The dense city as nature

Biotope City Wienerberg is being located on the former Coca-Cola production site and consists of around 950 apartments, office space, a new middle school, a kindergarten as well as shops, communal areas and a large amount of green and open space.

The concept Biotope City – the dense city as nature – developed by the Biotope City Foundation was created from the knowledge of fundamental changes in the framework conditions of architecture and urban development due to climate change and rapid urbanization.

• world-wide 1. GREENPASS Platinum certified Quarter
• up to 2.2°C air temperature reduction on a heatday
• approx. 950 Appartments, whereof 3/4 social housing

Biotope City Wienerberg is the world’s first official climate-fit and GREENPASS Platinum-certified urban quarter. GREENPASS is the world’s first all-in-one software-as-a-service (SaaS) planning, optimization and certification tool for climate-resilient cities and architecture.

The unique SaaS tool has been scientifically developed over the past 10 years and has already been used successfully in more than 90 projects in 10 European countries. In the certification process, GREENPASS considers 28 standardized performance indicators within 6 urban challenges: climate, water, air, biodiversity, energy and costs.

The numerical and worldwide applicable evaluation system awards up to additionally 20 qualitative bonus points in the 3 bonus topics of biodiversity, resources and social issues and serves as a quality assurance instrument in the planning process.

As a garden city of the 21st century, Biotope City Wienerberg is responding to increasing urbanization and climate change with green spaces, local recreation and urban gardening as well as sustainable water management. With the participation of the local residents and the creation of meeting places for future residents, particular importance is awarded to social sustainability and a good neighborhood.

Model

A GREENPASS Pre-Certification was carried out at Biotope City Wienerberg at an early stage in order to analyze and optimize the building structure and open space with regard to their effectiveness.

Based on the expert system ENVI-met®, the digital models created in the GREENPASS Editor have been simulated.

Analysis

In the further planning process, Biotope City Wienerberg was accompanied by a GREENPASS Certification for further optimization (OPT) and quality assurance. In addition to reference scenarios (worst case – moderate case – best case), the planning was further more precisely compared with the initial situation (status quo) and shows a clear improvement in all urban challenges.

Results

In the planning process, based on the GREENPASS analysis and recommendations, the impact for the Biotope City Wienerberg was increased from GOLD to PLATINUM. With a total degree of fulfillment of 93%, Biotope City Wienerberg is the first GREENPASS Platinum certified and official climate-fit urban district worldwide.

Impact

The project ensures a variety of quality for residents and neighbors (see results section right). In addition, bonus points have been awarded for the Biotope City Wienerberg in the field of biodiversity for species diversity, vegetation structures, species-rich herb layer, species protection plant, habitat structures, bee and bird pastures as well as nesting and breeding sites.

In terms of resources, the project scores with the use of recycled materials, rainwater treatment and smart irrigation systems.

In the social area, there are bonus points for private open space, communal areas and outdoor accessibility.

Video

Keywords

Biodiversity Biotope City Certification City Climate Climate resiliant CO2 Sequestration Cooperation partner Ecosystem Energy Green Infrastructure Landscape design Platinum Quarter Run-off score SaaS Social housing Software-as-a-Service Sustainability Thermal comfort Urban Vienna