The course deals with the analysis of forms of participation and involvement in the context of urban development and transformation processes. We will look at spatial configurations and their changes, as well as concrete methods of participation, but also at concepts that focus on civil society engagement, social participation and the right to the city. Which actors shape the city, how can processes in the context of spatial changes be accompanied and how can people be enabled to participate in them? How can these spatial changes and social processes be read off from the biographies of houses and neighborhoods?
In the summer semester of 2023, the course will focus on "SOFT - Gentle Urban Renewal revisited". The "Gentle Urban Renewal" emerged in Vienna in the 1970s and introduced a paradigm shift: instead of demolition and new construction, which had also met with civil society protest, a "cautious" approach to the city's historic neighborhoods became the programmatic basis of Viennese urban renewal. Residential buildings were to be renovated - affordably and with the involvement of the residents; the residential environment and public spaces were to be made more attractive - also with the participation of the people in the neighborhood and with a view to their needs. A central role in this was played by the urban renewal offices, which, as local actors, initiated and supported communication and participation on the ground. In many cases, it was not only structural but also architecturally less visible "soft" interventions in the process design that were of essential importance in the work of the urban renewal offices.
Almost 50 years after the beginning of "Gentle Urban Renewal", we will take a closer look at the programmatic concept and its practice - from its genesis to the present day - in this course. Using specific case studies, we will research and analyze various focal points in the development of participation work in the context of soft urban renewal using visual and narrative methods. By also researching historical examples of urban renewal, it is possible to look at their further development over time. "House biographies" make the processes of change in historic residential buildings visible, while "district or neighborhood biographies" trace the development of neighborhoods, residential environments and public spaces.
In this way, the view of processes, actors, spatial transformations and interventions of communication and participation is sharpened. Finally, the relevance of the analyzed approaches to action for the current context and discourse of Viennese urban development will be discussed, and it will be asked how the narratives around the biographies of the places that we revisited could be continued into the future.
The course is in cooperation with the Research Center for New Social Housing (Judith M. Lehner) and with the Research Unit Housing and Design Workshop „SOFT – Drawing Housing Biographies“ (Bernadette Krejs) with architecture students.
Further Literature
Alinsky, Saul D. (1999): Anleitung zum Mächtigsein. Ausgewählte Schriften. Hrsg. und aus dem Amerikan. übersetzt von Karl-Klaus Rabe. 2. Auflage. Bornheim-Merten: Lamuv-Verlag.
Arbter, Kerstin (2012): Praxisbuch Partizipation. Magistratsabteilung 18 – Stadtentwicklung und Stadtplanung. Werkstattbericht Nr. 127. Magistrat der Stadt Wien. Online: https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/partizipation/praxisbuch.html
Berger, Horst (1984): Gebietserneuerung 1974 – 1984. Das Wiener Modell. Magistratsabteilung 21 – Geschäftsgruppe Stadtentwicklung und Stadterweiterung. Magistrat der Stadt Wien.
Berger, Horst; Kail, Eva; Kirschner, Ewald (1991): Stadterneuerung in Wien. Werkstattbericht. Magistrat der Stadt Wien.
Feuerstein, Christiane; Fitz; Angelika (2009): Wann begann temporär? Frühe Stadtinterventionen und sanfte Stadterneuerung in Wien. Wien: Springer.
Glaser, Marie Antoinette (Hrsg.) (2013): Vom guten Wohnen: vier Zürcher Hausbiografien von 1915 bis zur Gegenwart. ETH Wohnforum.
Hatz, Gerhard (2019): Gentrification durch das Programm der „Sanften Stadterneuerung“. In: Kadi, Justin; Verlič, Mara (Hrsg.): Gentrifizierung in Wien. Perspektiven aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Praxis. Standpunkte Nr. 27. Wien: Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien. S. 55-69. Online: https://wien.arbeiterkammer.at/interessenvertretung/meinestadt/Stadtpunkte_Nr.27_2019_5.pdf
Kirsch-Soriano da Silva, Katharina (2022): Transformationsprozesse in der wachsenden Stadt – zwischen Chancen und Widerständen. In: dérive N° 89.
Kirsch-Soriano da Silva, Katharina; Botzenhart, Lukas; Pointner, Karin; Habringer, Magdalena; Christoph Stoik (2022): Transformation mitgestalten. Partizipation und Kommunikation bei Nachverdichtung im Wohnquartier. Stadtteilarbeit, Caritas Wien. Online unter: https://www.caritas-stadtteilarbeit.at/stadtteilarbeit/publikationen
Kirsch-Soriano da Silva, Katharina; Stoik, Christoph (2012): Wiener Gebietsbetreuung Stadterneuerung: Quo vadis? In: dérive N° 49.
Ley, Astrid; Weitz, Ludwig (Hrsg.) (2003): Praxis Bürgerbeteiligung. Ein Methodenhandbuch. Arbeitshilfen für Selbsthilfe und Bürgerinitiativen Nr. 30. Bonn: Verlag Stiftung Mitarbeit.
Musil, Robert; Brand, Florian; Huemer, Hannes; Köck, Petra und Wonaschütz, Maximilian (2021): Die Transformation der Wiener Gründerzeitstadt. Dynamiken am Wiener Zinshausmarkt 2007-2019. ISR Forschungsbericht 55. Wien: Verlag der ÖAW.
Links
https://archive.arch.ethz.ch/hausbiografien/narrative-methode.html
The assessment will be based on the presentation of the research results (part 1), the elaboration of "house or neighborhood biographies" (part 2), and the participation in the final discussion (part 3). All 3 parts need to be completed for grading.
Presentation of the research results (part 1) 40%
- Creation of a research board
Development of "house or neighbourhood biographies" (part 2) 40%
- diagrammatic presentation (timeline)
- narrative presentation (text)
Participation in the final discussion 20%
- Presentation of results
- Co-organisation of event
