As part of an exhibition, Greenpeace presented the nine winning projects of the initiative ‘Austria’s 9 Concrete Treasures’ in the Museum Quarter of Vienna on Tuesday. According to the environmental organization, awards for “outstanding concrete achievements” were sent to those responsible for the construction projects. The winners of this negative competition were the city street in Vienna, the eastern bypass Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria and the Feldkirch tunnel spider in Vorarlberg.
When it came to the other concrete treasures (there were five in each state), the XXXLutz central warehouse in Zurndorf won the race in Burgenland, the LCAS-Nord truck distribution center came first in Carinthia and Playworld Spielberg won in Styria. In Upper Austria, the Ehrenfeld II industrial development area in Ohlsdorf was chosen as the negative prize winner, in Salzburg the luxury resort “Six Senses Residences Kitzbüheler Alpen” won and in Tyrol the planned industrial area Unterbürg St. Johann won.
“Pastures and forests covered with concrete”
“Austria’s fertile meadows and forests are being concreted every day for gigantic road projects, retail parks and commercial areas. At the same time, many areas that have already been sealed are not used or not used efficiently enough, but land remains wasted,” criticized Melanie Ebner, Greenpeace soil protection expert. The participation in the vote shows the great attention to this problem.
“We are deeply involved in the soil crisis, both in Austria and internationally – soil is a public good that we must understand, respect and increasingly protect: for a good climate, refreshing water and out of respect for other living beings,” says Professor Sabine Knierbein in the research area for urban culture and public space at the Institute for Spatial Planning at the TU Vienna.
Politics is urgently needed
As part of the current initiative, Greenpeace approached state governments and demanded that they take measures to curb excessive land use. Quantitative limits were mentioned to limit land consumption. Land recycling should also be controlled before soil destruction is mandatory and the need for land should be met primarily from already developed inner-city areas.
In addition, now that this is also possible under jurisdictional law, the states should introduce regionally and socially adapted vacancy taxes – also for commercial and industrial areas. “A precise vacancy tax is an important instrument to activate vacancy and to curb the sealing of areas for new buildings,” the report states.
Over a period of several weeks, more than 400 construction projects were submitted in response to a call from Greenpeace. The final winning projects were then determined by means of a public vote and assessed by an expert jury. More than 20,000 people took part in the public vote.
In response to the results, the Greens spoke of a “concrete madness in Austria”. The award-winning examples would show how nature and valuable livelihoods would be destroyed because of “ugly concrete sins and failed spatial planning”. “When will it finally get through to the heads of the state politicians: the people in Austria want real soil protection. Because soil protection means nature and climate protection, flood protection, drinking water protection and ultimately also protection of people,” says Ulrike Böker, spokeswoman for soil protection for the Greens.
Source: Krone
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