HOUSING RESEARCH
Sustainable development for everyone
How many housing units need to be built, and where? What are the housing needs of Vienna’s inhabitants? How will the future of housing in Vienna look like? These are the questions addressed by Vienna’s Housing Research Division.
Vienna is a constantly growing metropolis. Consequently, the Vienna City Administration is faced with the major challenge of funding the social and technical infrastructure of this growing city while also evolving this infrastructure smartly and sustainably on the basis of empirical data.
An eye on current megatrends
Vienna boasts a special unit – the Housing Research Division – exclusively charged with housing supply and the housing needs of the city’s population. Its tasks include both the scientific study of current and future developments impacting the issue of housing in growing cities and the analysis of questions addressing international housing-specific trends, such as:
• affordable housing,
• urban growth and differentiated housing needs,
• ecological aspects of housing and housing construction,
• impacts of demographic change,
• social mix and social sustainability,
• social inclusion and exclusion (poverty, eviction prevention, homelessness), and
• digitalisation and technological innovations in the housing sector.
International co-operation
In addition, the international aspect of Vienna’s housing research programme provides a cross-cutting approach that facilitates the assessment of Vienna’s experiences and achievements vis-à-vis other cities and moreover offers an opportunity to learn from best practices at an international level.
At the same time, these focuses encourage intensified networking with other Austrian and European research programmes through participation in EU projects, bilateral co-operation and thematic partnerships with other cities.
