TRUE URBAN SPIRIT

1 VIENNA: SETTING THE STAGE
STEP sketches a picture of the city of tomorrow
that combines social, economic and environmental
objectives and defines strategies, initiatives
and measures that are conducive to gradually
making this vision reality. The document formulates
strategic guidelines that are to serve as
an orientation and impulse for concrete implementation
projects of coming years.
GOVERNANCE
AS AN OPPORTUNITY
FOR THE JOINT
DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES
STEP questions time-tried processes and offers
novel approaches for optimised procedures and
effective instruments. Dynamic urban and location
development calls for accelerated decisionmaking
in many areas. At the same time, however,
a maximum number of different interests is to
be considered in decision-making, leading to
broad-based consensus. Against this background,
the concept of governance acquires vital
importance. STEP defines the goals to pursue in
the public interest, specifies fundamental positions
and develops models of control and institutional
structures to ensure the protection and
active pursuit of these objectives even in novel
forms of co-operation with non-public actors.
Flexible procedures thus substitute rigid rules
and mechanisms. More and more, the public
sector assumes a co-ordinating role in urban
development and manages sometimes complex
processes involving different actors that follow
determined rules but are flexible enough to adapt
to the tasks at hand.
Smart City Wien - STEP´s contribution
to making the city fit for the future
Dynamic growth and social justice, location development
and climate protection – the range of
tasks for the metropolitan region of Vienna is
wide and the set objectives often seem mutually
exclusive. The system of actors involved is more
complex than ever before.
Smart City Wien
Smart City Wien defines the development of a
city that assigns priority to, and interlinks,
the issues of energy, mobility, buildings and
infrastructure.
In this, the following premises apply:
| radical resource preservation
| high and socially balanced quality of living
| development and productive use of
innovations/new technologies
This is to safeguard the city’s ability to withstand
future challenges in a comprehensive
fashion. The elementary trait of Smart City Wien
lies in the holistic approach pursued, which
comprises novel mechanisms of action and
co-ordination in politics and administration as
well as a wider leeway of action assigned to
citizens.
With the consequences of climate change and
the probable scarcity and cost increases of natural
resources, two global trends are likely to
manifestly impact the future design of the city as
a place to live and work in. Vienna counters
this challenge with its “Smart City Wien Framework
Strategy” in order to define long-term
goals and concrete approaches for a sustainable
Smart City Wien. This strategy integrates all
fields of municipal administration and policy and
lays down a structuring, long-term setting in
combination with existing, relevant documents,
plans and programmes. The key objective lies in
further increasing Vienna’s quality of life while
at the same time protecting resources as far as
possible and promoting comprehensive innovations.
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