ARL Summer School 2024

Urban transitions in Vienna – Let’s explore Viertel Zwei

Report by Matthias Neumeister

This year‘s ARL (Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association) summer school was an exciting and collaborative event, hosted in partnership with our department. Organised by Meike Levin-Keitel, Britta Bockhorn (ARL) and Axel Priebs (ARL) the summer school delved into spatial transformation practices from a planning perspective.

On the afternoon of the second day, Yvonne Franz from our department led a captivating field trip to Viertel Zwei in the second district. This is a site of both recently finished and still ongoing urban developments.  The area, a blend of completed and ongoing developments, is built around a historically significant horse racing track. It serves as a fascinating case study of urban transition, balancing the interests of various public and private stakeholders.

To add a more interactive part to the field trip, it was also accompanied by an activity planned by Michael Kloiber and Matthias Neumeister that focused on the PhD students’ perceptions of the area. By using a PPGIS (public participation GIS) tool, we were able to visualise the students’ perceptions. Using this link, you can now also explore what different PhD students from around the world think about Viertel Zwei, what they consider to be pleasant places and what they believe to be less than ideal.

Based on the results of the survey, we can see that perceptions of Viertel Zwei vary quite a lot. The fact that certain places are being perceived as negative by some and positive by others underlines how polarising new developments can be and how important it is to consider intended target groups when developing (urban) space. Try it out for yourself! You’ll find points that were labelled as positive and as negative which are very close to each other or even deal with the same place. By pressing on the points, you can see what led the students to their rating. In some cases, you can even access a picture of what was categorised – here, you can decide whether or not you agree with the rating. You might even find a very polarising water fountain.

Of course, based on the limited number of participants, the produced map cannot be considered scientifically relevant, and its results are anything but statistically significant. However, even despite the small number of participants, we can see that using PPGIS may help gather interesting information. With a higher number of participants, it can certainly benefit urban development and add another dimension to public participation.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the ARL and everyone from our department who contributed to making this summer school a success!

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