New District, Old Debate: Balancing Housing Needs and Environmental Concerns in Vienna-Donaustadt’s Obere Hausfeld

Vienna-Donaustadt is home to a new quarter called “Obere Hausfeld”, which spans approximately 26 hectares of land. Situated slightly west of Seestadt Aspern and directly connected to the U2 subway line, the plan for this new district is to create an “urban and car-free” environment, with 3,600 apartments to be built. To facilitate this, residential buildings are arranged around a central park.

However, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted for the project area led to unexpected results that raised concerns among environmental organizations and citizens’ initiatives. The decision stated that only 80% of the district could be developed and inhabited, but the remaining 20% was dependent on the construction of adjacent roads and highways such as S1-Spange, S1-Nord, and Lobautunnel. Critics like Wolfgang Rehm from VIRUS argued that the city government was using housing construction as a means to push forward road construction projects.

Despite reports indicating that the new district was well-served by existing infrastructure, construction in Oberes Hausfeld has been stalled due to settlement restrictions. In response to this issue, VIRUS, developer Kallco, and citizens’ initiative BNWN have jointly submitted an amendment to the EIA for urban development projects in Oberes Hausfeld in hopes of modifying settlement conditions. However, stakeholders continue to work towards a resolution that balances housing needs with environmental considerations.

The U2 subway line is scheduled to be operational in 2026 along with the completion of the first residential buildings in Obere Hausfeld. The district is served by two subway stations and a bus connection has also been established. Despite these developments, criticism still lingers among those who believe that road projects are unnecessary for this area.

Overall, Obere Hausfeld remains a contentious issue between stakeholders as they work towards finding a balance between meeting housing needs while also considering environmental concerns.