WieNeu+ is a 10-year urban renewal program of the City of Vienna, which is intended to contribute to making neighborhoods climate- and future-proof. Together with local actors and the population, different exemplary and future-oriented projects are developed and implemented in order to initiate and promote a positive dynamic. Participation and partnerships in the various target areas (districts) are supported.

Urban renewal encompasses all aspects that make up life in the built city: Buildings, the public space and the people who live and work locally and can participate in initiatives and projects. Therefore, the three pillars of the program are defined accordingly: Buildings & Energy, Public Space & Local Economy, and Participation. Great importance is also attached to knowledge and innovation management, i.e. anchoring the findings and results within the City of Vienna and among the stakeholders, in order to ensure sustainability.

The starting signal was given in 2021 in Vienna-Favoriten with the Grätzl Innerfavoriten. The Grätzl 20+2 followed at the beginning of 2023.

Participation and regional value creation

The programme embraces an array of different projects, from eco-friendly refurbishment of buildings, clean energy production and management, neighbourhood development and regeneration of ground-floor zones to energy-efficient cooling systems, vertical greening and circular building. The important thing is that local people and stakeholders from all sectors of the population are involved and have a say (e.g. through participatory budgeting).

Vienna’s local businesses also have a key role to play here: building refurbishment, in particular, is very conducive to regional value creation because the work is often small scale, labour intensive and not highly standardised, so it safeguards a large number of local jobs. Digital tools are also creating opportunities for innovative business models and services. Just as in Simmering, the public space as an outdoor living-room for local people and eco-friendly mobility options both play a prominent role in the programme. Among other objectives, WieNeu+ aims to help Vienna position itself as a model city for EU initiatives such as 100 Climate-Neutral Cities.

Grätzlmarie, the idea budget of WieNeu+

With the “Grätzlförderung” WieNeu+ supports, among others, owners who want to implement innovative solutions for future- and climate-friendly buildings in Grätzl 20+2. The implementation of innovative solutions is funded with up to 500,000 euros. The funding rate for the selected (future-oriented) measure is between 50% and 70% and also depends on the size of the company. Even planning services (preliminary or feasibility studies) for such ideas can be funded with up to 30,000 euros.

Integrated 10-year programme

WieNeu+ is an integrated programme of the urban renewal initiative Wir san Wien that serves as an umbrella for a large number of individual projects. It contributes to achieving the goals of the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fostering innovation in local urban neighbourhoods. As a headline project of the strategy “Vienna 2030 – Economy and Innovation” (in German), WieNeu+ has a time horizon of ten years.

The aim is that all neighbourhoods will be fit for the future by 2030. This will require incentives for investment in order to bring innovative products and services developed by regional businesses to market. In 2020, the City of Vienna used the Deep Demonstration – Climate-KIC programme to co-finance the preparatory phase with EU funding.  Under the leadership of the Municipal Department for Technical Urban Renewal (MA 25) a number of municipal departments and numerous other local partners are working together to implement the programme.

Prehistory

In 2016-2021, the City of Vienna implemented the EU Horizon 2020-funded Smart City project “Smarter Together – gemeinsam g’scheiter” in Simmering. From now on, the City of Vienna will apply the numerous findings and results achieved in other districts within the framework of WieNeu+, the urban renewal 2.0 programme. The primary aim is to further establish social and ecological innovations for better living, working, learning and getting around locally.

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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): As a model project, WienNeu+ contributes to the achievement of a whole series of SDGs – from SDG 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” and SDG 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” to SDG 7 “Affordable and Clean Energy”, SDG 9 “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure” and SDG 13 “Climate Action” – and also SDG 4 “Quality Education”.

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Contact

City of Vienna – Department for Technical Urban Renewal (MA 25)

Programme Director: Stephan Hartmann

E-Mail: wieneuplus@ma25wien.gv.at/
Website: wieneuplus.wien.gv.at