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 will be addressed by groups of participants. Please note that all challenges are subject to change and will be further specified in the course.

Cooling Infrastructures for Climate and Health Justice
How can Vienna ensure all of its citizens stay cool, safe, and healthy during increasingly hot summers? This challenge invites you to rethink how cooling infrastructures (like public cool zones or green spaces) can be made more accessible to diverse groups of users, especially those most vulnerable to heat. You’ll explore which factors make people more or less vulnerable to heat and identify barriers for different groups of people to accessing and using cooling infrastructure. Finally, you‘ll design policy recommendations that make such infrastructures more just and inclusive.

Multifunctional Public Spaces
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
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
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, 4:00 pm – 8:00 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

• In addition to registering via u:find,  students must complete a short form, which will be the basis for selecting students for this course.
• Please note that the 5 ECTS course (VU) and hackathon have to be taken together. There will be space for up to 50 participants.
• For questions, please contact hackathon.geographie@univie.ac.at