ÖKOTOPIA

From 2009 to 2014 teams of the degree programmes Social Work & Social Management, Architecture & Construction, and Energy, Transport and Environmental Management applied themselves to the question of what a long-term attractive urban environment could look like. The project involved the analysis of seven areas in Graz with different development forms and patterns. They were investigated and analysed with regard to the following quantitative and qualitative indicators:

• Spatial and structural resources
• Energy supply and energy consumption
• Traffic development and use of transport
• Social resources and social behaviour with regard to neighbourly relations, perception of safety, local identity, civic commitment and proactivity in old age.

In the course of this, several common assumptions of urban planners were empirically proven. The evaluation and analysis of extensive data material revealed new interrelations in many areas – for instance, concerning supply and use of public transport and environmental awareness.

The ÖKOTOPIA model for easier assessment of urban development projects

A criterion catalogue was derived from the data material from the first project phase: the ÖKOTOPIA model. This model makes it easier for urban planners and policy makers to assess urban development projects from the point of view of resource efficiency. The crucial difference to the usual sustainability studies was the fact that the FH JOANNEUM team pursued an innovative, transdisciplinary approach which took into equal account the perspectives of construction, energy supply, traffic and transport as well as the social compatibility and acceptance of the population in the neighbouring districts.

The ÖKOTOPIA model is a multifactorial criterion catalogue which allows urban planning, technical, ecological and social aspects of resource-saving urban development to be cross-linked and quantitatively estimated. The model not only provides an overall picture of the sustainability of an urban district or community, it also allows individual assessments to be made about the various technical, ecological and social levels of a project.