóta Organic Garden) × Orsolya Török-Illyés, Zsófia Szonja Illés, Katalin Réthy (Magház Association), and others

Following the discussions and landscape tasting, from 20:00, Cooking Sections and Hannah Landecker will give a guided tour and lecture related to the exhibition the House That Pigs built, currently on view at the Trafó Gallery.