TRUE URBAN SPIRIT

3 VIENNA: REACHING BEYOND ITS BORDERS
SPACE FOR
SMALL-SCALE
BUSINESSES
Small-scale enterprises – from “traditional” sectors” to new
businesses in knowledge-intensive service segments and creative
industries – are an important part of Vienna’s entrepreneurial
landscape and often the home of product and service innovations.
They revive ground-floor zones and public space, strengthen
neighbourhoods and are part and parcel of a city of short
distances. The safeguarding of attractive ground-floor zones for
enterprises, a mix of housing and workplaces in both existing and
new buildings and the preservation and strengthening of commercial
and industrial structures in densely built-up urban areas are
thus key priorities for the coming years.
URBAN SPACES FOR
ENTREPRENEURIAL VISIONS
“Urban spaces for entrepreneurial visions” is a slogan
that embodies a group of measures that aim to ameliorate
the frame conditions for the commercial use of
ground-floor zones, storefronts, former shop premises
or backyard buildings. This improves the preconditions
for mixed-use approaches e. g. in new buildings
by stipulating additional ceiling heights for groundfloor
zones. In suitable areas and fine-tuned with public
space design, a certain ratio of areas is reserved
for trade, production/commerce, services, etc. in order
to generate incentives for the construction, rehabilitation
or adaptation of rooms and shops for businesses
that tie in well with the housing environment. Moreover,
Vienna wants to adapt the requirements for mandatory
parking slot provision incumbent on enterprises
in order to prevent that a business will be unable to
open because it cannot provide the legally mandatory
minimum number of parking slots for customers. This
is to create a palpable easing of the financial burden
especially for smaller enterprises.
Identification of zones suitable for mixed-use concepts.
Definition of minimum ground-floor ceiling heights in suitable
locations.
Widening of legal possibilities to revitalise ground-floor
zones in urban development areas, e. g. in the context of
development agreements, housing construction promotion or
other legal procedures.
Development of new procedures to protect existing smallscale
trades and backyard premises.
Evaluation of potential simplifications of space utilisation
regulations for existing buildings (e. g. for offices or groundfloor
spaces).
Adaptation of the Garage Act – basic objective: smaller
shops should be exempted from the mandatory requirement
to provide parking slots.
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