A Short Night of Urban Development III

The project ‘A Short Night of Urban Development III’ served to establish a long-running series of events dedicated to establishing the position of urban development and advancing discourse and the development of future perspectives in the field of urban development in Vienna on an expert level. In summer 2004 a topic centred programme was launched by all institutions responsible for ‘gentle urban development’ in Vienna at the faculty of architecture and planning of the Vienna University of Technology to celebrate the 30th anniversary of these institutions. In summer 2008 the event ‘A Short Night of Urban Development II’ was held for a second time in the district of Ottakring as a workshop aided by EU funding under
the title ‘Urbanité mon amour’.

In the summer semester 2011, ‘A Short Night of Urban Development III’ was organised as a further instalment in this series of events. During the course of this event the results of urban development were presented to a broad public audience. In accordance with the overall theme the municipality of Vienna initiated contributions regarding an intense discourse surrounding the future of a city layout dating back to the time of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the framework of the course, exemplary and visionary research fed into the possible advancement and further development of city structures dating back to the Austrian monarchy. A major emphasis was placed on substantiating and assessing these concepts.

During the process of this project the abandoned premises of the former tavern VORSTADT in the municipal district of Ottakring were acquired to enable students to familiarise themselves with the living conditions at a location from the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to analyse the situation and to intensify contact with the local population. This process was complimented by lectures by renowned experts and subject-specific discussions.

With the assistance of the municipal authorities of the 16th district, the abandoned tavern VORSTADT in the 16th municipal district at the corner of Herbststrasse / Haberlgasse was able to be used under a Contract of Precarium for the project. The acquisition of the premises by the students was not only an important didactic contribution to the development programme but also provided a unique chance to temporary increase the value of this extraordinary location.

Two architectural models of the Hippviertel neighbourhood of the Lerchenfelder Gürtel / Gablenzgasse / Kirchstetterngasse / Thaliastrasse were created out of polystyrene in the scale of 1:250. These models were permanently installed in the working rooms at the former VORSTADT tavern and exemplarily transformed during the course of the project.

To adequately document the working processes time-lapse cameras were installed above the models. All simulated and documented transformation processes of the models are based on the following assumptions:

• There will not be any block by block radical ‘razing’ renewal.
• The structures of the parcels of land stay untouched.
• All typical transformation processes occur according to the principles of an ecologically orientated urban renewal.
• A diverse use of the premises (living, working, leisure time, culture, public facilities) and a mix of social strata are ensured.
• Housing density and the density of facilities will not be decreased.
• A final state is not the aim of the project – the emphasis lies on the process itself.

There was a parallel process of transformation on both models to enable the simulation of different scenarios. The HIPP (city centre) mainly focused on the creation of high quality places of employment and the commercial use of the area. The prevalent method employed in this scenario was classic ‘top-down urban development’. The HOPP (suburbia) scenario put its main emphasis on quality living for families. Here the students had agreed to simulate a ‘bottom-up development process’ as their modus operandi. The individual parcels of land were attributed to students by lot. Every student or participant had to take responsibility for approximately 20 parcels as a result. Urban developments with a greater effect on
the area had to be settled in a general discourse.

The final presentation of the project took place on 30 June at the premises of the former VORSTADT tavern in the course of the ‘A Short Night of Urban Development III’.

The main result of the project is the film TRANSFORMATION, comprising material cut to a length of 30 minutes. This film was created during the course of the architecture project, but is not primarily meant as a mere documentary. A compilation of expert opinions (interviews), illustrations and the depiction of urban transformation in model format may be seen as a valuable contribution to an urbanist discourse.