The active urban development scene is becoming increasingly networked, diverse and competent. Everywhere in the city, informal activities by placemakers are growing. For a long time they have been invisible to the city administration. In Vienna there are also a number of different initiatives dealing with the city, its surroundings, the residents and the appropriate of the space. It´s time to work together and establish an official network in the city!

Discussions, sharing creative ideas and getting to know each other in order to start into the future together, this is how the first part of the second Placemaking Laboratory - “Placemaking in Vienna" can be described. The Vienna placemaker scene met together with funding institutions and talked about difficulties and implementation of activities within the framework of a World Café. They discussed the bureaucratic hurdles, the exchange with sponsors, and the difficulties of project planning within the framework of funding by the City of Vienna.  The results show that there are many things in common which will now be tackled together with the PlaceCity project team in the coming year and put into practice and applied throughout Vienna.

The second part of the Laboratory consisted of the public event Placemaking Pils. The placemakers got the change to get to know each other more personally beyond the workshop and share one's own projects and experiences. The atmosphere was very pleasant. Supported by drinks, beer and delicatesses from the local market, a lively exchange also took place beyond the presentations. Positive feedback throughout made the evening end with a good feeling.

Placemaking Pils

At first Karim El-Seroui presented his project Creative Cluster (CREA). The project started in the a former factory in Floridsdorf. Today, they work in the newly opened office in the fifth district that used to be a school. Now, as part of the TETE A TETE project, he is in charge of the Schlingermarkt project space, in which the event also took place.

Brigitte Vettori and Corinna Wachtberger from space and place presented the WOHNSTRASSEN project. They explained that there are a total of 190 residential streets in Vienna and that they see great potential in filling these streets with life. They showed us examples of how they have already implemented their ideas on residential streets.

Eugene Quinn from space and place showed how he tries to create a link between fun and politics and presented one of his methods. As an example, he presented his nightwalks, which have taken place several times and allow a different view of the city.

Cosima Terrasse, who works as an independent artist, presented her project Stille Post. In the project, she worked together with Caritas and worked closely with young women from the tenth district on various issues, such as: “What language do we speak in? Where do you like it best? Is there such a thing as a woman's body? What luxury do you allow yourself? "

The collective Raumstation presented their first project in Vienna “Verkehrsinsel-Resort Wien”, in which they encouraged performers to imagine what it would be like to take a vacation on a Vienna traffic island and perceive "urban island space" differently in order to be able to think of alternative uses.

Barbara Slotta presented the forum for public space #kommraus, which took place in May 2019 and made public space visible in the streets of Vienna. Numerous events took place over a period of three days, for which several streets were opened to pedestrians.

Anna Gruber presented the program of the Lokale Agenda 21 “Grätzloase”. She particularly highlighted the projects implemented so far as well as the funding opportunities and showed various possible uses that are possible on the parklets - from benches to a piano that can be played by everyone at certain times. However, she also emphasized that the Grätzloase did not only implement parklets, but also made other projects possible.

Johanna Steinhäusler and Jonathan Holl presented their project FLODO, a book full of ideas for and around Floridsdorf, which encourages everyone to think ahead and develop new ideas.

Finally, Jan Gartner presented the Raumpioniere platform and encouraged people not to be intimidated by the prevailing bureaucracy, but to "just start" and also to test alternative financing models and not be dependent on funding programs. He appealed to the audience not to give up immediately when difficulties arise.