117 CATHEDRAL COMMUNICATIONS THE BUILDING CONSERVATION DIRECTORY 2025 EXTERNAL WORKS 3.4 in 2015 with the upgrading of an existing local terminus into a new major commuter interchange, serving public transport modes including the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, six city tram lines, and buses to the airport. In the same year, Vienna opened Hauptbahnhof, now the main railway station for the city. Simultaneously, the city invested heavily in upgrading their extensive tram network and underground lines, ensuring key stations had adequate follow-up mobility options for people to easily access the historic core, including the upgrade of Praterstern, a main interchange station connecting across the Danube River. New masterplans delivering mixed use neighbourhoods focused around these new infrastructure projects. At Hauptbahnhof, the Sonnwendviertel masterplan delivered a new urban quarter with over 13,000 residents and 2,000 subsidised apartments; at Praterstern, the Nordbahnhof masterplan brought 20,000 new residents into the city, as well as a new commercial development. Nordbahnhof has become a standard bearer for sustainable residential led urban design, covering its own annual energy demands through innovative technologies including a pioneering photovoltaic system. At Westbhanhof, a new business district is being developed around the station’s strategic location and a planned new public park. These infrastructure and urban developments have energised the city’s growth agenda and succeeded in furthering sustainability goals, bringing people into the historic core in a more environmentally responsible and efficient way. MOVING PEOPLE: MULTI-MODAL CONNECTIVITY Getting people into the city and increasing population density around the fringes can only benefit the historic core if those people are able to easily access and enjoy this heritage. Moving people into, and crucially around, the city centre was something Vienna marked as a priority, seeking ways to encourage sustainable mobility, walking, cycling, and public transport. Having a well-developed and connected U-Bahn system in the city helped but it was the council’s innovate use of historic urban settings for mobility that has truly enhanced this accessibility. The city targeted key routes from the new transport hubs into the historic core. From Westbahnhof, the main road south, Mariahilferstrasse, was redesigned to prioritise ease of movement for pedestrians, cyclists, and those using public transport. This major retail street was closed to through traffic, with only service vehicles allowed access through a shared street design, and two new access points were delivered for the U-Bahn line that runs beneath the surface connecting to the city centre. Mariahilferstrasse is now one of Vienna’s busiest streets and brings people from Westbahnhof directly to the Kaiserforum and Ringstrasse, the western gateway into the Unesco world heritage site. The Ringstrasse itself, originally designed as a buffer to the old city and a showcase of bourgeoisie, constructed on the space left over after the removal of the old city walls in the mid-1800s, was reimagined as a core mobility connector. Public realm upgrades improved walkability and access to the tram lines encircling the urban core allowing people to easily move around the perimeter of the historic centre. The tram network links heritage structures such as the Opera House and the baroque parks which frame the Ringstrasse, attracting large numbers of tourists each year. To reduce car numbers and avoid conflict between transport modes, a cargo road running parallel to the main Ringstrasse was allocated for vehicular movement. Vienna has purposefully made it difficult to travel by car, making mobility decisions easier for tourists and locals alike, even delivering local policies that subsidise annual passes to the entire public transport network for residents, allowing them full access for as little as one euro per day. EXPERIENCE MATTERS: WALKABILITY AND ACTIVITY To encourage walking in any urban setting it is critical to not only prioritise its efficiency over other forms of movement but also ensure that the experience is positive. Vienna has made efforts to remove Gateways to the city: new neighbourhoods are evolving around the upgraded rail stations, bringing people into the city. The Ringstrasse: the public transport network connects people to important historic green spaces and heritage buildings in the historic centre of the city.
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