Space must be enough

“Vienna Plan” provides for a stop to urban expansion

Above the rooftops of the city, Mayor Michael Ludwig presented the new urban expansion plan with City Councillor for Planning Ulli Sima (left) and Neos planning spokesperson Selma Arapović (right).

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

The new - much narrower than before - urban development plan, which is now valid until 2035, does not envisage any additional urban expansion areas for Vienna. Nevertheless, the city hall has ambitious plans: The plans range from "garden streets" to the S-Bahn ring and "new urban centers".

Vienna adopts a new urban development plan every ten years, which City Hall must adhere to when planning and building. "Quality of life, affordability, social justice, environmental protection" were the guidelines for Mayor Michael Ludwig this time. Despite population growth, the town hall wants to implement this without new urban expansion areas other than those already defined.

Up to a population size of 2.25 million envisaged
Vienna's planning director Thomas Madreiter promised that the previously defined urban expansion areas - above all Rothneusiedl, Seestadt Aspern, Berresgassse, Oberes Hausfeld, Am Haidjöchl and Nordwestbahnhof - would be sufficient. The city is calculating with a population of 2.2 million people by the year 2035. "Compensatory vessels" for a further 50,000 people have also been considered, but "if there are more, we will have to sit down together again and think about something", Madreiter admitted.

We are no longer planning new green spaces for new housing.

Thomas Madreiter, Planungsdirektor

Bild: Jöchl Martin

Two thirds of the new apartments built in Vienna will be social housing, City Hall promises. Nevertheless, a green space ratio of at least 50 percent is to be maintained. According to the city's calculations, this currently stands at 53 percent. As an innovative project, "garden streets" are intended to make densely built-up areas more attractive. Planning City Councillor Ulli Sima has her eye on Gründerzeit districts in particular, where street sections are to be freed from car traffic and planted with greenery.

Hopes for the S-Bahn ring
In addition to urban expansion, the upgrading of existing urban areas is a central point of the plans. The western Gürtel districts are at the center of this. Brigittenau and Josefstadt, Inzersdorf, Kagran and Essling are also listed in the plan as existing urban development areas. In terms of transport policy, all of these areas are to be made accessible by increased public transport axes, in particular the long-promised S-Bahn ring. However, the plan also includes ideas such as extending the U2 underground line south to Meidling or extending streetcar lines beyond the city limits.

Arapović found the presentation of the plan above the rooftops of Vienna ideal: "The vineyards on the right, the Danube floodplains on the left, we are in a high-rise building and have the city in front of us - we can see all the topics of the urban development plan here in front of us."

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Much narrower than usual
Sima and Neos planning spokesperson Selma Arapović deny that the urban development plan, now just under 150 pages long, is a little more superficial than the previous 1000-page tomes: they have simply dispensed with the usual extensive justifications for the projects. Sima admitted that she herself had only read "almost all" of the previous plan.

ÖVP and Greens criticize lack of transparency, FPÖ sees "nice try"
Although ÖVP planning spokesperson Elisabeth Olischar concedes that the plan has some "very positive points", she criticizes the lack of transparency in the planning process, which has "once again been done in secret". They had been waiting six months for the plans to be presented and had hoped that they could be discussed transparently and developed together. Above all, urban planning needs "commitment, transparency and clarity". It remains to be seen whether the new urban development plan meets these requirements.

The Greens also criticized the long wait for the new urban development plan and the lack of transparency. In the view of party leader Peter Kraus, the paper makes "a huge detour" around the topic of traffic: There is nothing left of the former goal of reducing car traffic to 20 percent of total traffic this year and subsequently to 15 percent. Instead, they are now pushing for a "Lobau highway that has fallen out of time".

FPÖ planning spokesperson Toni Mahdalik sees the plan as just a "nice attempt" to conceal the fact that more green and arable land would indeed be sacrificed for future urban development projects. He sees the fact that "in the 22nd district alone, around 15 million m2 of fertile farmland has been blocked for construction" as proof of this.