Soil sealing

These are Austria’s biggest concrete construction sins

The city road in Vienna is a thorn in Greenpeace's side.

(Bild: APA/GREENPEACE/MATJAZ KRIVIC)

Greenpeace presented the nine winning projects of the "Austria's 9 Concrete Treasures" initiative at an exhibition in Vienna's Museumsquartier on Tuesday. According to the environmental organization, prizes for "outstanding concrete achievements" were sent to those responsible for the construction projects. The provincial winners in this negative competition included the Stadtstraße in Vienna, the Wiener Neustadt eastern bypass in Lower Austria and the Feldkirch "tunnel spider" in Vorarlberg.

The other concrete treasures - five of which were put to the vote in each province - were the XXXLutz central warehouse in Zurndorf in Burgenland, the LCAS-Nord truck distribution center in Carinthia and Playworld Spielberg in Styria. In Upper Austria, the Ehrenfeld II industrial estate in Ohlsdorf was chosen as the negative prize winner, in Salzburg the luxury resort "Six Senses Residences Kitzbühel Alps" came out on top and in Tyrol the planned Unterbürg St. Johann industrial estate.

"Concreting over meadows and forests"
"Austria's fertile meadows and forests are being concreted over day after day for gigantic road projects, retail parks and industrial estates. At the same time, many areas that are already sealed are not being used, or not used efficiently enough, and soil continues to be wasted," criticized Greenpeace soil protection expert Melanie Ebner. The participation in the vote shows the great attention being paid to this problem.

The XXXLutz central warehouse in Zurndorf won the race in Burgenland.

(Bild: APA/GREENPEACE/MATJAZ KRIVIC)

"We are in the midst of a soil crisis in Austria and internationally - soil is a public good that we must understand, respect and increasingly also protect: for a good climate, refreshing water and out of respect for other living beings," added Sabine Knierbein, Professor in the Urban Culture and Public Space research department at the Institute of Spatial Planning at TU Wien.

Concrete desert as a playground: Playworld in Spielberg

(Bild: GREENPEACE/MATJAZ KRIVIC)

Politics urgently required
In the course of the current initiative, Greenpeace turned to the state governments and demanded that they take measures against excessive land consumption. Quantitative limits were specified to curb land consumption. Land recycling should also be checked before land destruction and the land requirement should initially be covered by already developed inner-city areas.

The Feldkirch "tunnel spider"

(Bild: Greenpeace/Mitja Kobal)

In addition, the federal states should now introduce regionally and socially adapted vacancy taxes - including for commercial and industrial areas - where this is also possible in terms of jurisdiction. "Because an accurate vacancy tax is an important tool for activating vacancies and curbing land sealing for new construction," it said.

Luxury resort instead of forest: the "Six Senses Residences Kitzbühel Alps" in Salzburg

(Bild: Greenpeace/Mitja Kobal)

Over several weeks, more than 400 construction projects were submitted following a Greenpeace appeal. The final winning projects were then selected with the help of a public vote and evaluated by a jury of experts. Over 20,000 people took part in the public vote.

In a reaction to the results, the Green Party spoke of a "concrete frenzy in Austria". The award-winning examples show how nature and valuable livelihoods are being destroyed for "ugly concrete sins and misguided spatial planning". "When will it finally sink into the heads of national politicians: the people of Austria want real soil protection. Because soil protection is nature and climate protection, flood protection, drinking water protection and ultimately also human protection," said Ulrike Böker, soil protection spokesperson for the Green Party.