News
Dive into the Urban Lab’s latest publications, talks, events and more!
ZOE Stakeholder Workshop in Slovakia
On 13 November 2025, the first stakeholder workshop in Slovakia took place in Marianka, a small town near Bratislava. It was organised by ZOE researchers from the Biomedical Research Centre in Bratislava and the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Three of our ZOE staff members, Julia Wesely, Charlotte Tienes and Johannes Richter, were involved in both the preparations and the implementation on site.
Future Urban Sustainability: Lessons Learnt from the SDGs and Perspectives for a Post-2030 Agenda
Kerstin Krellenberg and Julia Wesely edited a Special Issue in the Urban Planning Journal together with Florian Koch and Sarah Beyer from the University of Applied Sciences HTW Berlin. The Issue titled Future Urban Sustainability brings together diverse contributions to reflect on conceptual, methodological and practical barriers and advances in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and beyond.
“People-Centred Smart Cities” in the focus of World Cities Day 2025
The motto of this year’s World Cities Day on October 31st is “People-Centred Smart Cities”. The aim is to highlight the potential of how data-driven decision-making, technologies and artificial intelligence can help improve life in cities. The focus is on smart city initiatives that put people first and integrate inclusion and accessibility.
Kick-off: Urban Research to Practice
On October 15th, 30+ students from 11 Master´s programmes across the University of Vienna came together with the team from UniVie innovation, the Urban Sustainability Living Lab, and City of Vienna, to inaugurate this year´s Urban Research to Practice: Science for Policy Hackathon.
Climate Change Adaptation and Democracy in Berlin
From July 7 to 12, the second part of the comparative excursion “Democracy and Climate Change Adaptation in Berlin and Vienna” of the Department of Geography and Regional Research of the University of Vienna took place in collaboration with the Department of the Humboldt University of Berlin (HU-B).
Wild and important!– Workshop at the children’s university 2025
The workshop “Wild & Important!”, held by Charlotte Tienes, Sophie Gnadenberger and Julia Wesely, took place on July 16 as part of the University of Vienna’s Children’s University 2025. The aim was to introduce the 25 participating children aged 7 to 9 to urban ecosystems and the challenges they face.
Urban Research to Practice: Science for Policy Hackathon 2025/26
The Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL) in collaboration with UniVie Innovation Team and City of Vienna offer a course on Urban Research to Practice which includes lecture units, a 2-day hackathon and a final pitch event. The goal of this Urban Research to Practice format is to encourage Master students to further develop inter-and transdisciplinary skills and apply…
Circle U. Climate Day
The Circle U. Climate Day at the University of Vienna on June 5, 2025, was an open invitation to all participants to step into a good future. Organized by Circle U. Climate Chair Kerstin Krellenberg and her Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL), the event welcomed over 300 attendees in the University’s main and small ceremonial halls — making it the first Climate Day involving the Circle U. Alliance.
Climate Change Adaptation and Democracy in Vienna
From June 3 to 6, the first part of the comparative excursion “Democracy and Climate Change Adaptation in Berlin and Vienna” of the Institute of Geography and Regional Research of the University of Vienna took place in collaboration with the Institute of Geography of the Humboldt University of Berlin (HU-B)…
Project Midterm Meeting – The ZOE team meets in Bratislava
From May 22 to 24, 2025, the ZOE project team from the University of Vienna met with researchers from all over Europe and Central America and from various scientific disciplines for a three-day intensive exchange to discuss the links between deforestation, the loss of biodiversity and the occurrence of zoonoses.
Essential Concepts for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. An A-Z Guide
This book provides a highly accessible and user-friendly overview of the essential concepts and terms related to the current global endeavour to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
Overlooked people, places, and practices: shifting the gaze in Asian and South African cities
Overlooked cities, being overlooked, counter-overlooking: With these three terms, the special issue of the journal Urbanisation, edited by Isolde de Villiers and Julia Wesely, encourages a critical reflection on so-called “global” urban research from the perspective of the misrecognized, the poorly recognized and the unrecognized…
Book review: Colin McFarlane, Waste and the City
The Crisis of Sanitation and the Right to Citylife
Joint Inaugural Lecture
Kerstin Krellenberg’s inaugural lecture for the professorship at the Institute of Geography and Regional Research will take place on January 11, 2023 in the main hall of the University of Vienna. Find out more here…
Hitze, Überschwemmungen und Co. – Klimawandel findet Stadt und statt
The lecture by Kerstin Krellenberg at the University of Vienna on Youtube. (German)
ERN-Environmental Engagements:talks.
Kerstin Krellenberg talking about “Urban Sustainability Transformations” on Youtube.
Researching for our wonderful planet Earth: the ZOE team at Planet Earth Day
To mark International Earth Day, Planet Earth Day took place on Sunday 27.4.25 at the University of Vienna’s GeoCenter. The ZOE project team was represented with the stand “Wild & Important: How the health of animals, forests and humans are connected” at the Marketplace of Sciences.
Wild and important!– Workshop at the children’s university 2025
The workshop “Wild & Important!”, held by Charlotte Tienes, Sophie Gnadenberger and Julia Wesely, took place on July 16 as part of the University of Vienna’s Children’s University 2025. The aim was to introduce the 25 participating children aged 7 to 9 to urban ecosystems and the challenges they face.
Circle U. Climate Day
The Circle U. Climate Day at the University of Vienna on June 5, 2025, was an open invitation to all participants to step into a good future. Organized by Circle U. Climate Chair Kerstin Krellenberg and her Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL), the event welcomed over 300 attendees in the University’s main and small ceremonial halls — making it the first Climate Day involving the Circle U. Alliance.
Wo die Zuagrasten aus anderen Bundesländern in Wien leben
Yvonne Franz talked to derStandard about where domestic migrants settle in Vienna – check out the article here!
Reimagining Urban Education – Podcast
Yvonne Franz reflects together with Stefan de Corte on the 4Cities Master, which will come to an end in 2025.
The Urban Political Podcast: Sanitation and the right to citylife
Listen to the podcast about urban sanitation with Julia Wesely and other experts from different universities!
JETzt: Podcast
How to get more trees in the city – how to create an efficient green infrastructure in the city? Episode 25 of the JETzt podcast features Kerstin Krellenberg.
The city of the future – Ö1 Science Arena
At the invitation of Barbara Dalheimer, urban researcher Kerstin Krellenberg and architect Bernd Vlay discussed the city of the future.
Kick-off: Urban Research to Practice
On October 15th, 30+ students from 11 Master´s programmes across the University of Vienna came together with the team from UniVie innovation, the Urban Sustainability Living Lab, and City of Vienna, to inaugurate this year´s Urban Research to Practice: Science for Policy Hackathon.
Climate Change Adaptation and Democracy in Berlin
From July 7 to 12, the second part of the comparative excursion “Democracy and Climate Change Adaptation in Berlin and Vienna” of the Department of Geography and Regional Research of the University of Vienna took place in collaboration with the Department of the Humboldt University of Berlin (HU-B).
Urban Research to Practice: Science for Policy Hackathon 2025/26
The Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL) in collaboration with UniVie Innovation Team and City of Vienna offer a course on Urban Research to Practice which includes lecture units, a 2-day hackathon and a final pitch event. The goal of this Urban Research to Practice format is to encourage Master students to further develop inter-and transdisciplinary skills and apply…
