290231 EX Field trip: Development of Industry and Business in Vienna (2016S)

The population of the City of Vienna is growing: In 2014 by 1.6 percent, by 2024 estimates assume that the city will grow by another 10% to 1.952 million inhabitants. Thus, the demand for land for new housing and jobs within the urban area is growing as well. Since 2001, however, the industrial and commercial areas declined in the federal capital by almost one third. Besides the established processes of deinsdustrialization and the transition towards a tertiary society, a relocation of businesses of the manufacturing sector to other parts of the world is taking place. Another factor for decreasing industrial and commercial areas within the city border are the suburban areas that offer bigger space, lower land prices, better accessibilities and better infrastructure and therefore are a big concurrent to the City of Vienna. Within Austria Vienna is still the third-largest production site after Lower Austria and Upper Austria: 8,000 companies provide about 14,000 jobs (2010). In the interest of the city industrial and commercial areas should continued to be obtained in order to exist as a location for trade and industry and provide jobs near residential sites. Nevertheless, the competition with the surroundings in Lower Austria as well as the land use pressure is large and challenges the city administration and urban planning policies.