Starting point / motivation

As a climate pioneer city, Villach is required to consistently integrate its ambitious climate neutrality targets for 2040 into urban planning, administration and decision-making processes. Numerous innovation projects such as KlimaQuartier Nikolai, SanierungsPLUS/IncorporatEE and QualitySysVillab have provided valuable insights into sustainable urban development, but these have so far been applied mainly on a project or neighbourhood basis.

A comprehensive structure that permanently links research, administration, business and civil society has not yet been established. With the Quartiers-Hub Villach (Q-Hub), the city is responding to this need.

The aim is to no longer treat climate neutrality and climate resilience as individual projects, but to anchor them as standard in all relevant urban development instruments. Villach is thus pursuing its ambition to secure the implementation of its climate goals in organisational, technical and procedural terms and to position itself as an Austrian model for systematic climate-neutral urban development. The city wants to show that climate neutrality is not a special case but can become the basis for municipal development.

Contents and goals

The project aims to establish the Q-Hub as an institutionalised structure that permanently steers climate-neutral and climate-resilient urban development. In order to ensure the long-term quality of life and location in the neighbourhoods, suitable and effective instruments for sustainable urban development are required.

Methods

The hub acts as a hub between administration, research, business and civil society and bundles the competencies of these actors. It develops transferable methods, processes and standards to ensure that climate targets are bindingly incorporated into sovereign and non-sovereign instruments such as development plans, funding logic, competitions and contracts.

The systemic approach is innovative: the Q-Hub combines governance, financing, digitalisation and participation into a comprehensive model. Digital twins and KPI dashboards enable data-based control, climate-active standards are applied at neighbourhood level and combined with new financing and cooperation models. The close integration of administration and research

Expected results

The Q-Hub establishes a permanent organisational structure for climate-neutral neighbourhood development and tests it in real neighbourhoods, such as Josefsmarkt and Nikolai-Viertel, including the Villach Congress Centre, in line with actual needs. Results include:

• a governance and organisation manual for climate-neutral urban development,
• a KPI dashboard for energy and climate resilience,
• new cooperation and financing models with property developers and investors,
• a digital monitoring and data room system for simulation and evaluation,
• a methodological basis for city-wide scaling and transferability.

Accompanying participation and communication processes ensure acceptance, transparency and integration into urban decision-making processes. In this way, the Q-Hub makes a central contribution to the implementation of Austria's 'Climate-Neutral City' mission, strengthens Villach as a location for innovation and creates a transferable model for other cities in Austria and Europe.

Project management

e7 GmbH

Project or cooperation partners

• City of Villach
• JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

e7 GmbH
Gerhard Hofer
Hasengasse 12/2
A-1100 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (1) 907 80 26
E-mail: gerhard.hofer@e-sieben.at
Web: www.e-sieben.at/en/