Changing Neighborhood(s)

The research focuses on the living together in Viennese neighborhoods mainly composed by subsidized estates. In this context, it looks at the Monte Laa neighborhood as an example. The area comprises subsidized housing estates built since the early 2000s that stand for different generations of Viennese housing policies. It houses more than 3000 apartments and is still under construction.

In looking at Monte Laa the research discusses several questions:

• How has the living together among residents in the neighborhood developed so far and which factors have been most influencing?
• How does the development of the living together relate to implemented planning policies and measures at neighborhood level? 
• What were the effects of the residential turnover in the area?
• Which conclusions could we draw for future planning of subsidized housing estates?

The qualitative, empirical research builds the juxtaposition of two interview series with residents. It does for the moment cover an arch of seven years. The report draws from material collected in the context of this research project and of an earlier one, also commissioned by the Vienna Housing Research in 2011 (Karasz, Sirbegovic and Dika 2011). In both cases residents of Monte Laa were interviewed. I recorded the persons’ residential histories as well as their dwelling practices in biographical, narrative interviews. Most persons interviewed in 2011 were interviewed again in 2018. Moreover, I conducted several stakeholder­interviews and participant observations.

The specificity of the research project lies exactly in the repetition of biographical interviews with residents. This method results in a depth of analysis concerning both the quality of data and its temporal dimension, which is rare in research on the living together in residential areas in Vienna. The unusual extent of the studied period, moreover, emphasizes the temporal dimension of the living together in subsidized estates. Accordingly, the graphic representation of the changes between 2011 and 2018 is one of the core aspects of this research.

As first step of analysis, I relate several sets of data to each other, in order to reconstruct the living together in Monte Laa: implemented planning policy measures, neighborhood activities organized by residents of Monte Laa and activities in social media platforms at neighborhood level. In taking this juxtaposition as an entry point, I discuss the living together in Monte Laa in the context of an interplay between aspects that can be planned at neighborhood level and others that cannot.

The report points to several developments that had a relevant impact on the living together in Monte Laa: the strong turnover of residents in the estates under study, different forms of mobility enacted by residents, the important role of social media for the living together, shifting borders among residential groups as a consequence of the public debate on immigration in Austria and in other European countries, transformations of Monte Laa’s urban surrounding, as well as its experience by residents.

The research discusses how these developments intersect with a multiplicity of policy measures implemented by municipal, as well as by non­profit or profit oriented actors. Many of these policies had a supportive effect on the living together in the neighborhood. In parts, they could counteract broader processes that exceed the neighborhood level. In taking Monte Laa as example, the report, however, names several challenges and questions rising for future planning of subsidized housing in Vienna.