Projects
List of our projects
The European research project “Access to affordable and quality housing for all people” aims to provide a comprehensive and comparative overview of how housing policies are delivered across the ESPON territory, and develop a comprehensive definition of housing affordability at the EU level taking into account a broad range of indicators and the diversity of European territories and their specificities. In addition, the project shall investigate and map the current public policies regarding affordable and quality housing in Europe and to what extent these are coordinated at different geographical levels and integrated in spatial planning and territorial development policies, as well as aligned with territorial development strategies.
The main objective of HOUSE4ALL is to provide recommendations to policymakers at different geographical levels on how to create and provide access to affordable and quality housing - taking into account European policy goals related to territorial cohesion and the EU Green Deal.
Selected service provider: Technische Universität Wien (Austria)
Project duration: 24 months
Source: ESPON, opens an external URL in a new window
The European research project “Territorial governance of non-standard geographies” aims to improve the understanding of emerging functional territories in terms of their definitions, delimitations, development trends and ongoing cooperation arrangements.
The project covers the entire ESPON Programme area and provides policy advice to stakeholders at all relevant levels on how to improve territorial governance mechanisms and harness the potential of functional approach in planning and governance
Selected service provider: Spatial Foresight GmbH (Luxembourg)
Project duration: 24 months (2023 - 2025)
Extreme weather events, glacier melt and biodiversity loss - climate change is hitting mountain regions harder than average. This is where the new 4.5-year EU research project MountResilience with the collaboration of SRF comes in.
In a scientifically accompanied process, six regions in Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Finland, Italy and Switzerland are implementing pioneering demonstration projects to increase climate resilience, e.g. innovative systems for rainwater harvesting or digital platforms for participation in adaptation processes. The experience gained from these will subsequently be applied in four other mountain regions in Spain, Croatia, Italy and Poland.
The research area Urban and Regional Research plays a leading role in the preparation of these demonstration projects. The research team examines existing climate change adaptation strategies, instruments and projects in the regions concerned and, on this basis, prepares regional profiles that support a sound and problem-oriented implementation of the planned demonstration projects.
MountResilience is implemented within the framework of the Horizon Europe research program. The project is managed by the Università degli Studi di Milano (UMIL). A total of 47 project partners from 13 European countries are involved. The Research Unit Finance and Infrastructure Policy of the Institute of Spatial Planning is also involved in the project and is responsible for the ongoing evaluation of the implementation projects.
Project leader at the SRF: Johannes Suitner
Project staff at the SRF: Alina Bärnthaler, Katharina Gramiller
Through a detailed examination and analysis of transport and energy infrastructure projects, the actors involved and the underlying structures are considered. Particular attention is paid to financial institutions, national and international companies and their shareholdings that have contributed significantly to the realization of major infrastructure projects.
The project examines infrastructures that are relevant for passenger and freight transport as well as energy supply. These include airports, seaports, point energy infrastructures such as power plants and wind turbines, linear energy infrastructures such as power lines and pipelines, national roads, highways, as well as rail transport, railroad stations and related facilities.
In the first phase of the research project, the focus is on infrastructures in Serbia, while other countries will follow.
In the context of the energy and mobility transition, as well as the circular economy, these indicators reflect the local economic, social, and infrastructural conditions in a way that allows the individual vulnerability of specific cities to be derived. Thirty-two core indicators, which can be easily and quickly collected based on nationally available data sources, already provide a good overview of the specific susceptibility to crises. In addition, a catalog of 36 supplementary indicators, which can be additionally determined by municipalities from their own data sources, analyses, and surveys, offers the opportunity to detail, deepen, and refine the analysis of local vulnerabilities. The entirety of this data-based assessment is complemented by the subjective and qualitative assessment of local stakeholders, providing a comprehensive empirical basis for estimating local vulnerabilities. This database is intended to enable an evidence-based discussion of challenges, hazards, and developmental risks of cities, thus providing a solid foundation for the development of sustainable, interdisciplinary, and locally tailored resilience strategies.
To ensure the practical relevance and applicability of this methodological concept, a prototype of a digital tool was jointly designed, developed, and tested with the partner cities. Using this web-based dashboard, opens an external URL in a new window, subjective assessments of vulnerability criteria ("Self-Check") as well as data-based evaluations ("Full-Check") could be conducted in half-day practical labs and workshops with relevant city stakeholders. The results of these two assessments were summarized in local vulnerability profiles using appropriate representations (such as Sunburst diagrams, hazard potential matrices) and discussed with the participants regarding their empirical relevance and practical applicability. Based on the experiences and insights gained, a roadmap was developed for the completion and rollout of a web-based Vulnerability City Check for all of Austria. Following this action plan, the prototype developed in the project can be further developed into a flexible and user-friendly tool with manageable effort, supporting Austrian cities and municipalities in assessing their specific vulnerabilities, challenges, and hazards, and deriving sustainable planning strategies and control approaches to increase their resilience.
Projekt VESPA Sunbrust Lienz
March 2023 – March 2024
Project staff: H. Kramar, opens in new window (Project leadership)| S. Happ, opens an external URL in a new window | M. Haider | E. Pfeiffer, opens an external URL in a new window
Partners: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, opens an external URL in a new window / PlanSinn, opens an external URL in a new window
The research cooperation with the „Arbeiterkammer Wien“ deals with the mapping of multimodal commuter flows. On the one hand, the determinants of the mode choice were considered in detail and on the other hand, the following two modules were developed:
- Development of a multimodal routable network graph.
- Development of a statistical model to estimate the affinity for different modes.
In the first module, public transport, pedestrian traffic, bicycle traffic and motorized private transport were mapped. In addition to the Vienna city area, the area under consideration also includes the interlinked area that is characterized by intensive commuting relationships with the core city.
In order to be able to simulate passenger flows on the basis of the multimodal and routable network graph, it is necessary to clarify the question of the probability with which a person with certain characteristics chooses which mode of transport. Therefore, a statistical model that models the probabilities of using different modes of transportation was created. This model incorporates socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, gender and education level, and spatial indicators, such as accessibility, available public transport connection, location of destination and source, in addition to travel times per mode calculated on the basis of the network graph.
March 2022 - February 2023
Project staff: Kramar | Kalasek | Pühringer | Banabak | Haider
Partners: Arbeiterkammer Wien, opens an external URL in a new window (data management)
© Kalasek
Incremental steps won’t solve the climate crisis. Transformative change calls for greater leverage. Experimental approaches have thus gained traction recently. But what exactly makes living labs, socio-technical experiments, testbed planning, grassroots innovations and experimental policies valuable for climate governance? Which contexts and structural conditions determine their emergence and transformative impact? And how can successful climate experiments be upscaled? These and other questions are being addressed in the SIAMESE project.
SIAMESE interprets transformative experiments as social innovations. They constitute tailored solutions for grand societal challenges that change everyday practices and social interactions and thus hold the potential to promote transformative change.
SIAMESE analyzes such transformative experiments in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation in Austria, aiming to understand what facilitates them. To this end, we survey and characterize relevant experimental projects in Austria and investigate the context, knowledge capacities and resources that paved the way to their emergence and transformative impact. These insights will feed into the co-creation of a hub pooling knowledge about experimental approaches and supporting transformative climate governance.
October 2021 – September 2023
Project staff: Suitner (Principal Investigator) | Krisch | Aigner
Partners: ZSI – Centre for Social Innovation
Contact: Johannes Suitner
This project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund and is carried out within the framework of the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP).
Research project within the funding programme „Programm Energy Transition 2050” of the Klima- und Energiefonds (KLIEN, opens an external URL in a new window) with the support of the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns, opens an external URL in a new window
Due to emerging challenges of climate change and, most recently, of the COVID-19 pandemic, the RESIST project has set itself the goal of identifying critical infrastructures in Austria and specifying their resilience via the components 'vulnerability' and ' adaptive capacity'.
At the beginning, basic principles for a common understanding of resilience as a principle of complex transformation processes will be developed. Based on this, critical infrastructures in the urban regions of Austria will be identified and their vulnerability and adaptability assessed, as well as requirements for strengthening their resilience will be named. Moreover, transdisciplinary approaches for better cooperation between infrastructure operators, science and the population for more resilience are discussed and recommendations are given on the need for research as well as on research priorities.
RESIST provides empirical evidence for the named objectives through (1) a clear glossary of terms, (2) a web-based document and text analysis, (3) online surveys of experts in practice (in Austrian urban regions) as well as from science (various disciplines) and various workshops with interested experts from practice and science.
February 2021 - July 2021
Project staff: Giffinger | Bogadi | Suitner | Authried
Partners: PlanSinn
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final report, opens a file in a new window
© Giffinger | Bogadi | Suitner | Authried
Research project in cooperation with Greenpeace Austria, Greenpeace Croatia, Department of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy
As part of urban green infrastructure parks, urban forests, and public gardens provide important ecosystem services, from mitigating heat island effects and filtering air pollutants to providing habitats for wildlife and recreational opportunities for city residents. This study implements an analytical approach that is incorporating accessibility in terms of the amount of time and distance needed to reach the closest park or green space. These accessibility measures are related to demographic data in a second step. The approach thus provides an empirical insight into the relationship between demand for green infrastructure and supply on a local level.
May 2021 - September 2021
Project staff: Kalasek
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© Robert Kalasek
Research project in cooperation with ÖGUT and GBA
AnergieUrban demonstrates to which extent geothermal concepts can be combined with seasonal use of underground storage systems and solar driven heat sources in the context of a local urban district heating network.
November 2019 - June 2021
Project staff: Kalasek
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© Robert Kalasek
Research project with the municipality of Gerasdorf bei Wien
Gerasdorf bei Wien is a dynamic and growing urban municipality bordering the Austrian capital to the northeast. SRF conducted a regional science study including a potential analysis and modeled student flows in preparation for site selection.
August 2019 – May 2020
Project staff: Feilmayr | Pühringer
© Pühringer | Feilmayr
Research project funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
This project systematically breaks down the planning - building - managing process into its respective sections and examines it from the point of view of energy spatial planning in order to improve its effectiveness. The most important official, economic and planning principles are developed, participating institutions and important actors are recorded, information flows as well as requirement and expectation deficits of central actors are developed, digital data principles are described conceptually, and important interfaces and requirements for the integration of digital principles are proposed.
In addition to comprehensive research on legal (planning) foundations and standards, the project will identify and describe the institutions involved with their respective most important groups of actors and analyse and evaluate interdependencies in the form of information flows in the course of the overall process of planning/construction/managing: requirements, deficits and potential for improvement in the information flow between urban planning at the beginning and redevelopment/demolition at the end of the life cycle of buildings are to be worked out.
August 2019 – May 2020
Project staff: Giffinger | Pühringer | Kalasek | Brugger | Kammerhofer | Kerschbaum
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© BMK
Research project on behalf of Planning Association East (PGO)
The detailed observation and analysis of immigration, emigration and internal migration according to various characteristics at the level of all municipalities in Lower Austria and Burgenland gives a comprehensive overview of migration in the eastern region. Beyond that comprehensive overview, the project aims to obtain various analyses of migration flows by age group, region of origin and other available characteristics and to prepare these in cartographic and tabular form. Thereby, changes over time should also be taken into account.
January 2018 – October 2019
Project staff: Kramar | Giffinger | Kalasek | Feilmayr | Krauze
project database, opens an external URL in a new window
© SRF Hans Kramar, Sara Krauze
Research project within the funding programme "Stadt der Zukunft" (4th call) of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
Analysing socially innovative energy projects in structurally weak regions, PLAISIR sheds lights on this research gap at the intersection of social-capital- and energy-oriented regional development. The practice of socially innovative energy planning in the context of spatial structural and energy-oriented planning trajectories is analysed on a regional level in order to identify regional and project-specific factors of social innovation in energy-oriented planning.
September 2017 – April 2019
Project staff: Suitner | Ecker | Kramar | Giffinger | Haider
Partners: Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (ZSI)
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Research project within the framework of the funding programme "Stadt der Zukunft" (4th and 9th call) of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
The current planning practice to promote the share of active mobility (walking, cycling) in everyday mobility is frequently based on experiences, intuition or ideologies. This is where ACTIV8! and the subsequent project come in: the developed approach shows, based on data, which measures should be implemented in order to efficiently achieve strategic and transport policy objectives for promoting active mobility (walking, cycling). The application of these sound methods and tools contributes to better achievement of objectives and a more efficient use of resources and public budgets in federal states and municipalities. With the ACTIV8 tool, the effects of measures on the share of active mobility can be quantified for the first time in the future, and planning measures can therefore be read from figures.
June 2015 – February 2019
Project staff: Kramar | Kalasek
Partners: TBW Research, Research & Data Competence, Herry Verkehrsanalyse Beratung Forschung
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© Hans Kramar
Research project on behalf of the Austrian Wind Energy Association (IG Windkraft Österreich)
In this project the effects of wind farms on real estate prices are investigated. With the use of a hedonic model, it was found that there are no significant correlations when other value-determining factors are taken into account.
December 2015 – December 2018
Project staff: Feilmayr
Study on behalf of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists (Österreichische Apothekerkammer)
The operation of a public pharmacy is tied to an upright license. The granting of this necessary licence is in turn subject to a number of conditions, which are examined in the course of a needs assessment procedure. Recently, these decisions have increasingly been successfully challenged at the Administrative Court. The comprehensible assessment of the demand potential by so-called permanent residents in relation to that of other demand generators such as employees, users of public transport or other infrastructures in the defined catchment area of existing pharmacies plays a central role.
As a basis for a sound assessment of the contribution of so-called "flood-in pathogens", a statistical approach is being developed which quantifies different demand potentials on the basis of extensive geographical data and allows the results to be evaluated as so-called population equivalents.
March 2016 – June 2018
Project staff: Kalasek | Kramar | Giffinger | Haindlmaier
Partners: GeoMagis
© Robert Kalasek
Contract research and research cooperation on behalf of the MD20 - Energy Planning of the City of Vienna
In the project "Energy Atlas Vienna" the energy demand for space heating for the existing buildings in the city of Vienna is modelled. At the core of the model is the consideration of building shape and configuration of building groups when determining the heating demand. Thus, in addition to the factors considered in conventional models, such as building age, building type and building use, the significant influence of the radiated area is also taken into account. The heat demand determined is compared with potential energy sources at the level of the building blocks in order to enable statements to be made about the potential coverage of alternative sources. District heating, solar thermal energy, photovoltaics and geothermal energy are all taken into account.
The result of the project forms the basis for the technical concept "energy spatial planning" of the department of the City of Vienna (MD 20) as well as a database for further energy-relevant activities of the city administration.
November 2017 – March 2018
Project staff: Kalasek
Research project in cooperation with MD18 - Urban Development and Planning, funded by MD7 – Cultural Affairs of the City of Vienna
An urban metamorphology of the Viennese urban planning based on the development dynamics of the northeast of Vienna between 1938 and today. Why did certain neighbourhoods of the city develop at this time in this particular form and how is this related to urban planning? The project examines which historical influences are responsible for Vienna's transformation, following the saying "Nothing happens without reason". The main focus is on selected neighbourhoods on the left riverbank of the Danube that are characterised by obvious structural changes.
August 2016 – February 2018
Project staff: Suitner | Pühringer | Krisch
Research project within the framework of the funding programm "Stadt der Zukunft" (2nd call) by the the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
E_PROFIL is a set of methods (an IT-supported toolkit) for the elaboration of neighbourhood profiles. The aim of the project is to facilitate energy- and resource-efficient development in the planning practice of Austrian cities. Furthermore, the project is an important asset for research and planning activities in Europe and can also be applied to other neighbourhoods.
October 2015 – September 2017
Project staff: Giffinger | Ecker | Kalasek | Latzer
Partners: WU Wien, Forschungsinstitut für Urban Management and Governance, TU Wien, Abteilung Bauphysik und Bauökologie, Ars Electronica Futurelab, Ars Electronica Linz GmbH, Magistrat der Stadt Linz, Geschäftsbereich Planung, Technik und Umwelt, Linz AG für Energie, Telekommunikation, Verkehr und kommunale Dienste, mecca consulting – Ingenieurbüro für Raum- und Landschaftsplanung
Funded by a scholarship of Colcien
This project analyses the effects, impacts and consequences of the implementation of development strategies and projects (land use and infrastructure) in Bogota and Medellin on the levels of physical (spatial), economic and social development on the scale from neighbourhood to city.
February 2016 – July 2017
Project staff: Giffinger | Sanchez Guzman