TRUE URBAN SPIRIT

2 VIENNA: BUILDING THE FUTURE
2.2
SPACE FOR
URBAN GROWTH
High-quality urbanity
High-quality urbanity in urban quarters can be
attained if certain qualities of development
density are a given:
| tightly knit circulation network due to
suitable block sizing
| functioning social infrastructure and local
supply facilities
| high housing quality due to housing design
geared towards everyday needs and a
differentiated range of public squares, green
and open spaces.
Thus high-quality urbanity means vibrant
urban quarters with a wide variety of different
forms of use, short distances to supply facilities,
flexible open spaces and barrier-free, lively
streetscapes. Participation in social, cultural,
sports and educational facilities is another
important aspect.
The manual “Gender Mainstreaming in Urban
Planning and Urban Development” formulates
qualities and recommendations for future
construction projects.
Vienna’s municipal territory holds numerous
areas and zones with development potential,
many of which were already singled out in earlier
urban development plans. They may be inner-city
brownfields and former railway station sites that
can be used for inner urban expansion as well as
areas in outer districts and at the urban periphery.
In the Mission Statement for Urban Development,
the bigger ones among these areas are
highlighted as “areas with development potential
for housing and work” ( Fig.8: Mission Statement
for Urban Development). The delimitation between
settlement zones and open landscapes according
to STEP 2005 is thus principally preserved.
In some of these areas offering development
potential, the process of change has already
been initiated; in others, it is under preparation;
in others again, planning has just begun. In all,
Vienna boasts areas that would offer space for up
to 135,000 dwellings and several million square
metres of potential office and centre function
space. Small-scale projects such as single plots,
gaps between buildings or storey additions are
not included in this calculation. For comparison:
135,000 dwellings correspond to all housing units
of the 12 th , 13t h and 14 th municipal districts taken
together. These spatial reserves provide a solid
basis for urban development. If made fully use of,
they permit the creation of housing, social and
technical infrastructure as well as workplaces for
more than 200,000 persons in sites whose location
and integration into the urban fabric make
them prime candidates for compact, urban and
resource-efficient development.
How much land will be consumed by this urban
growth will significantly depend on how compact
the new developments will be. Vienna today is
a city with a wide range of urban design solutions
that operate with highly diverse urban configurations
and generate different forms of urbanity.
In upcoming years, the task will lie in developing
urban quarters that combine the qualities of different
urban embodiments as smoothly as possible:
“centre” qualities, such as urban variety,
mixed uses and architectural flexibility, attractive
and vibrant public spaces, need to be blended
with qualities of outlying districts, such as private
and public green and open spaces, vicinity to recreation
zones and, often, minimal noise pollution.
This type of urbanised and resource-conserving
urban development and expansion becomes possible
if existing potentials can actually be realised
and if projects are implemented rapidly, efficiently
and closely linked to corresponding infrastructure
planning. Towards this goal, the following aspects
should be at the focus:
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