City profile Vienna

Author(s)

Gerhard Hatz

Abstract

With more than 1.6 million inhabitants in the city proper and another 2.2 million in the immediate surrounding

area Vienna, the capital of the Republic of Austria, is one of the largest cities in Europe. If the

city is evaluated by its historical significance, cultural heritage or the quality of life it falls in the top

rank. It is the specific image of Vienna which allows it to be seen as more important than may be suggested

by its place in the global rankings of cities. However, globalization has changed the urban fabric

of the city dramatically within the last decade, confronting urban planners with tensions between the

demands of the global economies and the necessity of coping with the historic structures that have

evolved in course of the city¿s rise to become a European metropolis in the 19th century. Still, the legacy

of social cohesion in Vienna is being eroded by the restructuring of urban society due to the global economies.

Social cohesion, urban regeneration and the challenges of the global competition of cities have

recently been the prime agendas of urban planning in Vienna. In this competition the cultural heritage

of the city¿s glorious past reveals itself as a prominent competitive advantage in ¿theming¿ and marketing

post-modern Vienna.

Organisation(s)

Department of Geography and Regional Research

Journal

Cities

Volume

25

Pages

310-322

No. of pages

13

ISSN

0264-2751

Publication date

2008

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

507 Human Geography, Regional Geography, Regional Planning

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

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