The heart of the project will contain 900 trees connected to a reestablished ecosystem at Rákos Creek as well as a network of interconnected gardens and plazas lined by restaurants, shops, apartments and offices.

Gianluca Racana, a ZHA director, said: “It is a great honour for us to have won the architectural design tender for the development of Zugló City Centre. The project will create one of the greenest and most sustainable neighborhoods on the Pest side of the capital.

“The new city centre, organically linked to the surrounding area and Rákos Creek, will equally offer residential, office, commercial and leisure services which will form a harmonious whole with the large green areas and community spaces that will be created. The complex development will also pay tribute to the architecture, culture and history of the beautiful capital, Budapest, while paving the way for the future with state-of-the-art solutions.”

Land Italia, the project’s landscape designers, said: “The project looks at the surrounding ecosystems, integrating the future developments of the Zugló district and Budapest city to develop a strong bond with the renaturalisation of Rákos Creek, enhancing biodiversity and establishing a comprehensive natural ecosystem facilitating ecological connectivity with the broader landscapes.

“The new district envisions a ‘green spine’ as the natural backbone of the development which provides a smooth transition from an urban plaza to a natural park, creating livable spaces designed according to the users needs throughout the year with the intent of reconnecting people with nature.”

Work on the project, which is being developed by Bayer Construct Group, is due to begin in early next year and be fully complete by 2029.