The Rothneusiedl urban development zone is located in Favoriten, the 10th district of Vienna in the south of the city. From around 2030 onwards, a new, pioneering neighbourhood is set to be built on the 124-hectare site. The aim is to create affordable housing, jobs, and leisure and relaxation opportunities as well as a high quality of life while mitigating climate change, conserving resources and embracing the circular economy. The planning process is currently being supported by a New European Bauhaus project.
The Rothneusiedl initiative aims to counter urban sprawl and create a “compact city” for 21,000 people.1 Around 65 per cent of the space is owned by wohnfonds_wien, with the remainder having been purchased by non-profit and commercial property developers. The “Rothneusiedl Charter” (Vienna City Council 2021)2 sets out nine principles designed to make the neighbourhood inclusive and climate-friendly in many ways, from renewable energy supply and rainwater management through to eco-friendly mobility and integrating local characteristics. As well as building modern, affordable housing, there are also plans to base an economic and business cluster here and attract companies with the potential to create some 8,000 jobs.
Preserving green space and biodiversity
Rothneusiedl has always been strongly shaped by agricultural use and is closely connected to it, and most of its agricultural structures have been preserved and become embedded in the local consciousness. Within the new neighbourhood, the historical “Zukunftshof” – literally “farm of the future” – will serve as a contact point for urban agriculture and as a community centre. With conserving the high-quality green space one of its overarching objectives, Rothneusiedl will also include 40 hectares of green and other open spaces with a positive climate impact.
Renewable energy and resource conservation
The new neighbourhood is set to feature renewable energy sources and a comprehensive rainwater management system, with green roofs and façades and unpaved streets helping the area adapt to climate change. Applying the principles of the circular economy consistently across the board will help break the link between growth and the consumption of non-renewables. Substances and materials are to be employed in such a way that they remain in use as products for as long as possible and can be recovered for future production processes at the end of their useful lives.
Learning from and with one another
The principles enshrined in the Rothneusiedl Charter contain some undeniably contentious measures such as the goal of banning cars from much of the new area’s centre. In order for a new urban coexistence of living, housing, and economic activity to emerge, future residents and businesses of the neighborhood, as well as the stakeholders involved in planning and construction, need a shared foundation. An integrated process built on dialogue was designed to this end that brings many different issues together and gets all the various target groups involved in the planning process from an early stage.
Innovative planning process
An urban design and spatial planning competition was launched in 2023 and given the form of a “competitive dialogue” (“wettbewerblicher Dialog”) under procurement law. This method allows urban development projects to be considered in an integrated manner by comparing and discussing various objectives such as building density, urban development and architectural quality, green and open spaces, transport and mobility, the public sphere, technical and blue-green infrastructure, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation and the circular economy. Right from day one, locals have been involved ahead of every important planning step by being offered events or online surveys where they can make suggestions for what should happen next. Additionally the RothNEUsiedl “team for the future” has been formed. It is made up of fourteen people chosen at random from the local area and the wider city and seven representatives from civic initiatives, the agriculture sector, civil society and the scientific and academic community. Work is ongoing to formulate an urban design mission statement to underpin the zoning and development plan.
Applying NEB principles
Supporting this mission statement process currently under way is the NEB-RothNEUsiedl project3, which is applying the NEB’s working principles in order to foster a lively building culture and increase acceptance for new forms of climate-friendly coexistence in the neighbourhood. This hinges on there being candid debate about any concerns and reservations concerning the current objectives for the area. The project is making use of a wide range of formats. Interviews with experts are helping to identify the broad outline of a contemporary understanding of building culture at neighbourhood level, while large-scale public events known as “NEB forums”4 are also being held. Themed workshops are providing the bulk of the content and opening the debate up to the experts for implementation on the ground. Interface meetings are making sure that the findings obtained are being incorporated into the process to define the mission statement, which is running in parallel. The main outcome of the project will be the “RothNEUsiedl NEB Compass”, which will contain the key elements of a shared understanding of the local building culture.
klimaneutralestadt.at/en/projects/tiks/10-rothneusiedl.php
initiative-bauhaus.at/fit4neb-vorbereitung-auf-die-geplante-eu-mission-new-european-bauhaus
1 The area was presented as a planned residential zone for the first time in Vienna’s urban development plan (Stadtentwicklungsplan, or STEP) of 1994 and, building on this, was identified as one of 13 target areas in STEP 2005. STEP 2025 defined the site specifically as a “potential area for living and working”. Some major objectives for southern Favoriten – which includes Rothneusiedl – were also set in the 2019 development strategy for this particular part of the city.
2 rothneusiedl.wienwirdwow.at/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/stek-rothneusiedl-2021.pdf
3 Project partners: Wohnfonds – Wiener Stadtwerke Entwicklungs GmbH (“WWEG”) (project management), City Council Department 21 A – Neighbourhood Planning and Zoning, Raumposition OG, MOURA. Mobilität und Raum e.U., future.lab Platform for Inter- and Transdisciplinary Teaching and Research – TU Wien
4 organized by climatelab.at
