STADTARBEIT 2021

Leaving the trodden path can be a risk – but it can also be rewarded by the opening up of new perspectives: On the very first day of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, hordes of visitors and representatives of the media followed Otto Wagner’s Döblinger Steg in the direction of Rampengasse, where the abandoned route of the urban railway with the reseda green railings was open to the public. It is projects such as this temporary High Line Park that demonstrate how, by addressing the constant transformation of our urban and social fabric, social design can prepare the ground for countless new ways of coming together. With their precise architectural (Marlene Lübke-Ahrens / Wolfgang Novotny), therapeutically preventative (Max Scheidl), and digitally democratic (IDRV – Institute of Design Research Vienna) design-based approaches, each of the three interventions of the format Stadtarbeit created a different form of open space in and for the Focus District Brigittenau.

The social design format Stadtarbeit has been part of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK for many years and is realized with the support of the ExtraVALUE sponsorship program of the Erste Bank and in cooperation with Caritas Wien. In the run-up to the 2021 festival, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and Erste Bank issued a call for projects, ideas, and concepts that address resilient neighborhoods and offer design solutions based on social spaces.

The Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Design Award was also awarded for the seventh time. The prize enabled the winners to participate in and, hence, to realize their project during the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2021. The three winning projects received an implementation budget as well as prize money totaling € 3,000.