Steering Spatial Development in the Vienna Agglomeration

After the falling down of the “iron curtain” Vienna starts to grow again. It is now a metropolitan area with about 2.6 Mio. inhabitants. Vienna is surrounded by Lower Austria, which is one of the nine countries (Bundesländer) of Austria. Spatial Planning is based on the Austrian Constitution a complex matter. The Federal State, the Countries and the Municipalities have competences in Spatial Planning. Thus, in the agglomeration we are confronted with different spatial planning legislation, instruments and institution.In this situation basically three instruments have been developed to steer spatial development in the Vienna agglomeration: Lower Austria has passed two legally binding spatial development programmes as framework for spatial development in the municipalities around Vienna. Besides that, Vienna and Lower Austria established a “Stadt-Umland-Management” (North and South). This management is an association acts as a cooperation and network platform with no legal competences. Just recently a new “regional master plan” has been elaborated in the North of Vienna. The Master Plan was drafted in a participatory approach. A steering group with representatives (mayors) of all Municipalities and the Government of Lower Austria was formed. All planning steps have been discussed and decided involving the Municipalities and formally approved in the so called “Regional form” where all Municipalities and the Lower Austrian Government have a vote. More specific this plan is a spatial framework for the municipalities in terms of building land for housing, economic activities and protection of green zones of regional importance. The paper concentrates on experiences made in in the drafting process of this new “regional master plan” in the Vienna agglomeration area North of Vienna

Steering Spatial Development in the Vienna Agglomeration

After the falling down of the “iron curtain” Vienna starts to grow again. It is now a metropolitan area with about 2.6 Mio. inhabitants. Vienna is surrounded by Lower Austria, which is one of the nine countries (Bundesländer) of Austria. Spatial Planning is based on the Austrian Constitution a complex matter. The Federal State, the Countries and the Municipalities have competences in Spatial Planning. Thus, in the agglomeration we are confronted with different spatial planning legislation, instruments and institution.In this situation basically three instruments have been developed to steer spatial development in the Vienna agglomeration: Lower Austria has passed two legally binding spatial development programmes as framework for spatial development in the municipalities around Vienna. Besides that, Vienna and Lower Austria established a “Stadt-Umland- Management” (North and South). This management is an association acts as a cooperation and network platform with no legal competences. Just recently a new “regional master plan” has been elaborated in the North of Vienna. The Master Plan was drafted in a participatory approach. A steering group with representatives (mayors) of all Municipalities and the Government of Lower Austria was formed. All planning steps have been discussed and decided involving the Municipalities and formally approved in the so called “Regional form” where all Municipalities and the Lower Austrian Government have a vote. More specific this plan is a spatial framework for the municipalities in terms of building land for housing, economic activities and protection of green zones of regional importance. The paper concentrates on experiences made in in the drafting process of this new “regional master plan” in the Vienna agglomeration area North of Vienna

Proactive Spatial Planning in Regard to a new Regional Mobility Hub – the case of Ebreichsdorf

The City of Ebreichsdorf is a fast growing municipality in the metropolitan region of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. Especially the southern suburbs of Vienna such as the region surrounding Ebreichsdorf are gaining from the growth of the Austrian Capital City Vienna. The expansion of the railroad track of „Pottendorfer Linie“ to a double track railroad and the thereby even better connexion from Ebreichsdorf to Vienna will strengthen its growth process even more. A new regional mobility hub is planned to be built, located on a greenfield site, between the city districts Ebreichsdorf and Unterwaltersdorf. The existing railway track is going to be abandoned. In spatial planning terms, its leading goal is to locate future growth in the area of the new train station. Unfortunately, Austrian planning practice tends to adopt reactive behaviour in the context of infrastructure and settlement development. Thus, simultaneous planning of high-level-infrastructure and surrounding station area is mostly missed. Especially small and medium-sized cities are often overwhelmed by this task. The results of this uncoordinated approach vary from non-development of suitable land to uncoordinated urban sprawl around the stations. Furthermore, only reactive actions can be taken to contain negative consequences and to enable an orderly, soil-saving settlement development. Therefore, in February 2016 the Smart City Ebreichsdorf project (SMCE) started as an exploratory study funded by the Klima- und Energiefonds (KLIEN 'climate and energy fund') with a duration of one year. The research focus was on creating a proactive planning community together with citizens by acting on four thematic topics: planning and process; railway station; district; and energy and resources, to. As a result, four scenarios have been developed for Ebreichsdorf including necessary dimensions of action. Criteria for an innovative implementation were defined and necessary actors for the continuing project were involved at an early stage of the development process. The Smart City concept obtains incresasing importance in the course of urban and regional development. Thereby, new technologies are used to create a sustainable environment and economy in order to ensure quality of life for further generations. Particular measures are: minimizing soil sealing, adopting technologies for future mobility, preventing urban sprawl, de-densification, as well as creating cities of short distances. The participation and awareness of the citizens are of fundamental importance. Using the example of the test bed Ebreichsdorf, the main aim of the SMCE project is to demonstrate proactive city development with an overall systemic, interdisciplinary approach to an area, and involving the population and the relevant stakeholders of the political, administrative and private sectors. This paper examines how this proactive planning-process of Smart City Ebreichsdorf is working. It shows the development process in the exploratory project and its results and explains the integrated dimensions of action. Building on this, it presents the current project and new planning approaches, e.g. to avoid soil sealing. With a focus on Ebreichsdorf, this paper demonstrates how such a proactive planning process can be used for a smart urban and regional development

Can a new railway track be used to foster smart urban and regional development?

The future Smart City Ebreichsdorf (SMCE) is a fast growing municipality in the area of the metropolitan region of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. The expansion to a double track railroad of the „Pottendorfer Linie“and the thereby even better connexion to Ebreichsdorf will strengthen this growing process even more. A new train station is built, located on a greenfield site, between the city districts Ebreichsdorf and Unterwaltersdorf. The existing railway track is going to be abandoned. In spatial planning approaches, it’s goal leading to locate future growth in the area of the new train station. Action options, how such an innovative growth process around the railway station could be formed, are absent up to now. The state Lower Austria and the city Ebreichsdorf are aware of this problem. So the idea of planning and implementing a „Smart City“ or a „Smart Urban Region“ at this certain area has moved in focus of considerations. An urban transformation towards a future smart city is necessary. The Smart City concept gets more and more important in the course of urban and regional development. Thereby, new technologies are used to create a sustainable environment and economy in order to ensure the quality of life for the further generations. The participation and awareness of the citizens are of fundamental importance. With a focus on Ebreichsdorf this paper demonstrates how such an impulse can be used for a smart urban and regional development. First results of the ongoing project show, that it is advantageous to involve citizens and main stakeholders as well as all political parties in an early stage. This increases the acceptance and facilitates the further process. Furthermore, the complexity of Smart City is best handled by a team of researchers from various disciplines. In the course of a scenario workshop, it became clear that all different disciplines have different accesses to the same topic. Through this a stimulating discussion and exchange of experiences has been started

Can a new railway track be used to foster smart urban and regional development?

The future Smart City Ebreichsdorf (SMCE) is a fast growing municipality in the area of the metropolitan region of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. The expansion to a double track railroad of the „Pottendorfer Linie“and the thereby even better connexion to Ebreichsdorf will strengthen this growing process even more. A new train station is built, located on a greenfield site, between the city districts Ebreichsdorf and Unterwaltersdorf. The existing railway track is going to be abandoned. In spatial planning approaches, it’s goal leading to locate future growth in the area of the new train station. Action options, how such an innovative growth process around the railway station could be formed, are absent up to now. The state Lower Austria and the city Ebreichsdorf are aware of this problem. So the idea of planning and implementing a „Smart City“ or a „Smart Urban Region“ at this certain area has moved in focus of considerations. An urban transformation towards a future smart city is necessary. The Smart City concept gets more and more important in the course of urban and regional development. Thereby, new technologies are used to create a sustainable environment and economy in order to ensure the quality of life for the further generations. The participation and awareness of the citizens are of fundamental importance. With a focus on Ebreichsdorf this paper demonstrates how such an impulse can be used for a smart urban and regional development. First results of the ongoing project show, that it is advantageous to involve citizens and main stakeholders as well as all political parties in an early stage. This increases the acceptance and facilitates the further process. Furthermore, the complexity of Smart City is best handled by a team of researchers from various disciplines. In the course of a scenario workshop, it became clear that all different disciplines have different accesses to the same topic. Through this a stimulating discussion and exchange of experiences has been started

Reintroduction of the Building Code for Canton Sarajevo as a Prerequisite of Urban Planning and Urban Management in the Cantonal Transformation Process

The City of Sarajevo, since its establishment in the 15th century, was facing a constant population growth and enlargement process of the city area. Due to the topographical conditions of Sarajevo's location in the valley, the potential expanding city area is very limited and the future expanding zones should be carefully selected (Arhiv Zavoda za planiranje razvoja Kantona Sarajevo, 1984a). Different phases and epochs of city's development history are readable along the valley from east towards west, from Ottoman, through Austro–Hungarian, Modern and Post–Modern period. As a part of former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Sarajevo got its first Building Code in 1880. This planning document should have helped to regulate the upcoming development of the city and its settlement area in an integrative way. In 1893 Sarajevo got its second Building Code, an "update" of the first one, and ever since then, this kind of spatial planning instrument was and is missing in Sarajevo's development and planning regulative (Biblioteka Zemaljskog muzeja BiH, 1884). This paper explains why it is important to reintroduce the planning tool of the “Building Code for Canton Sarajevo” as an instrument of the integrative, balanced and smart trans-sectoral development of Canton Sarajevo

Selbstermächtigung und Selbstorganisation als Schlüssel für nachhaltige Lern- und Transformationsprozesse in der Region Römerland Carnuntum

The region Römerland Carnuntum (Lower Austria) is located between the metropolitan areas of Vienna andBratislava and benefits from dynamic demographic and economic development. However, these processes ofgrowth and rapid change are accompanied by specific challenges that are controversial and much-discussed within the region. The question comes up, how a high level of quality of life can be secured in the future and how a transformation towards sustainability can be initiated and established. Since traditional instruments of spatial planning, structural policy, and regional development increasingly show deficits in the face of such complex, multidimensional challenges, the region has set itself the goal of breaking new ground in cooperation, self-organisation, and self-empowerment, within the framework of which the actors in the region become self-organized, collaborative and long-term carriers of sustainable learning and transformation processes in the region. This article describes the structure of the project and highlights, in particular,challenges related to the committee 'Zukunftsrat Römerland Carnuntum', as a basis for self-empowerment, self-organisation and transformative learning as well as to the start-up phase of the transdisciplinary collaboration.First insights after almost one year of project runtime show, that therepresentative composition of the Zukunftsrat, and especially the random selection of citizens proved to be difficult. Nevertheless, the projekt benefits from outstanding commitment and a high willingness to participate on the part of the regional population

STAT3/LKB1 controls metastatic prostate cancer by regulating mTORC1/CREB pathway

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common and fatal type of cancer in men. Metastatic PCa (mPCa) is a major factor contributing to its lethality, although the mechanisms remain poorly understood. PTEN is one of the most frequently deleted genes in mPCa. Here we show a frequent genomic co-deletion of PTEN and STAT3 in liquid biopsies of patients with mPCa. Loss of Stat3 in a Pten-null mouse prostate model leads to a reduction of LKB1/pAMPK with simultaneous activation of mTOR/CREB, resulting in metastatic disease. However, constitutive activation of Stat3 led to high LKB1/pAMPK levels and suppressed mTORC1/CREB pathway, preventing mPCa development. Metformin, one of the most widely prescribed therapeutics against type 2 diabetes, inhibits mTORC1 in liver and requires LKB1 to mediate glucose homeostasis. We find that metformin treatment of STAT3/AR-expressing PCa xenografts resulted in significantly reduced tumor growth accompanied by diminished mTORC1/CREB, AR and PSA levels. PCa xenografts with deletion of STAT3/AR nearly completely abrogated mTORC1/CREB inhibition mediated by metformin. Moreover, metformin treatment of PCa patients with high Gleason grade and type 2 diabetes resulted in undetectable mTORC1 levels and upregulated STAT3 expression. Furthermore, PCa patients with high CREB expression have worse clinical outcomes and a significantly increased risk of PCa relapse and metastatic recurrence. In summary, we have shown that STAT3 controls mPCa via LKB1/pAMPK/mTORC1/CREB signaling, which we have identified as a promising novel downstream target for the treatment of lethal mPCa