From Principles to Practice DIGITAL

36Replicability and lessons learned Replicable or scalable aspects ▪Community-driven planning: Encouraging residents to partici- pate in the renewal process creates a sense of ownership and helps tailor interventions to the community’s needs. This partic- ipatory model supports the city’s aims to retain affordability and avoid community displacement. ▪Preserving housing affordability: By focusing on small-scale, targeted interventions rather than large-scale redevelopment, Vienna ensures that the housing remains affordable and accessi- ble for low- and middle-income families. ▪Long-term sustainability: Vienna’s programme integrates energy efficiency improvements into the renovation work, ensuring that the buildings are not only more comfortable but also more sus- tainable, reducing long-term costs for residents and the city. Lessons learned ▪Engage the community early: Actively involving tenants and local residents in the planning stages ensures that their concerns and needs are considered, helping avoid resistance to urban renewal and promoting long-term success. ▪Focus on small-scale interventions: Instead of large-scale demolition, focusing on preserving the existing structure of neighbourhoods allows for gradual improvements without the disruption of displacement during construction. This strategy helps maintain the social fabric of communities and avoids the need for often complex and challenging right-to-return plans for existing tenants. ▪Balance preservation with modernization: Retaining the archi- tectural and cultural value of the neighbourhood while imple- menting modern upgrades can revitalize neighbourhoods without compromising their historical significance. ▪Support long-term affordability: Subsidizing renovation efforts helps preserve affordable housing options, preventing extended temporary or permanent displacement that often results from typ- ical models of market-driven or public-sector-led redevelopment. 37Challenges ▪Coordination: Ensuring the historic value of buildings is main- tained while updating infrastructure to meet modern living standards can be a complex task, requiring careful planning and technical expertise. ▪Managing tenant displacement: While the programme aims to avoid radical displacement, managing the delicate balance between affordable housing and the need for renovation often involves negotiations and can be a source of tension among ten- ants and property owners. ▪Securing sustainable financing: The programme relies heavily on public funding, subsidies and private partnerships, potentially limiting the long-term financial sustainability of the initiative based on the availability of public funds, especially as the scale of the programme expands. ▪Coordination between stakeholders: Coordinating between multiple stakeholders – including the government, private devel- opers, tenants and community organizations – requires strong governance and can sometimes result in delays or conflicting interests. ▪Public perception of urban renewal: While the goal is to preserve affordability, residents sometimes fear that renewal projects will lead to gentrification, raising concerns about rent increases and potential displacement. Clear accessible information through various mediums including in person is key. In Vienna, this was led by the city’s Urban Renewal Office’s mobile community hubs. ▪Alternative land ownership contexts: A wider challenge is the continued adaption of the model to different land ownership contexts. Vienna’s model is, in part, supported by the city’s sig- nificant ownership of homes.31 Further testing is needed to see if core features like subsidies and long-term affordability can work on privately owned land. Next steps ▪Expansion of the programme: The gentle urban renewal initiative is expected to expand to more districts in Vienna, particularly those with large stocks of older housing that are at risk of deterioration. ▪Replication globally: Vienna’s gentle urban renewal programme has inspired cities like Berlin, Barcelona and Paris to adopt similar strategies focused on affordability and preventing tenant dis- placement. Recognized by international institutions such as the OECD and the EU, the programme is praised for integrating com- munity participation and affordability in urban renewal. Global housing networks, including the International Union of Tenants (IUT), also cite Vienna as a model for addressing gentrification and housing affordability challenges.32