Research

The spatial adaptability of brownfields towards reindustrialisation is emerging as a key territorial priority for Danube's regions and municipalities. There are major trends contributing to the rise of industrial manufacturing in Europe: technological advancements make it feasible and affordable, the need for circularity, shorter value chains and closed loops make it necessary, geopolitical reasons and the pandemic showed the need to reduce dependency on global value chains, for more self-sufficiency and resilience. Re-industrialisation needs to take place in the context of a circular and resource-efficient economy and environmental-friendly regional development strategies. Brown is Better than Green BBG principle) Brownfields represent already degraded land. The transformation of heavy industrial sites/polluted wastelands into post-industrial landscape is economically and technically very challenging and costly, while an adaptation for new industrial use is much more feasible. The revitalising existing brownfields for industrial or production-oriented purposes reduces the construction of new production sites in greenfields, avoiding new land use, the sealing of soil and the further loss of biodiversity in the Danube Basin. The reindustrialisation following the Brown is Better than Green principle, represents a complex planning challenge, which requires: - Co-planning and co-creation process in line with the social, environmental and economic priorities of the affected communities, strong involvement of civil society actors - Inter-institutional collaboration on different governance levels solving spatial planning, contaminations or other environment issues, embedding in transport and communication, infrastructure, building and reconstruction (permits), business support, investor management, ... - integration with regional strategies and polycentric development plans - the development of good financing concepts, relying on private-public partnerships The projects will jointly develop solutions and tools based on the Brown is Better than Green principle and integrate them into their local and institutional framework. It aims to come up with a joint strategy and an action plan taken up by organisations.

The Vienna Cottage Association was founded in 1872. In more than 150 years of development, the cottage has evolved from an alternative form of urban expansion outside the densely built-up inner districts, in a healthy location, to an elite form of housing. In the housing estate stock, this development can be traced from the apartment buildings in semidetached construction from the early years to the representative villas in detached construction of the early 20th century. Starting from the housing stock, the project examines the characteristic design characteristics of the cottage. What role do the open spaces and the existing buildings play in the urban landscape? How can specific qualities be preserved and how can the building stock develop in the future? The results of this research will be summarised in a catalogue of design criteria.

The project contributes to the research field Landscape and Infrastructure. The Salzkammergut Railway is an important transport link through the Salzkammergut. As a linear infrastructure, it connects sites of touristic importance with the sites of salt extraction and early industrialisation. Different forces shaped the landscape in the course of history. In the research project, the characteristics of the designed landscape along the Salzkammergut line are surveyed and its shaping by infrastructural interventions is examined. The results will be prepared for use as an audio guide on ÖBB trains.