Vacant buildings represent untapped potential for urban development - especially when the pressure to use them is already high and the aim is to increase inner-city development for economic and ecological reasons. This applies equally to vacant apartments, unused ground floor zones and derelict commercial buildings. In Vienna in particular, however, this topic has been left in the shadows.

IG Architektur, in cooperation with IG Kultur and the Faculty of A+R at TU Wien, and with the support of the BMKÖS, has therefore invited people to several public discussion rounds in fall 2024 under the title “Use vacant space!”.

Johannes Suitner (SRF) moderated the final event on the activation of commercial vacancies on 27.11.2024 in WEST at the Old Vienna University of Economics and Business. Our colleague led the audience of around 150 guests through an exciting discussion with the international panel of seven people from the fields of architecture and planning, public administration, cultural work and research. The takeaway: there is a need to define, survey, report and promote the activation of vacant commercial space.

A concrete list of the initiative's demands and documentation of the events can be found here, opens an external URL in a new window.