Stadtwandel - sustainable transformation and climate change adaptation of town and city centers

Starting point / motivation

Building Stock Deficiency: Small towns and municipalities are often affected by vacant and under-occupied building stock in central locations. Without measures in terms of urban structure, housing supply and decarbonization, the existing stock is not fulfilling the conditions for future challenges.

Building stock deficiencies can occur due to:

• aging society
• long-term loss of purchasing power
• small-scale structures
• high redevelopment costs
• few green space connections
• lack of opportunities
• complex financing and funding structures, etc.

Individual showcase projects and initiatives contribute to cultural change. However, systematic and scalable solutions are still lacking.

Contents and goals

Stadtwandel is an integral and participatory process for transforming individual existing buildings in small towns and municipalities into a coherent housing association. (object cluster). Participating municipalities are: Trofaiach, Mautern, Zeltweg, Hartberg and Passail. In the exploratory study, a reproducible project process is elaborated, which enables municipalities and (non-profit) real estate developers to be more engaged in developments of existing buildings while involving local citizens.

The main objectives are:

• Substituting CO2 emissions from new residential construction by activating existing buildings
• Preventing land consumption and accelerating soil unsealing
• Decarbonizing building stock
• Creating livable and mixed-use urban spaces adapted to climate change
• Establishing new forms of housings and developing resilient structures for residents +

Methods

Innovative and scalable approaches:

• Existing buildings within close proximity of each other are developed as object clusters in a participatory process (study)
• Object clusters provide economic conditions for project implementation and ongoing operation
• The relevant size within the urban fabric ensures that Stadtwandel contributes to transformation and climate change adaptation
• Specific implementation within the existing framework conditions in coordination with urban development concepts, yet without lengthy procedures or rezoning

Expected results

Results for municipalities and non-profit developers:

• Finding fields of action for municipalities and real estate developers to develop and decarbonize building stock
• Identifying economic development opportunities through a planning study in relation to the funding landscape
• Outlining regulatory, tenancy and funding challenges and developing possible solutions

Results for future residents and citizens:

• Activation and long-term assurance of affordable living space in a central location
• Affordable operation with renewable energies
• Revitalization, unsealing and climate change adaptation of urban spaces
• Promotion of new housing models and mobility solutions

Project Management

einszueins architektur ZT GMBH

Project or cooperation partners

Consortium partners

• future.lab, TU Wien
• Stadtgemeinde Trofaiach
• RENOWAVE.AT e.G.
• Arch. DI Ute Reinprecht (EPU)
• Cloud NYNE GmbH
• ibri / Institute of Building Research and Innovation - ZT GmbH

Cooperation municipalities

• Stadtgemeinde Trofaiach
• Marktgemeinde Mautern
• Stadtgemeinde Zeltweg
• Stadtgemeinde Hartberg
• Marktgemeinde Passail

Project support

• BMKös, Abteilung IV/B/4 – Architektur, Baukultur und Denkmalschutz
• Land Steiermark, Abteilung 15; Energie, Wohnbau, Technik
• Land Steiermark, Abteilung 17; Landes- und Regionalentwicklung
• Regionalmanagement Obersteiermark Ost
• Rottenmanner Siedlungsgenossenschaft gemeinnützige eGen m.b.H.

einszueins architektur ZT GMBH
Arch. DI Markus Pendlmayr
Krakauer Straße 19/2
A-1020 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (1) 961 93 51
E-mail: office@einszueins.at
Web: www.einszueins.at