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AWARDS

Innovative developments

UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour

Vienna’s “gentle urban renewal” was honoured for integrating people with their manifold interests in urban renewal processes. This model was successfully replicated by other cities in Eastern Europe.

Since the introduction of “gentle urban renewal” in 1984, the suggestions and requests of citizens are specifically taken account of by the City of Vienna, which made it possible to largely avoid the demolition of rundown residential areas and the compulsory relocation of their inhabitants. Through this urban renewal programme, more than 5,000 buildings (approx. 250,000 dwellings) were rehabilitated, thereby reducing the share of substandard housing to less than 3 percent.

Global Green City Award

At the 2016 UN-Habitat conference held in Quito (Ecuador), Vienna was honoured with the title “Global Green City” as well as with the “Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Award”. This annual award is destined for cities committed to sustainable development in exemplary fashion on an international scale.

The award in the “Sustainable Cities” category was conferred on four cities considered particularly sustainable and resource-conserving, hence contributing to the implementation of the “New Urban Agenda” adopted in Quito. Alongside Cuenca (Ecuador), Oakland (USA) and Chun’an (China), Vienna was one of the winners in this category.

EURHONET CSR Award

The EURHONET Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award was conferred on the occasion of the General Assembly of the European Housing Network (EURHONET) in October 2018. At this event, Wiener Wohnen received the European CSR Bronze Medal in the “Local Social Sustainability” category for the CSR-relevant “Case Management” best practice.

Wiener Wohnen is Vienna’s only housing administrator that draws on case management extended by social workers to support tenants of municipal housing estates who find themselves in difficult life situations and are threatened by eviction.

European Responsible Housing Initiative (ERHIN)

For the third time since 2014, the European Responsible Housing Initiative (ERHIN) conferred awards for sustainability and responsibility to housing enterprises. The 2019 event took place during the International Social Housing Festival in Lyon (France).

Funded by the European Union, this initiative is one of the first in Europe to support efforts towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to single out individual projects for praise. The competition was first held in 2014 to enhance corporate responsibility above all in the area of social and affordable housing. In 2019, two projects of Wiener Wohnen were honoured with the second prize in the respective category out of a total of about 90 entries from all over Europe: the initiative “GEMEINSAM.SICHER wohnen” and the “Case Management” approach as an internationally unique example of its kind.

Moreover, Vienna was also honoured by UNESCO for its outstanding achievements in the field of housing and housing construction. On the occasion of the World Cities Day, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization together with Netexplo (an observatory in the field of innovation and futures research) singled out ten metropolises from all over the world for their leading achievements in specific areas of society. Vienna was awarded a prize for its “innovative, intelligent, networked and decidedly sustainable” housing policy.

Finally, one last aspect that is especially worthy of mention: Vienna was voted

  • ten times the world’s most liveable city – Quality of Living Ranking 2019 (Mercer),
  • the best place to live worldwide – Global Liveability Index 2023 (Economist),
  • the world’s smartest city – Smart City Strategy Index 2019 (Roland Berger), and
  • the best global start-up hub – 2019 (PeoplePerHour).

Singapore honours Vienna for its sustainable growth

Vienna is awarded the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize for high quality of life and sustainable urban transformation.

As officially communicated on 14 March 2022, Vienna is the winner of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2020. This prize, awarded by Singapore every other year, recognises outstanding achievements and contributions to the creation of liveable, vibrant and sustainable urban communities worldwide. The submission of the City of Vienna’s entry was handled by UIV Urban Innovation Vienna GmbH. 

The jury was particularly impressed by Vienna’s combination of history and modernity. The city builds on its strong cultural and historical foundation; at the same time, its modern innovations make it a sustainable and liveable metropolis. The fact that Vienna’s citizens can actively participate in the development of their city was positively highlighted as well.