solarCity Pichling - Project
In building the solarCity, which was subsidized by the EU and the province of Upper Austria and designed by internationally recognized architects, the Provincial Capital of Linz has realized an urban development project that has attracted a great deal of notice. The three pillars of sustainability, namely economic growth, ecological balance and social progress, were equally and simultaneously taken into account. This succeeded only due to the exemplary cooperation of all concerned.
The joint determination of objectives and specification of plans, as well as the institution of a central project management team, guaranteed the successful realization of the project. As a result of its integrated approach, chances are high that the solarCity will become a model for urban development in the 21st century.
The book about the project, entitled "solarCity Linz-Pichling – Sustainable Urban Development" was published by SpringerWienNewYork at the beginning of 2008.
Preconditions for Starting the Project
The municipal government of Linz under Mayor Franz Dobusch, aware of the unquestionably dramatic ecological changes taking place on our planet, decided to embark on new paths by means of concrete projects that would develop and showcase new solutions and help them to get accepted - not merely in theory, on the drawing board or on computer printouts, but in reality.
Another reason for focusing on the issue of residential construction was the enormous demand for housing, above all affordable dwellings for low and middle income earners. An estimated 12,000 persons were looking for apartments in Linz at that time. A further aspect was the fact that Linz, with a population of 200,000, was the location of nearly 178,000 jobs.
This meant that a large number of people working in Linz lived outside the city limits. Thus, there was a need for more housing inside the city in order to reduce commuter traffic.
The housing policy of the 1980s had reached a point where new perspectives were sorely needed, so that the visionary idea of developing the Linz-Pichling lakes district came at an opportune moment. In this thinly populated district with scattered single-family houses, the City of Linz owned large - and, above all, connected - pieces of real estate, which up to that time had been zoned as grassland for agricultural purposes.
Under the individual navigation links you will find excerpts from the book for viewing and download.