News
Dive into the Urban Lab’s latest publications, talks, events and more!
Circle U. Climate Day 2026
This year’s Circle U. Climate Day on April 22 at University of Vienna focuses on climate adaptation.
The Circle U. Climate Day is an initiative of the Circle U. Knowledge Hub on Climate and takes place simultaneously across all nine partner universities of the Circle U. Alliance. At the University of Vienna, the event is organised by Circle U. Climate Chair Kerstin Krellenberg and the Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL).
The second edition of the Climate Day highlights a diverse range of student perspectives on how climate adaptation is currently experienced at the University of Vienna and how it could evolve in the future. These perspectives were collected in the lead-up to the event by engaging with students across different study programmes and university locations.
Visiting Now: Guest Professor Harutyun Vermishyan from Yerevan State University – Afterlives of Soviet Industrial Urban Structures
The Urban Sustainability Living Lab is proud to announce that Dr Harutyun Vermishyan (Yerevan State University YSU) will join the Department of Geography and Regional Research as a Guest Professor (Research) in April and May 2026.
Recap and reflections on the ReCITY project 2025
Over the past year, the ReCITY project has made significant progress in its aim to better understand urban transformations in small, former industrial cities in Armenia. A particular highlight in 2025 were three research trips of the Univie project team to Armenia, as well as two visits of the YSU project lead Harutyun Vermishan to Vienna. The field trips to Armenia provided numerous insights into urban development of the three small Armenian cities – Charentsavan, Sisian and Stepanavan, which are at the centre of the research project. On the other hand, all exchanges contributed significantly to strengthening cooperation within our international project team.
Circle U. Climate Day 2026
On Wednesday, 22 of April 2026, the second Circle U. Climate Day will take place at University of Vienna. As in the previous year, different activities will be conducted on the same day across all nine Circle U. partner universities.
A Place in the City: Screening and Discussion
The Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL) warmly invites you to a screening of Gabriel Silvestre’s film “A Place in the City” followed by a discussion, at SOHO Studios Vienna. The documentary explores resistance and hope in South American cities and serves as a call to rethink urban planning. The event is supported by the University of Vienna´s Environment and Climate Hub (ECH). A Brown Bag Lunch will also take place the following day, providing an opportunity for further exchange and discussion with Gabriel Silvestre.
Where do we come from and where are we headed as urban researchers? On the positionality of the Urban Studies student cohort (2025–2027)
At the end of January 2026, the first cohort of the specialisation in ‘Urban Studies’ (2025-2027) of the new Master’s programme ‘Geographies of Global Change and Sustainability Transformations’ at the University of Vienna took on the challenge of co-creating a collective positionality statement that will guide them through the coming semesters of their study programme.
Turning Ideas into Action: Reflections from the Science for Policy Hackathon Pitch Event
On January 15, 2026, the Policy Hackathon Pitch Event marked the culmination of the intensive, practice-oriented Urban Research to Practice: Science for Policy course focused on enabling students to engage with the science-policy interface and develop evidence-informed urban sustainability policies tailored for the City of Vienna.
ReCITY Summer School 2026 – Exploring Armenia’s Post-Industrial Cities
The ReCITY project is proud to announce its 2026 summer school, inviting urban activists and young active people to take part in an interdisciplinary program focusing on challenges and opportunities of post-industrial small cities in Armenia. The summer school will take place in the city of Stepanavan (Armenia) from July 6–12, 2026, combining workshops, fieldwork, and creative design practices. Over one week, participants will collaboratively practice innovative, participatory research methods to critically reflect on urban heritage, socio-spatial inequalities, inclusivity, and power relations in post-industrial contexts.
From Evidence to Action: A Science for Policy Hackathon
Over two intensive days on January 7th & 8th, 2026, more than 20 interdisciplinary Master’s students from the Urban Research to Practice: Science for Policy Hackathon course worked collaboratively to translate complex urban challenges in Vienna into concrete, evidence-informed and actionable policy recommendations.
ZOE Stakeholder Workshop in Slovenia
On December 12, 2025, the last of a total of five stakeholder workshops for the ZOE-project took place in in Postojna, Slovenia. The aim of the workshop was to identify and discuss local behaviours and structural factors in the emergence 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.
Circle U. Climate Day 2026
This year’s Circle U. Climate Day on April 22 at University of Vienna focuses on climate adaptation.
The Circle U. Climate Day is an initiative of the Circle U. Knowledge Hub on Climate and takes place simultaneously across all nine partner universities of the Circle U. Alliance. At the University of Vienna, the event is organised by Circle U. Climate Chair Kerstin Krellenberg and the Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL).
The second edition of the Climate Day highlights a diverse range of student perspectives on how climate adaptation is currently experienced at the University of Vienna and how it could evolve in the future. These perspectives were collected in the lead-up to the event by engaging with students across different study programmes and university locations.
A Place in the City: Screening and Discussion
The Urban Sustainability Living Lab (USLL) warmly invites you to a screening of Gabriel Silvestre’s film “A Place in the City” followed by a discussion, at SOHO Studios Vienna. The documentary explores resistance and hope in South American cities and serves as a call to rethink urban planning. The event is supported by the University of Vienna´s Environment and Climate Hub (ECH). A Brown Bag Lunch will also take place the following day, providing an opportunity for further exchange and discussion with Gabriel Silvestre.
Circle U. Climate Day 2026
On Wednesday, 22 of April 2026, the second Circle U. Climate Day will take place at University of Vienna. As in the previous year, different activities will be conducted on the same day across all nine Circle U. partner universities.
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.
Visiting Now: Guest Professor Harutyun Vermishyan from Yerevan State University – Afterlives of Soviet Industrial Urban Structures
The Urban Sustainability Living Lab is proud to announce that Dr Harutyun Vermishyan (Yerevan State University YSU) will join the Department of Geography and Regional Research as a Guest Professor (Research) in April and May 2026.
Recap and reflections on the ReCITY project 2025
Over the past year, the ReCITY project has made significant progress in its aim to better understand urban transformations in small, former industrial cities in Armenia. A particular highlight in 2025 were three research trips of the Univie project team to Armenia, as well as two visits of the YSU project lead Harutyun Vermishan to Vienna. The field trips to Armenia provided numerous insights into urban development of the three small Armenian cities – Charentsavan, Sisian and Stepanavan, which are at the centre of the research project. On the other hand, all exchanges contributed significantly to strengthening cooperation within our international project team.
Where do we come from and where are we headed as urban researchers? On the positionality of the Urban Studies student cohort (2025–2027)
At the end of January 2026, the first cohort of the specialisation in ‘Urban Studies’ (2025-2027) of the new Master’s programme ‘Geographies of Global Change and Sustainability Transformations’ at the University of Vienna took on the challenge of co-creating a collective positionality statement that will guide them through the coming semesters of their study programme.
Call for Applications: 40 Doctoral Positions in the Social Sciences, Humanities & Cultural Studies at University of Vienna
The University of Vienna invites applications for at least 40 fully funded (30h/week), 4-year doctoral positions in a university-wide call, seeking international talent committed to cutting-edge research who would like to become part of a doctoral programme at the University of Vienna.
