For many years, Vienna and Zurich have occupied the top two positions in the Mercer survey on quality of life. Although Vienna, with its nearly two million inhabitants, is much bigger than the City of Zurich, the two cities face many similar challenges. Further, a study carried out in 2017 by the Foreign Affairs Office on the City of Zurich’s international network revealed that there is a lot of interest in further collaboration with the City of Vienna on various questions of urban development, ranging from monument protection to city logistics.
To gain an insight into current issues facing the City of Vienna and to determine themes of mutual interest, on 1 March 2018 a delegation of three people from the City of Zurich’s Office for Urban Development visited Vienna Municipal Department 18 (Urban Development and Planning), as well as the planning director of the City of Vienna and the Vienna department of the Austrian Federal Monuments Office. During this extremely informative one-day exchange, discussions covered topics such as urban planning, the concentration of development in municipal centres, high-rise building strategy and open space planning, as well changes in the retail trade, city logistics, and the smart city. In a subsequent step, the City of Zurich’s Office for Urban Development (Foreign Affairs Office) will work with the relevant departments of the City of Zurich to investigate how, and in which areas, a continued exchange can be established at the specialist level.
Christina Wandeler, Urban Development, Department of the Mayor
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