TRUE URBAN SPIRIT

4 VIENNA: NETWORKING THE CITY
4.2
OPEN SPACES:
GREEN & URBAN
Squares and streets, urban parks and large-scale
leisure areas are places of encounter and interaction,
but also for winding down and relaxing.
The design and functioning of open spaces and
the way in which they meet the manifold needs
of city dwellers significantly impact the quality
and atmosphere of urban living and coexistence.
They offer structure and identity, they enable
vitality and exchange, and they shape the image
of an urban quarter and of the city as a whole.
Vienna is a green city, whose character is strongly
influenced by woods, fields and meadows. Cultivated
land – in particular vineyards – is part and
parcel of these typical landscapes and serves an
important leisure function. Numerous large-scale
recreation zones extend around the city limits in
the form of the Vienna Green Belt or, like Prater
and Danube Island, form a “green lung” at the
heart of the city. An extraordinary asset of Vienna
lies in the fact that this metropolis hosts both a
national park (Lobau – Danube Floodplains National
Park) and a biosphere park (Vienna Woods).
In total, Vienna’s municipal territory boasts more
than 50 percent of green spaces ( Green space
monitoring). This high share of green spaces is to
be preserved for the future.
green spaces and urban public spaces: in Grün -
der zeit Vienna, the focus will be on adapting public
space to a great variety of different forms of
use as well on the creation of small-scale areas
that offer possibilities for everyday encounters
and short “breathers” (“micro open spaces”, e. g.
formed by seating islands in the streetscape or
sometimes by widened sidewalks). Both in centrally
located newer urban quarters, such as the
Nordbahnhof grounds, Vienna Main Station and
in the future also the Nordwestbahnhof grounds,
and in urban expansion zones like aspern Vienna’s
Urban Lakeside, one task – alongside the provision
of adequate open spaces – is to generate
the vitality and urban quality that is a trait of
fully-fledged urban neighbourhoods. Robust open
spaces and attractive parks not only create a
good range of green spaces for the local residential
and working population, but also improve the
situation for the denizens of adjoining, densely
populated city quarters.
To be able to adequately assess future developments
and requirements, it is essential to not
only look at demographic growth in general, but
above all at that of population groups who, due
to their situation in life, tend to use open spaces
more than others. In 2025, there will be an in -
crease in Viennese residents aged over 75 years
by approx. 50,000 and in children and teens
under 15 years by around 30,000 as compared to
today. Viewed from the healthcare angle, too,
both groups are dependent on public space design
that takes account of their everyday needs as
well as on the provision with high-quality green
zones near their homes.
Against this backdrop, the planning and design of
squares and streets, parks and leisure zones
calls for a high degree of sensitivity for the multifaceted
needs as well as for differentiated understanding
of the conditions and dynamics of the
many diverse urban spaces.
Today, green spaces are used much more intensively
and in more varied ways than in the past.
People take walks, exercise and relax, play, enjoy
gardening and celebrate. Life on Vienna’s streets,
too, has become more vibrant and diverse. This
enhanced importance is also exemplified by the
great variety of commercial forms of use, events
and attractions. Lively ground-floor zones endow
public space with renewed character. In coming
years, the demographic development of different
parts of the city will entail different demands for
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