STOCK DEVELOPMENT

The days when urban development was thought of only as a tabula rasa are long gone. Cities are evolved organisms that can be accommodated not by radical cuts but by continued building in the best sense of the word. This is how social coexistence is maintained, resources are able to be used sparingly and environmentally-friendly mobility concepts are made possible.

As early as the 1970s, Vienna secured a valuable stock with the gentle urban renewal of Gründerzeit neighborhoods, from which the city is still benefitting today. A generation later, the housing estates of the 1950s to 1970s are coming into focus. Here, the focus is on energy refurbishment, but also on questions of mobility and socially sustainable further development.

As part of the IBA_Vienna, two projects are dedicated to the future of large housing estates: Smarter Together in Simmering and the Per-Albin-Hansson-Siedlung in Favoriten. Their focus is on innovative redevelopment methods as well as on the acceptance of changes by residents. The generous green spaces play an important role and can become new spaces of opportunity for all generations.

Other projects aim at the development of existing housing in Gründerzeit neighborhoods. Here it is committed private actors who, with projects such as Apfelbaum, G’mischter Block or Pocket Mannerhatten, show what contributions civil society can make to responsible overall development of housing in the city.