Pocket Mannerhatten - City renewal on the basis of spatial sharing strategies, bottom-up participation and common good-based incentives

Abstract

Cities worldwide and Vienna as well are facing an increasing pressure on space. Innovative strategies are required to tackle these challenges not only by creating new buildings but also by modernizing existing neighbourhoods. For decades Vienna counts on a gentle urban renewal approach. The question how to tackle new challenges, such as renewal towards energy efficiency, green spaces, alternative mobility or integration of multicultural lifestyles needs to be answered. The project Pocket Mannerhatten pursues the assumption that sharing building space across property outlines can offer an innovative approach for a city renewal. The spatial sharing is combined with a bottom-up-participation process and a compensation-oriented funding system. With the public funding program “Smart Cities Demo” (Austrian Climate and Energy Fund) a realization project will test the concept in Ottakring/Vienna. The multidisciplinary consortium accompanies the inhabitants realizing shared green spaces, community rooms, shared photovoltaic systems, car-sharing and Co-living apartments until the year 2021. In the future, these sharing and cooperation activities should become a city renewal strategy. Due to the slogan “who shares, gets more” and on the basis of a evaluated common good contribution not only monetary but also alternative, non-monetary incentives will be taken into account to foster urban renewal.