Can public subsidized urban renewal solve the gentrification issue? Dissecting the Viennese example: Fid-Bau Portal

Can public subsidized urban renewal solve the gentrification issue? Dissecting the Viennese example

Hatz, Gerhard

Abstract The paper focuses on the effects of publicly subsidized urban renewal projects by unraveling the mechanism in force affecting the social sustainability of these projects in Vienna. The goal of Vienna's model of ‘gentle urban renewal’ has been and still is not to force out the resident population, but rather to renovate the old buildings in a way that the apartments remain affordable for their tenants after renovation by subsidizing the renewal of apartment buildings. The main instruments of this renewal policy, its results, and challenges will be presented in this paper, analyzed and dissected by empirical research. The social sustainability of Vienna's model of subsidized urban renewal is tested by indicators like rents of apartments, quality of apartments and household incomes of tenants before and after renewal by applying non-parametric statistics. Based on the notions of Lees (2015) on state-led renewal the analysis of the Vienna case provides an original contribution to the discussion on public policy-led renewal and its effects on gentrification and displacement. The analysis of the outcomes of the initiative implies that the gentle urban renewal program itself does not avoid some phenomena of gentrification but does not result in a radical displacement of residents.

Highlights • Urban renewal in Vienna seeks to avoid displacements of tenants by gentrification. • Preventing gentrification is supposed to be reached by subsidizing renewals. • A reduction of substandard apartments shows a success of subsidized renewal. • A survey reveals only few of the tenants participated in subsidized urban renewal. • The most profitable forms– new rental contracts for new tenants - dominate.