Vienna’s first Cooling Park - Spectacular innovations or self-adulation?
A post by Magdalena Keresztes, Alexandra Oppolzer & Teresa Richter
Esterházypark is located in Mariahilf, which is the 6th
district of the Austrian capital city Vienna.
The park is close to one of the most frequented shopping streets of the city,
Mariahilferstrasse. In 2020, this park
was redesigned to become what the government of Vienna calls “Vienna’s first
Cooling park”. This included improving the green infrastructure in the area.
Generally, the park is in a highly densified neighborhood with a small amount
of green space which makes it important to implement green spaces. Although it
seems like a rather small and insignificant park, the government praised it by using
big words. According to them, the park has a “spectacular concept” and is a
“light house project against the heat of Climate Change” for the “Climate model
city Vienna”. One of the elements, the so called Coolspot is “unique” and the two
installed Climate Trees are “spectacular”. They consider the park’s concept as
an important contribution in the fight against rising heat through Climate
Change in the city. Nevertheless, there are more neighborhoods in Vienna with
the same problem. So why does this park get so much attention? We decided to take a closer, more critical look at this project and its
different components.
The first element is called “Coolspot” and it is a circular shaded
staging area of about 30 square meters consisting of 3 rings with spray
nozzles. It is just under 3.4 meters high and was planted with 30 pieces of
climbing plants. The shaded zone is located in the center of the park area and
is intended to provide a short-term cooling option in summer. The project is designed
to serve as a showcase for other parks in Vienna. Moreover, a research group has
accompanied the project for two years. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the
neighborhood in which the measures are implemented is already receiving a lot
of attention in terms of greening redevelopment. Additionally, the spray
nozzles can be viewed critically in terms of an actual instrument to combat
heat. In some ways it looks like a prestige project for the city. Above all,
the location next to a museum and close to Mariahilferstrasse could also be an
indication of an already high value of this area.
Picture of the Coolspot in Esterházypark. Taken
in April 2023. (Source: own imagery. Picture: M. Keresztes)
Another ongoing project started in 2019 is the greening of a former flak
tower (anti-aircraft gun blockhouses that were erected during WWII) with a height
of 35 meters that is now used as an aqua terra zoo in Esterházypark. It
represents the tallest vertical green wall in Vienna in the middle of the
district Mariahilf, which is really refreshing since green areas are rather
rare there. One concrete wall of the tower was adorned with 22 different plant
species. Over 8500 of them were planted in automatically irrigated metal tubs
on an area of more than 400 square meters. As early as next year, the tubs
should no longer be visible due to quickly developing vegetation. The greened
area produces more oxygen and the plants release water throughout the day. This
leads to a general cooling of the environment, which will bring relief to the
residents during high summer temperatures. One third of the plants maintain
their leaves even in winter which means it partly serves its greening function
in winter. The chosen construction serves not only the green appearance,
cooling and air improvement, but also the safety of park visitors. The five
other flak towers have been fenced off and closed to visitors for years because
of the danger of falling building parts. Furthermore, the green wall also
creates natural biotopes for animals.
Vertical greening on a wall of a former flak
tower. Picture taken in April 2023. (Source: own imagery. Picture: M.
Keresztes)
One interesting feature of the park is that it
is split up into two parts by the flak tower. While the western part of the
park has been a playground for many years and the tree canopy is visibly denser
there, the eastern part of the park used to be a highly unattractive concrete
square with very low permeability and little green infrastructure. Therefore,
it makes sense that when redesigning the park, priority was given to the
eastern part. It is striking that especially the artificial solutions are
highlighted on the city’s website. The Climate Trees are described as
“spectacular” for cooling the nearby area, a service big and healthy trees can
provide as well however the existing canopy is not praised for its ability to
cool its surroundings. It seems to be important to emphasize that innovative
technological solutions were used to combat urban heat island effects. This
could be a sign that the city government generally concentrates on the
technological fix when it comes to fighting the Climate Crisis.
Esterházypark from above. Picture taken in June
2019. (Source: official Orthophoto of the city of Vienna. Picture: https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/)
Considering social and political aspects of
this project, the question comes to mind, if this park is really the best place
to start combatting urban heat islands. It is without doubt that the area
around the park is densely populated, however the tree canopy in the western
part of the park was already there and had a cooling effect. Additionally, the
park lies in a middle- to high-income neighborhood where people might not be so
dependent on public green spaces.
When comparing the area around Esterházypark to
a lower-income, densely populated area in Vienna (16th district, Ottakring), it
becomes apparent that the need for green infrastructure might be higher in
other parts of the city.
A part of Vienna’s 16th district
from above. More green infrastructure might be needed to reduce the urban heat
island effect. Picture taken in June 2019. (Source: official Orthophoto of the
city of Vienna. Picture: https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/)
However, politically,
Esterházypark lies close to the 7th district, where the Green Party
had their best result in the 2020 city elections. It might be possible that it
seemed more advantageous for the reigning socio-democratic party to use
greening as a means to cater to the wishes of this group of possible voters
instead of focusing on a densely populated area with low-income citizens and a
bigger percentage of people without Austrian citizenship, who are not allowed
to vote on the city level.
References:
Die höchste vertikale Grünwand in Wien (2019,
September, 5). Haus des Meeres.
https://www.haus-des-meeres.at/news/683.
MA 18, Stadtentwicklung und Stadtplanung. (2014). STEP 2025: Stadtentwicklungsplan
Wien. Magistratsabt. 18 - Stadtentwicklung und Stadtplanung.
MA 22, Umweltschutzabteilung. (2015). Urban Heat Islands - Strategieplan
Wien. Wien: Magistratsabt. 22 – Umweltschutzabteilung.
Red. (2019, September 25). Eine grüne Fassade
für das Haus des Meeres. Gärtner + Florist.
Troepferlbad.at. Coolspot im Cooling-Park
Mariahilf. https://www.troepferlbad.at/das-tröpferlbad-2-0-1/coolspot-mariahilf/.
wien.gv. Esterházypark. https://www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/parks/anlagen/esterhazy.html. (accessed: 25.04.2023).
wien.gv. Wiens erster "Cooling-Park"
im Esterházypark eröffnet. https://www.wien.gv.at/mariahilf/umwelt/coolingpark-esterhazypark.html. (accessed: 25.04.2023).
wien.gv. Stadtplan Wien. https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/. (accessed: 25.04.2023).
https://wien.orf.at/stories/3024336/.
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