Itz Smart – Carbon neutral city district development Itzling – Implementing innovation and technology via co-operative process design

The goal of the project “Itz Smart” is to tie in with existing activities and to consistently develop Itzling as a residential location further. In the test and demonstration area, sustainable residential quarters with trendsetting solutions for mobility are developed in the zone of the transport axis (railway and Schillerstraße) and along the local supply axis (Itzlinger Hauptstraße). The consideration of housing and mobility with regard to the aspect of “city of short ways“ also entails a discussion of determined mixed utilisation and the development of such residential quarters.

Short Description

Starting point/Motivation

Itzling, a typical urban district on the fringe of a medium-sized city like Salzburg with a very heterogeneous development and use structure, poses numerous challenges for the city's administration: the districts' former center and its shopping street have mostly lost their function, the residential complexes from the 60s and 70s are in need of renovation and redevelopment, large factories and businesses are located next to single-family homes and duplexes, railway lines cut through the district and a high volume of traffic overloads the traffic nodes. Against this background, the city of Salzburg envisions to ad-vance Itzling into a smart city district.

Content and objectives

The project "Itz Smart" investigated the potential for the develop-ment of the building stock by means of cooperative planning approaches. The objective of the project was to identify the first implementation projects and bring them one step closer to real-ization.

Methodological approach

In a first step, the initial situation of the district was analyzed by means of statistical data and the current (approximate) levels of CO2 emissions were illus-trated. From this starting point, an "Itzling 2050 vision" was developed during a two-day work-shop. With this vision in mind, further steps were defined in cooperation with the city admin-istration, building contractors, landowners, infrastructure managers, social services, research and educational institutions and enriched with research insights, innovations and technologies. This process resulted in 27 preferred, potential projects, which were subsequently discussed with senior representatives of the city administration and which will be presented to all com-munity representatives in the city's planning committee meeting, to bring about a decision concerning the projects' realization.

Results and Conclusions

The chosen approach of a "CO2 neutral district development through cooperative process design" seemed right in the beginning, yet the focus on the very technical and elusive term "CO2 neutral" was more of a hindrance than a help. This approach should rather be considered as building block for sustainable settlement development and contemplated under economic, environmental and social aspects. The objective of the build-ing stock development is strongly dependent on the initial situation on site and therefore dif-ferent from case to case; yet in any case highly complex. Some cities already recognize that the realization of a single project is not an adequate contribution to a sustainable stock devel-opment. Rather, a need for a holistic strategy exists, which connects the planning and the implementation of many individual projects to an overarching context and that puts together a package of measures for the building stock development. The project "Itz Smart" has made a first contribution to this strategy and provided a basis for discussion. Future questions include: Which target-aimed political decisions are required? Which lighthouse projects can be imple-mented immediately? How can individual projects be continuously linked? How can a sup-portive and adequate prevailing mood be generated among the citizens in the district, eco-nomic respresentatives, administration and politics?

Project Partners

Project management

SIR – Salzburger Institut für Raumordnung und Wohnen

Project or cooperation partners

Fachhochschule Salzburg GmbH – Smart Building
komobile Gmunden GmbH
raum & kommunikation GmbH

Contact Address

Patrick Lüftenegger
Schillerstraße 25
Tel.: +43 (662) 62 34 55 - 19
E-mail: patrick.lueftenegger@salzburg.gv.at
Web: www.sir.at