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Design and Management of Public Space
Basic information
Vienna, an historically evolved, Central European metropolis with
currently 1.6 million inhabitants, is a city whose development can
be traced back 2000 years.
Situated at the heart of Vienna, the 'Rathausplatz' (or City Hall
Square), whose recreational use as a public open space will be described
as a typical example in the text below, was given its present appearance
in 1997 (planning work: Municipal Administration of the city of
Vienna - Architect Luigi Blau).
Since 1999, events taking place in the square have been managed
by 'Stadt Wien Marketing Service GmbH', a company wholly owned by
the city of Vienna.
Context within the city
The above-mentioned historical evolution is still clearly visible
in the urban structure and continues to shape its identity. Starting
from the old 'Inner City' and its medieval core, the near explosive
urban growth of the late 19th century has left an indelible mark
on the cityscape.
At that time, the city walls dating back almost 1,000 years were
demolished, and the Ringstrasse boulevard with its elegant buildings
- including the City Hall and City Hall Square - were constructed;
the Danube was canalised; public transport and technical infrastructure
were established as basic prerequisites for the development of a
modern metropolis.
Approximately a century later, in the 1970's, important steps towards
modern-day urban development were undertaken. The construction of
the Vienna Underground (starting in 1968) and the related clearing
of key inner-city streetscapes of car traffic created a basis for
the 'recovery of public space' for pedestrians.
Since 1974, fully 370 refurbishment and redesign projects of various
dimensions - from pedestrian zones in main shopping streets to the
redesign of squares in front of schools - extending over an area
of approx. 3.200,000 m ² were implemented.
These areas take account of local requirements but also of the needs
of a city of culture and tourism serving an international public.
With its overall surface of approximately 12,000 m², in the
original concept for the Rathausplatz itself, which dates back to
the construction of the Ringstrasse (circa 1880), the square was
to extend between two important public buildings of Vienna's city
centre, i.e. the City Hall and the Burgtheater, as a generous, urban
public space and monumental axis flanked by the Rathauspark green
zone.
In 1976, the square was partly cleared of traffic by building an
underground car park. The subsequent competition was to draw up
an overall design and plan; however, the project was not implemented
for financial reasons. With the exception of a Christmas market
and a few large-scale events, no appropriate use was developed for
this open space at the time.
Only in the early 1990's, were plans resumed to close the traffic
lane adjoining the square to cars and to make the entire square
available to the citizens as an 'event zone'.
Street Life Urban Design
Housing an increasing number of functions on less and less space
in an aesthetically appealing manner is the Gordian knot confronting
urban planners. The solution cannot lie in uniform design but rather
in a 'less is more' approach regarding both overall spatial design
and street furniture:
- marked reduction of the number of individual elements and promotion
of multiple uses;
- minimal design for the new street furniture, whose underlying
concept should become visible less in the individual object than
in the interaction of these elements, with the design in keeping
with the identity of each single location
While never losing sight of production and maintenance costs,
the use of materials and plants typical of, and corresponding to,
the individual locations is a key prerequisite for meeting immaterial
requirements.
Over the past few years, the city of Vienna has organised design
competitions for street furniture (lighting fixtures, benches, phone
booths, shelters, kiosks, ...). These competitions have resulted
in high-quality prototypes for the most diverse areas of application,
which are being implemented and constantly evolved. These principles
were also applied in the redesign of the City Hall Square.
New strategies
In the context of the 'Strategic Plan for Vienna', under the subheading
'Upgrading Public Space' a strategic project was initiated for the
're-interpretation of public space'.
This project evaluates a large number of individual thematic aspects
as well as the existing potentials of public spaces in different
municipal districts. Each functional requirement is assigned to
the specific space available for the purpose; an additional quality
criterion is the optimum networking of the individual spaces.
Taking account of the needs of the population, use-oriented design
solutions are developed for the individual 'locations' in the different
neighbourhoods. The 'paths' linking these locations, too, are to
be given an attractive appearance, resulting in a network of squares
and corridors for the urban neighbourhoods.
In the context of this project, the aspect of - both temporary and
permanent - 'art in public space" will be given a key role.
This is partly to generate new ideas for the temporary and permanent
recreational use' of these spaces.
Event management and marketing
'Vienna is different' - this is the slogan of the Vienna Tourist
Board. Vienna wants to be more exciting, multi-faceted, alive than
other metropolises of comparable size. It was with good reason that
the German weekly 'Focus' voted Vienna - after Vancouver and Zurich
- the city with the highest quality of life worldwide.
A wide range of events and record visitor numbers at the 'Danube
Island Party' and the 'Vienna New Year's Eve Walk' prove that the
city is a vibrant centre of culture, music, sports, events, fun,
film and architecture. The city of Vienna has exploited the new
impulses that have enveloped the Austrian capital in recent years
by hosting an increasing number of events. Thematic focuses have
been created in all areas ranging from architecture to sports.
The Rathausplatz is a good example of the numerous event locations
in Vienna. The design of the historical sequence of buildings and
open spaces along the Ringstrasse between the City Hall and the
Burgtheater has definitely evolved from the former, purely monumental
axis into a public event zone.
Over the past few years, the Rathausplatz has successfully been
transformed into an ideal place for organising all types of events.
However, the past had been beset with recurring problems regarding
the infrastructure for these events (electricity, phone lines, sewerage,
water, etc.). For this reason, the redesign had to cater for maximum
flexibility in the supply of utilities in the future.
A special aspect of the refurbishment project was the kerbs of the
sidewalks in the square area, which in the past had often proved
unpleasant 'stumbling blocks' for visitors.
In the end, the actual visual change - a consequence of the above
intentions - was due to a solution to this problem found by raising
the square to the former pavement level and using a neutral asphalt
covering for the surface of the square. The design aspects of the
refurbishment project were dealt with by the planning departments
of the Municipal Administration in co-operation with the architect
Luigi Blau.
For both cost-related and functional reasons, the surface design
chosen is as simple and discreet as possible, thereby corresponding
to the requirements of the historical location and the functional
needs from openness to multiple, comprehensive uses.
Except for a few weeks each year, the square is dedicated to a variety
of events. The increasing visitor volumes show that it is a favourite
of both the Viennese and foreign visitors (approx. 30,000 visitors
at the Vienna Festival opening and about 18,000 daily visitors for
the Film Festival).
The 'Ice Dream', the opening ceremony for the 'Vienna Festival',
the 'Film Festival', the 'Christmas Market', the 'New Year's Eve
Walk' as well as numerous sports events and exhibitions make up
the programme for the recreational use of this newly created event
zone.
Since 1999, the company 'Stadt Wien Marketing Service GmbH' established
by the city of Vienna has been acting as the main organisational
chain linking mega-happenings and small-scale events as well as
networking individual organisers by means of intensified co-operation
and advertising activities. In this, 'Stadt Wien Marketing Service'
functions partly as organiser, partly as partner or simply as communication
facilitator.
The context of 'Street Life: New design for public spaces' has provided
a general overview of the particular situation of Vienna's open
spaces. In Vienna, public space is indeed defined as a public asset
under the law and in practice cannot be privatised and only partially
rented.
In order to provide safe public spaces open to different urban structures
and user needs, these must be designed in as neutral and robust
a manner as possible. Private users (events, advertisements, café
gardens, etc.) must be checked and channelled in a targeted fashion
to achieve the right mix of 'commercialisation' and 'public freedom
of use'.
Links:
Strategy plan for wien
http://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/strategieplan/
stratplan_engl.htm
Stadtentwicklung - Development of the city
http://www.wien.gv.at/index/in_stadt.htm
Aktuelle Planungen und Projekte - Planning topics in Vienna
http://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/02/01.htm
Wien sozial
http://www.wien.gv.at/index/sozial-serv.htm
The e-way into the four dimensions of the cultural heritage
http://www.archaeologie-wien.at/caa2003/caa2003.htm
Architektur - Die Schönheit der neuen Gasometer
http://www.gasometer-wien.at/htm/stat/architektur.htm
Gasometerquerschnitt - Multifunktionale Nutzung
http://www.gasometer-wien.at/htm/stat/topogr.htm
It's all happening here MuseumsQuartier Wien
http://www.mqw.at/news.en.html
Search for "Vienna":
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Some Books:
• Open Spaces in Vienna. A Guide to Contemporary Landscaping
by Georg Lammel, Sascha Jaka
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more information about this book on amazon.com
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• Urban Squares: Recent
European Promenades, Squares, and City Centres
by Topos - European Landscape Magazine
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more information about this book on amazon.com
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more information about this book on amazon.de
• Metropolis Now!. Urban
Cultures in Global Cities
by Ramesh K. Biswas
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more information about this book on amazon.com
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500 x 328 px, 32 KB
Christmas Market
500 x 320 px, 33 KB
Viennese Ice Dream
500 x 256 px, 39 KB
Opening Vienna International Festival
328 x 500 px, 46 KB
Chinese Circus
at Rathausplatz
Fotos by MA 18
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