Greening Vienna. The Multi-Level Interplay of Urban Environmental Policy–Making

Abstract

Vienna is widely recognised as an example of urban sustainability, crowned as one of the most liveable cities worldwide by several quality of life rankings. Despite being highly committed to incorporating the ecological and social dimension into its urban development strategy, Vienna is undergoing a deep transition, orienting its urban policy more closely toward economic criteria and techno-managerial solutions to climate change. While European capitals have been extensively studied, research on Vienna's environmental policy strategies lacks international visibility in urban studies. To address this paucity of research, this article identifies and unpacks critical junctures, moments characterised by policy shifts occurred in the last 30 years. The article disentangles the synchronisation or de-synchronisation of the inter-and cross-level relations underpinning Vienna's policy changes. From a methodological standpoint, we employ a process tracing method relying on evidence gathered through the analysis of regulatory and policy documents complemented by interviews with key informants involved in the policy-making process at different territorial levels. The findings cast light on the benefits of and barriers to multilevel coordination in the realm of climate policy and adaptation strategies, pinning down the critical junctures and the multilevel interaction in Vienna's climate policy evolution.

Potential and limitations of innovative housing solutions in planning for degrowth: the case of Vienna

“…In the last decade, this trend is being reinforced since Vienna started to experience steep population growth. Indeed, a combination of massive in-migration and economic growth policies led the local authority to turn again towards urban expansion (Mocca, Friesenecker, and Kazepov 2020). Not to mention the fact that urban expansion stands in opposition to degrowth narratives, as explored by Exner (2018) already, but Vienna aims to transform brownfield sites rather than use greenfield sites for urban expansion.…”

Smart and Sustainable? Positioning Adaptation to Climate Change in the European Smart City

“…Looking back at the three analyzed cities, we have observed that a holistic approach to both Smart City strategies and adaptation to climate change is of vital importance, as integrated urban systems will make the governance of traditionally separate but interdependent urban services less complex and more efficient [30]. In the case of Vienna, we have found that adaptive cities can also benefit from the Smart City approach, as the Smart City Wien Framework has unified various separate initiatives under the Smart City umbrella [58], leading to a surge in funded Smart Environment projects [51,56]. Rotterdam is becoming more adaptive to climate hazards due to new technologies, which contribute to faster and more accurate decision-making in the struggle against sea-level rise [47].…”

“…In 2017, however, the initiative Adapting to Climate Change in Vienna [49] was launched under Vienna's broader Climate Protection Programme, KLiP Wien, which has already been active for over two decades (although with more focus on the reduction of CO2). Still, there is a lack of research in urban studies that concern Vienna's adaptation strategies [58]. Even so, the Adapting to Climate Change in Vienna initiative points out that more attention will be paid to the extension of green spaces and the creation of more shade spots in order to better address Vienna's vulnerability to extreme heat [49].…”

“…Curiously, the slogan for Vienna's adaptation initiative is 'Get Climate-Smart', and many small-scale adaptation efforts, such as community gardens, façade greening, infiltration of street water, vertical gardens and Vienna's first climate-adapted street, equipped with evaporative cooling arches, fall under the banner of the Smart City Wien Framework. Mocca et al [58] argue that Vienna's Smart City framework bundles economic strategies with the environmental programs, which assured greater interdepartmental cooperation even though the administration is still mainly driven by means of a silo structure.…”

“…As climate impacts differ from city to city, there is no universally valid approach, neither for smart city initiatives nor for adaptation efforts. Vienna is an exemplary case in the sense of a holistic approach to the Smart City Wien framework, which integrates other economic and environmental strategies, even though there is still evidence of fragmented work processes across departments within the administration [58]. Barcelona made significant progress on the involvement of citizens and attempting to centralize cross-departmental collaboration through the Urban Service Infrastructure Boards, despite pointing out its complexity due to the fact that data are still often managed in isolation [41].…”