ABSTRACT
Being a livable city is rewarding and challenging at the same time. How urban planning contributes to the quality of life in cities is discussed using the example of Vienna, Austria.
Picking Vienna for a discussion on livable cities provides a variety of inputs on the topic. Vienna has been voted the city with the highest quality of life in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey six times in a row. Moreover, the city ranks high in tourism and provides comprehensive services for its inhabitants, allowing a high quality of life in the city. Reasons that make the city livable are, among others, extensive green space, such as the River Danube and its local recreation areas, affordable housing provided, comprehensive social services, and much more. The aim of the city of Vienna is to be livable and to stay livable.
Even though several achievements have been made, staying on top requires continuous effort; administrators work together with city politicians on strategies to keep Vienna livable. Therefore, various strategies and plans have been produced during the last year, which aim for high quality of life and identify steps in this direction. This chapter focuses on urban planning strategies and shows what urban planning can and has to contribute to a livable city.
The city of Vienna grounds its work on livability on its own periodic survey, Quality of Life in Vienna. In 2013, the survey was undertaken for the fourth time (1995, 2003, 2008). Therefore, metrics, which are based on a solid foundation, characterize the quality of life of Vienna’s inhabitants. The study provides numbers for all city districts and consists of 140 questions asked to 8,000 people. Viennese city planning uses the results of the study to define goals and strategies for the city’s development for the future. Current strategies are the Smart City Framework Strategy Wien and the Urban Development Plan 2025 (STEP 2025), which focus on urban planning instruments that help keep the city livable while dealing with challenges like population growth, lower financial resources, restrictions in respect to natural resource consumption, and so on. The key objective for 2050 in the Smart City Framework Strategy is the best quality of life for all inhabitants of Vienna, while minimizing the consumption of resources, which shall be realized through comprehensive innovation. The urban development plan aims at a true urban spirit, and its topics range from the further development of the existing city and questions related to land mobilization and business location policy, to networking within the metropolitan region, the planning of open space, and the transport system.
