The Vienna-Bratislava Region is composed by:
norther part mainly agricultural
axia Vienna-Bratislava with main services (2million inhbitants)
southern part with cross-border transport infrastructure
The cross-border region also includes Hungary but this is not included in the study.
Demograhy
In 2011 3,5 million inhabitants were living in the region.
There is a great urban-rural disparity
The role in the region of small municipalities has changed since the fall of the iron curtain as they are now more attractive to live in.
In Lower Austria and Burgenland there is a very high share of elderly: approx 25% pop.
Economy
(Bratislava and Hungary?)
The Vienna Region has a high share of SMEs.
Vienna produces 30% of Austrian GDP and has 26% of Austrian employees.
22% of people employed in Vienna are commuting from surrounding municipalities and 7% are commuting from Vienna outwards, especially towards the Umland Sued.
There has been an increase in production related services especially in the Umaland Sued.
In the end of the 1990s the Austrian foreign investment was of 4.4 million EUR, of this 30,5% went to Hungary, 25,7% went to Czech Republic and 9,7% to Slovakia.
Accessibility and infrastructure
The airport of Schwechat serves the region.
Highly connected and future traffic loads have been studied by the Austrian Transportation Policy Scheme (2002).
Green spaces
(Bratislava and Hungary?)
Vienna: nearly half of the urban area is green space (415sqkm) and more than one third is forest and meadows (Vienna is one of the cities richest in forests)
The Viennese Green Belt Program was established in 1995 following the “Wald und Wiesenguertel” of 1905. Wienerwald and Prater are essential parts of this Belt.
Source: Urban development report 2000
There are also three national parks outside the city:
Neusiedlersee
Danube Park
Thaya valley
About one quarter of Vienna region’s surface is declared nature conservation and landscape protected area.
Climate protection
(Bratislava and Hungary?)
Vienna:
In 1996 there was the Climate Protection Program of the City of Vienna (now surpassed by Horizon 2020?) that declared a high reduction in CO2 emissions in the upcoming years.
Water quality is considered good in all the Vienna region.
Air quality is constantly monitored by the emission protection law.
Waste management and water waste disposal are managed by the City Administration within Vienna and by association of local authorities in the surrounding municipalities.
Government powers and structures in Austria
The Austrian constitution stipulates a decentralised nation that works as a federation of nine Länder (policy making takes place at three levels: Bund-Federation, Land-State, Gemeinde-Municipality).
In Austria separation of powers has priority over cooperation, which therefore relies on voluntary initiative.
Spatial Planning law falls under the responsibility of the Länder.
Taxes
Funds for public expenditure (which are important for political distribution of power) are 56% from federal government, 22% from States and 22% from municipalities.
Taxation system consists of federal taxes (24%), mutual federal taxes (69%) and municipal taxes (7%).
Kommunalabgabe is a direct taxation of the wages within a community, creating a direct link between job creation and tax revenues in a community. Due to the Kommunabgabe there is a lack of cooperation among neighbouring municipalities for the dislocation of business activities.
In the case of the Vienna Region (as Vienna is a Land and Municipality at the same time) this has brought to to series of incentives (cheap land or temporary tax exemption) and therefore many business centres have been designated by municipalities
Zoning
Land rezoned from agricultural to building land increases enormously in values but it is not compulsory for owners to build, therefore there are many recently zoned building areas where owners are just keeping it the land as an asset. This also means that in many municipalities building areas are bigger than demand.
Policy Institutions
Federal Chancellery is responsible for coordinating matters related to spatial and regional planning
Österreichische Raumodrdnungskonfereny (ÖROK) was established in 1971 without legal basis but as political agreement. It issues the Österreichische Raumentwicklungskonzept (ÖREK), provides planning data and issues reports. Political resolutions are issued by consensus
Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology is since 2001 responsible for train and road networks.
State level the governments are collegial organs that approves the Flächenwidmungsplan that is drawn up and adopted by the municipal council
Municipal level: there are 15 cities with more 1700-2400 inhabitants (Vienna included, with own statutes) and 2318 municipalities with 50 to 40000 inhabitants. They draw the Flächenwidmungsplan which can be rejected by the state government only on the basis of conflicts with laws.
Regional cooperation is not very strong in Austria due to the competition among municipalities (due to Kommunalabgabe).
Regional planning instruments
Regional institutions and cooperation structures
Administering enterprise location (their actions are not always conform to urban development plans):
Wiener Wirtschaftsförderungsfonds
Wiener Entwicklungsgesellschaft für den Donauraum AD
Wiener Bodenbereitstelluns und Stadterneuweungsfonds: for house renovations and urban renewal
ECO PLUS Betriebssiedlungs und Regionalisierung NÖ: regional programs for tourism, culture, business
Regional Managers: medation services that since the ‘90s have developed projects such as cross-border industrial park Gmünd-Ceske-Velenice (CZ) and the Regionen Innovationszentren (RIZ) in Wiener Neustadt
Planungsgemeindschaft Ost (PGO) was funded in 1978 by Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. It coordinates spatial planning, transport planning and regional development. There is no staff nor funds to carry out activities.
Verein Niderösterreich-Wien is responsible for recreational areas close to the city
JORDES+ (Joint Regional Develpment Strategy for the Vienna-Bratislava-Györ Region)
EUREGIO Weinviertel/South Moravia/Zahorie develops a procedure “from below” where partners are in the centre.
SUM: Stadt Umland Management (Vienna and surrounding Municipalities) http://www.stadt-umland.at/
Economic structure
Strategies and policies for territorial development of Vienna-Bratislava Region
Kittsee Declaration (2003), where Governors of Burgenland, Lower Austria and Vienna and the Mayors of Bratislava, Trnava, Sopron, Györ, Brünn, Eisenstadt and St Pölten declared to establish a close relationship within the Vienna-Bratislava Region
“Die Grüne Mitte”: accepted from Austrian and Slovak side for the importance of the National Park Donauauen as geographical centre of the Region.
Regional developments study of Bratislava (commissioned by City of Bratislava in 1997) prepared various scenarios:
Vienna monocentric
bi-polar
REFERENCES
COM, The EU-Compendium of spatial planning systems and policies, Austria. Number 28A, Regional Development Studies, Luxemburg 2000.
OECD (2003): Territorial Review Vienna-Bratislava, Paris
Schremmer, Christof, Vienna’s Location - A Regional Metropolis in the East of a New Europe, Urban Planning Vienna, Vienna Urban Planning - the state of the art, 2000.
Stadtplanung Wien, Wien, Grünes Netzwerk, Der Stadt der Dinge, Wien, 1996.
Urban Planning Vienna, Urban Development Report 2000.
SOURCE
Vienna-Bratislava Region, Austrian Background Report for the OECD
Schremmer, C. et al, 2003, Vienna-Bratislava Region, Austrian Background Report for the OECD-Review 2003 and Assessment and Recommendations of the OECD, ISBN 3-902015-55-1
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