- Waking up the dormitory Town – Visions for Vienna-Atzgersdorf    1676 kb by    Fleischmann, Philipp | phf@gmx.at    Short Outline Taking a quarter of Vienna as an example, a concept for initiating diversity and multifunctionality within monofunctional large social housing areas of the post-war period is developed. Abstract After World War II most European cities started to build big social housing complexes. At that time for a big part of the population they were desirable places to live at. Nowadays, in a time of differentiated lifestyles and high mobility, these areas look monotonous and monofunctional to us. Districts which only serve one single function - in this case a residential one - cause problems. They generate traffic problems. At the same time, streets are empty of pedestrians, lacking social interaction and control. The call for functionally mixed neighbourhoods is therefore growing louder. But there are few examples where such ideas have been implemented on large, monofunctional housing zones of the 60s and 70s. Improving existing quarters makes living in the urban area more attractive and thus prevents some of the reasons of sprawl. Additionally, if approached in a sensible manner, housing areas of that period offer possibilities of additional, limited densification. My thesis treats a residential area of that period in Vienna-Atzgersdorf. The area was chosen for various reasons: The housing area in Atzgersdorf-West has potential due to its generous, currently little-used open spaces and its location close to a suburban train station. Its buildings are of acceptable quality, recently renovated or due for renovation. But, most important, it is unknown, and therefore has no reputation that would have influenced public views on it. Because of these reasons, it was possible to concentrate on the potential for a programme to increase diversity. A variety of small to large scale measures is proposed, aiming at the revival of the district. The following principles are at the forefront: • To bring new features in the area, in order to achieve a more multifunctional, diverse, manifold district • To create places to meet and to relax outside the homes • To suggest measures in different sizes in order to guarantee that the plan will remain flexible in terms of time and money • To extend and support the existing activities in the area • To move the focus to the public transport • To present new typologies that integrate the open space and allow a better use of it. The main measure is the creation of a multifunctional town centre that works as a starting point for the redevelopment. The work proposes an overall strategy for the quarter, drawing a bow from urban development to architecture. Keywords Vienna, social housing, 60s and 70s Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2008: Urban Growth without Sprawl   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper