The Vienna Model 2 – Housing for the City of the 21st Century

Foreword
The exhibition and publication The Vienna Model – Housing for the Twenty-First-Century City
highlighted Vienna’s position as an international model city in 2013. Based on nearly one
hundred years of social housing tradition in Vienna, it illustrated how the Austrian federal
capital had become a successful example for a housing policy geared to the needs of the
population at the beginning of the 21st century.
The book’s second edition covers an expanded selection of pioneering social housing projects
in Vienna, and provides comprehensive analyses of current housing policy developments
in Europe, North America and Asia. The projects implemented in Vienna reflect current
developments in society. For instance, a project from the so-called Rapid-Response Building
Programme (Sofortbauprogramm) illustrates the City of Vienna’s answer to rapid population
growth and the ensuing increase in housing demand. Another example, the internationally
unique project “Biotope City”, shows options for major cities affected by climate change.
The present publication also includes new information on the international building exhibition
IBA_Vienna, which focuses on “New Social Housing”. This innovation programme
is designed for a multi-year timeframe and enhances Vienna’s position as an international
competence centre for social housing policy.
We would like to thank all authors and the editors, Wolfgang Förster and William Menking,
for their commitment in the hope that this book will inspire the construction of social
housing internationally.
Dr. Michael Ludwig
Mayor of the City of Vienna
Kathrin Gaál
Executive City Councillor for
Women’s Issues and Housing
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