iconannual 2015 - The European Business and Investment Magazine
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Building Bridges1<br />
Cities <strong>and</strong> urban agglomerations play a central<br />
role not only in Europe, but across the globe as<br />
well. <strong>The</strong>y are hotspots of future developments<br />
<strong>and</strong> focuses of economy, science, universities<br />
<strong>and</strong> research. Social, cultural, political <strong>and</strong> societal developments,<br />
too, nearly always begin in cities. Demographically,<br />
the future of global development is moreover<br />
clearly tied to cities as well: already today, urbanites account<br />
for close to half of the world’s population; in 2030,<br />
two thirds of all people will live in cities. Vienna is an<br />
immigration city with more than 1.8 million inhabitants<br />
at the moment. According to forecasts, it will attain 2<br />
million inhabitants already in 2029.<br />
For centuries, Vienna has been enjoying an excellent<br />
reputation as the venue of international summits, congresses<br />
<strong>and</strong> conferences. Over the past decades, it has<br />
furthermore consolidated its position as an economic<br />
hub for Eastern <strong>and</strong> South-eastern Europe.<br />
Vienna’s commitment to <strong>European</strong> urban policy thus<br />
specifically aims at creating frame conditions that promote<br />
the performance of cities <strong>and</strong> urban regions – yet<br />
always in harmony with supreme social <strong>and</strong> ecological<br />
commitment, including smart transport <strong>and</strong> infrastructure<br />
options as well as know-how transfer of urban technologies<br />
like drinking water supply or waste management<br />
(services of general interest). In this way, Vienna<br />
proactively supports strategies <strong>and</strong> actions that enable<br />
<strong>European</strong> cities to benefit from innovative developments<br />
in this field.<br />
City partnerships:<br />
thinking outside the box is important<br />
In Europe as well as globally, co-operation projects that<br />
are conducted at the city <strong>and</strong> regional level <strong>and</strong> transcend<br />
traditional limitations are enjoying a renaissance.<br />
At the moment, Vienna is bilaterally involved in about<br />
20 co-operation projects that define customised programmes<br />
for collaboration with the respective partner<br />
city over a period of 4 to 5 years.<br />
Supraregional co-operation offers the opportunity of<br />
reacting jointly to the challenges of international <strong>and</strong><br />
1 Not only at the Eurovision Song Contest<br />
102 <strong>iconannual</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>European</strong> <strong>Business</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Investment</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
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