Gallery

Reinventing Social Housing in Vienna

Kurt Hofstetter
Director of Vienna IBA, Vienna City Planning Department

The tradition of International Building Exhibitions – or “IBAs” has existed for more than 100 years in Germany and Austria as a way to increase constructive collaborative between the private development sector and the public sector, creating a multi-year exhibition to present innovations in building technology and neighborhood master-planning. From 2016 to 2022, the City of Vienna has been leading an IBA focused on developing more than 10,000 new units of social housing on city-owned and private land throughout the City since 2016, with a culminating exhibition of proposals and neighborhood and project tours in 2022 to showcase the City’s latest development innovations. As an already established leader in social housing, Vienna’s IBA showcases more than 120 new projects (including nine neighborhoods/districts) that are pushing the boundaries of sustainable, inclusive, mixed-use social housing development, using new methods of construction/design, financing models, and collaborations with city government to further improve the living conditions of the City.