Office of Droll Concerns

take a walk on the west side – Visions II

We need visions! Urban Planning and other conceptual activities are increasingly restricted by a so called reality. The system of economic and political (i.e. neo.liberal) powers, as it exists today is perpetuated by continuously observing it and it is presented as a given. Since there is, however, following David Greaber, no ‘inevitable tide of history’ – it is much more a product of activities which follow a distinct goal – we have to open up our minds. This has helped others, if you look at “Park Fiction” in Hamburg, St. Pauli, who won a long struggle for a park on a prestigious and costly site. Therfore: give us visions!

Here is a concrete example: an innovative park is possible – even in the dense city of Vienna:              Westbahn-Park.

In 2020 we founded the “Initiative Westbahnpark” to support the realization of the park: www.westbahnpark.at

Virtual guided tour through Westbahnpark:

 

 

 

 

The 15th district , Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus [1], is the mostl densily inhabited outer district in Vienna with 20.474 inhabitants per km2. Here average wages are the lowest (16.766 per year, which is 80 % of Vienna’s average income), the share of inhabitants who were not born in Austria is the highest (46%) and it is the youngest district (in good old Vienna of an average age 38,6 years). Prognosis of growth mount up to 19,5 %.

Built density is very high (floor-space-ratio 2,93). The potential to further densification in the existing built up structures by adding storeys, by roof extensions, and by filling up gaps is enormous. Allready now the city’s goals for provision with green spaces are failed by far only reaching a quarter of the self-set percentage.Even when reducing the numbers to the half in densily built up areas, it is not accomplished and lacking half the amount.

In the 15th district t you can feel what the densification of the city structure of the Gründerzeit is like: more people on the streets, more flow of traffic and movement, more people in green spaces and parks. More languages, more people of different age, more encounters. To the north of Westbahn former gardens are transformed into extremely dense housing estates, sites are being closed, attics are expanded to appartments. In the south less dense areas are waiting to be re-zoned and houses built higher. Existing houses are enlarged and building gaps are being closed.

This initiates a positive development in economic terms as well as with regard to the social mix and it produces an urgent need for compensating open spaces.

On the site of the former Westbahn piece by piece is falling out of use due to the egradation of the station in realtion to the new main station elsewhere. Station buildings are left empty, tracks are no longer used and storage halls are abandoned. Furthermore this unique piece of urban landscape has extraordinary qualities: The view into the landscape of the Wienerwald (the hills of the Vienna Forest) is open, the edge towards the slope of the Wien-river valley reveals the outlook onto the urban fabric; here you can experience the impression of truly free, open space, which outweighs the urban density. Here the compensating park must be realised!

An iconic urban landscape of seven hectares, a modern but long-lasting and robust linear park provides the existing inhabitants and the newcomers with a space for recreation, cooling vegetation,, paths through the urban wild.

This utopian idea finds numerous supporters and can be realised in different ways. It will draw attention. It will work as a part of t he green connection to the Vienna forest.

Desnification: Yes! Urban Green: Yes! Space for movements: Yes! Places of encounter: Yes! Open space: Yes!

[1] Here we relate to statistical data and plans collected by landscape architect Chrsitina Kirchmair for her master thesis. (to be completed in 2019)

Press & Media:

FM4 Klimatalks 15.09.2020 Westbahnpark
Der Standard 30.08.2020: Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus: Traum vom Rekord-Pool im geteilten Bezirk
Augustin 26.08.2020: Eine Gesunde Vision Augustin
Kurier 26.05.2020: Ein Westbahnpark mit Mega-Pool
BLA im Kulturmontag 09.09.2019: Zwei Millionen und ein WESTBAHNPARK
BLA bei LEPORELLO Ö1 05.11.2019: Bewegung im Bezirk
Diskussion bei Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Architektur 03.07.2020: Zur Zukunft des Wiener Westbahnareals
Initiative und Manifest mit ÖGFA 28.06.2019: Sechs Kilometer Stadt – die Westbahntrasse in Wien
Die Presse 29.07.2019: Westbahnpark – Es muss wieder geträumt werden
Die Presse 23.07.2019: Das 1 Kilometer Becken von Wien – der Westbahnpark
Bauforum 03.05.2019: Stadtplanung Visionen gefragt
Garten & Landschaft:   Westbahnpark: Die Vision

We support:t Initiative & Memorandum zur Zukunft des Westbahnareals, ÖGFA

4 guided tours, more than 200 visitors and much Idealismus & Engagement:
Samstag, 27.4. 2019 11:00, Schwimmbaderöffnung: Sonntag, 26.5.2019, Markt am Zug: Sonntag 25.8.2019, Sonnenuntergang im Westbahnpark: Do 24.10.2019

1-Year Westbahnpark Jubiläum