Cities like Vienna are confronted with increasingly complex challenges, such as adapting to the increasing severity and number of heatwaves, mitigating further climate change through drastically reducing carbon emissions in transport and housing, and protecting and increasing biodiversity.

Transdisciplinary research and engagement with different urban stakeholders such as policymakers, local administration, professional practitioners and residents is needed to collectively understand these complex challenges as well as develop possible solutions to address them. In the field of science to policy, research plays a crucial role by providing evidence that helps decision-makers develop targeted policy measures as well as evaluate the potential outcomes of their actions.

The following challenges are addressed in this year´s course:

Multifunctional Public Spaces (supported by MA18 – Urban Development and Planning)
What if parking spots become places for people, not cars? This challenge is about re-imagining Vienna’s streets by turning single-use parking spaces into multifunctional public areas that bring neighbourhoods together and encourage active mobility. You‘ll study successful examples of upgraded parking spaces and identify implementation barriers in Vienna and other cities, before proposing bold policies that re-imagine and develop multifunctional, public streetscapes across the city.

Green Spaces for People & Nature (supported by MA22 – Environmental Protection)
How can Vienna connect its green spaces to benefit both inhabitants and ecosystems? This challenge asks you to dive into strategies for resilient, interconnected green spaces. From biodiversity rich corridors and the barriers that prevent their development to digital monitoring tools, and shared stewardship, you’ll explore how to balance ecological health with social well-being, and shape green spaces that strengthen communities and regenerate environments.

Empowering Climate Action (supported by Director´s Office for Climate Affairs)
How can continuous learning inspire citizens to take meaningful climate action? This challenge focuses on how to make climate education continuous, inclusive and innovative – empowering people across all demographics. You’ll explore how neighborhoods, schools online platforms, and community initiatives can co-create knowledge and build a culture of continuous learning across Vienna that drives climate action.

The programme consists of two parts: a one-semester course (October – December), and a two-day Hackathon followed by a pitch (January). For the hackathon, students will work in interdisciplinary teams to develop strategies to address one of the thematic topics and the specified challenges provided by the City of Vienna. The challenges should be addressed in full or in part by referring to current research findings, information provided by the city, relevant local, national and international strategies and policies, and international good practices.

To achieve this, the hackathon follows a weekly course offered by the USLL (October to December), which focuses on building the knowledge and skills to analyse specific urban challenges. The course will train students in transdisciplinary skills and support  in establishing contact with the relevant Departments and experts at the City of Vienna, as well as provide them with expert inputs on policy making.

The hackathon itself will last for twodays, during which policy briefs and corresponding pitches will be developed. Here, the students will be supported by an expert in research based policy-making, as well as by experts by the City of Vienna.

The developed policy briefs will be pitched to a jury. The selected winners will present their pitch to a large audience during the lectures series “From Knowledge to Practice” (Ringvorlesung “Vom Wissen zum Handeln”) organised by the University of Vienna´s Environment and Climate Hub.

• Kick-off: 15 October, 1:15 pm – 4:30 pm, Marietta-Blau-Saal, Main Building (Universitätsring 1, 1010)
• Lecture Units: Wednesdays, 1:15 pm – 4:30 pm, from 22 October to 10 December, Lecture Room 21, Main Building (Universitätsring 1, 1010)
• Hackathon: 7–8 January, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, die HausWirtschaft (Bruno-Marek-Allee 5/1, 1020 Vienna)
• Final Pitch: 15 January, 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm, die HausWirtschaft (Bruno-Marek-Allee 5/1, 1020 Vienna)
• Winner’s Pitch: 21 January, 4:45 pm – 6:15 pm, Lecture Room 50, Main Building (Universitätsring 1, 1010); relevant for winning teams

• Prof. Kerstin Krellenberg, Dr. Julia Wesely and James Vandenberg from the Urban Sustainability Living Lab lead the VU/course supported by Leonard Derle (tutor)
• Senior experts from the City of Vienna provide first-hand input on the proposed challenges;
• Senior Policy expert Lene Topp leads the final hackathon format and provides expert knowledge on science for policy processes.
• The Univie:Innovation Team supports the organisation of the entire format and especially the final hackathon

On October 15^th, 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:

Read more: Kick-off: Urban Research to Practice

Between October and December 2025, the five groups of students have developed problem statements, which outline their respective policy challenge, analyse stakeholders, and consolidate the evidence base.

Food for thoughtSchool streets in ViennaReclaiming the curbWi(e)nterproof cityRoll out the green carpet