Introduction

Imre Márczi:
Home Sweet Home?... 
Thoughts on the meanings of home. It is not just a place but a status. In the broadest sense of the word it means harmony with the existence. What are the conditions of this harmony?

Symbols

House
The house is in the middle of the World representing the Universe. As a female symbol, it means shelter, mother and protection.
Extracts from the book entitled 'Dictionnaire des Symboles' by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant. Translated by Judit Maruszki.

Environment and Cosiness

György Mihalovte: 
House, Home and Homeland 
We are on the world to be at home there.'
'...a man and a woman, some children, tools and maybe one or two animals. Just like at the beginning of the Creation...' Thoughts on home, homeland and the aim of our being.

Lajos Eff:
The Force of Homelessness 
Although it seems to be so natural but it is not easy to be at home.
Some of the author's vital questions:
What are the functions of home? Do our fiats serve the purpose? What are the consequences of homelessness?

On the Way Home 
Home, homeland and household were the topics of the 26 March 1994 episode of 'Gala' Ecological Film Magazine on Hungarian TV 2. Extracts from the programme, presented by László Hollós.

Zsolt Spéder:
Household Economy: 0-24 
The discovery of the hidden household economy. Essay on the invisible, unpaid work in the household. The author analyzes its social role and its connection with the market economy.

Miklós Okrutay: 
'Green Houses'
What has happened to the old 'green houses' otherwise 'green trams' of Budapest? The history of a typical 'institution', one of the small secrets of the city.

János Bánáti:
The History of Utility Furniture in Hungary
The evelopment of utility furniture from 'Thonet' to Réka. Although there is a great demand for utility furniture in Hungary, it still remains a dream.

Ferenc Bodor-lstván Kovács: 
The Memory of Our Things -- the Topography of a Room 
Men are going out of the world and take their celebrations along. Their things remain cherishing the memory of them. The history of things in a flat, somewhere in Budapest, in a transitional age.

Alternative Community as a Home
Letter to My Friend 
Moments from the history of the Catholic 'Bush Community' in Hungary.

Home -- Education -- Research -- Environment

József Scherer: 
Borderline Cases 
The plan of a new major at the Hungarian School of Applied Arts. Creativity, and ecological approach are the bases of the new interdisciplinary subject.

My Favourite Thing 
Selection from the essays written by the students of applied arts.

József Zalavári: 
Bird-table
Bird-table as creative planning task for the students of the Hungarian School of Applied Arts.

József Zelnik: 
'Oikology'
A brief research plan for the study of 'oikology'. Etymologically the word comes from the Greek 'oikos', which means house, household, home and homeland.

Bibliography

Bibliography of the research plan entitled 'Oikology'. Selection from the literature on appropriate technology, sustainable development, home ecology, environment-friendly lifestyle, and architecture, small-scale production, craftsmanship, and recycling.

Pattern Language

House for a Small Family 
'In a house for a small family, it is the relationship between children and adults which is most critical.' 
This pattern tries to find solutions for the problem. 

Your Own Home 
'People cannot be genuinely comfortable and healthy in a house which is not theirs.' 
'People will only be able to feel comfortable in their houses, if they can change their houses to suit themselves, add on whatever they need...'
Extracts from the book entitled 'A pattern language : Towns, buildings, construction' (by Christopher Alexander et al. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. 1171 p.)

Ways and Ways out

András Csonka: 
The Academy of Ecology 
A year ago we gave an account of the plan for an academy of ecology. Now the author summarizes what has happened since then.

Leopold Kohr: 
The Academic Inn 
A new danger has arisen to unfettered academic activities. This is the irresistible pressure emanating from the explosive dimensions of modern mass societies which can educationally be accommodated only by universities of vast scale. There is one last way out. This is for scholarship 1:0 change its location not geographically but institutionally. This institution -- the last refuge of the humanities -- is the inn. Extracts from the book entitled 'How to save the world. A fourth world guide to the politics of scale' (ed. by Nicholas Albery and Mark Kinzley, Wellinborough : Turnstone, 1984. 318 p.). Translated by Csilla Strbik.

László Hollós: 
A Way Out or a Kind of Dictatorship? Ecovillage Is Being Built
A way out from our city life. The rules and principles of the ecovillage being built on the ruins of the abandoned village of 'Gyűrűfű'.

Dennis Holdinghausen: 
'Creation-friendly' Inside and Out
Environment-friendly building guidelines of the Bavarian Evangelical Church. 'From the building materials to the energy supply everything ought to be the most sustainable for man and Creation.'
Translated by György Zsombok.

Ecology and Ideology

Christopher D. Stone: 
Moral Pluralism and the Course of Environmental Ethics
The author summarizes the achievements and aims of environmental ethics and examines its status in the larger world of moral philosophy. (Environmental Ethics, Summer 1988, pp. 139-154) Translated by Miklós Uszkay.