The goal of the third Co-Creation Workshop on January 15th with a focus on Local Economies was to get input by local shop owners from Floridsdorf and other people working within the project area for the creation of our Urban Strategy. This strategy will include a common vision and long-term goals for the center of Floridsdorf, as well as potential areas of intervention and short-term actions in order to strengthen the area. After the workshop participants received a short input about the PlaceCity project and goals of the co-creation workshop, everyone Introduced themselves quickly and then took part in the activity "Emotional Mapping". Therefore, the participants were given three adhesive dots in red, yellow and blue in order to stick them onto an A0 aerial view of the planning area, each color representing a different feeling. "Red" represented "I don't feel good here", "Yellow" "it needs change here" and "Blue" "I feel good here". This activity stimulated a discussion about challenges and potentials in the project area and made it possible to define potential intervention areas in the project area together.
The next activity took place in a “World Café” setting. The participants were divided into two groups of five people each. Each group discussed on one table for 20-25 minutes and then went on to the other table. The two tables focused on different topics which are based on our preceding interview analysis.
The role of public space
At the first World-Café table "The Role of Public Space", the discussion was primarily focused on the following questions: How and where should the public space be changed so that more customer frequency can be reached? What role does the design of the public space play for the turnover of the business premises? Does this have an impact?
The participants mentioned challenges that were oftentimes related to bureaucracy or the difficulty of managing parking lots. Many of the participants emphasized that improving bike and foot connections is important as well as implementing facade greenery. In addition, potential spaces for interventions as well as ideas on small-scale and short-term actions were defined.
Local economy
At the second table "Local Economy", the discussion was mainly focused on the following questions: What measures can be taken to strengthen local business? What does it take to build and maintain a network? What is the added value of a network? Which alternative usage concepts for the ground floor area are conceivable? (non-commercial uses, collaborative economies)? What offers already exist in the central Floridsdorf area? What is needed?
The participants agreed on the fact that sometimes activities simply have to be tried out in order to "get some processes going" However, one participant that was representing the Economic Chamber Vienna (WKW) emphasized the fact that there are several possibilities for subsidies from the WKW, but they also have to be accepted, since everything is based on voluntary action.
Afterwards, the discussions continued in an informal setting while having dinner together. The delicious food was provided by “Feinkost”, a bistro at the Floridsdorfer market.
