Vienna draws up climate plan for historic city centre

Vienna’s Inner City will get a strategy for adapting public spaces to climate change while preserving its World Heritage status, ORF reports.

The plan sets out possible measures for the district, including planting greenery, providing shade and adding street furniture to roads and squares. It is intended to help the city respond to hotter summers while meeting the needs of residents, workers and the thousands of tourists who visit daily.

Representative groups and experts contributed to the strategy, and more than 1,000 residents were surveyed online about their wishes. District head Markus Figl said it was important that the views of people who live there were included in the process.

Vienna planning councillor Ulli Sima said the plan would help balance different demands and support the district’s careful, climate-friendly development. Landscape planner Martina Jauschneg, who led the study, said the city’s history informed the work, but the aim was to develop solutions for the future rather than copy the past.

The strategy paper is scheduled for discussion by the city’s urban development commission on October 13.