Hello Everyone:
Welcome to a new week on the blog. White House counsel Don McGahn is singing like a canary. The New York Times revealed that Mr. McGahn has been extensively cooperating with Special Counsel. Mr. McGahn told the investigators things that they would otherwise not have known. According to sources, the president actually encouraged cooperation but Mr. McGahn wisely thought he was being set up to take a fall. Don McGahn, in a measure of self protection, sang like a bird. The winner of this week's most quotable line is former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who uttered the Orwellian the truth is not the truth. So, if the truth is not the truth, then it must be a lie. Therefore, if a lie is not a lie, then it must be the truth. See how backwards and upside down things are in Trumpland. Up is down, down is up and no collusion. In the meantime, Vienna beckons.
Vienna, Austria is the glittering home Franz Kafka, waltzes, der Jugenstil architecture and design; it's world famous pastries. The Austrian capital is also famous for being ranked number one on the annual Mercer ranking of cities with best quality-of-life. Mercer is a human resource company that publishes an annual list of global cities with best quality-of-life. While Copenhagen may be considered the happiest city, Saransh Sehgal reports in his article, "Why Vienna Does So Well on Quality-of-Life Ranking," which originally appeared in Citiscope in 2016, "The Austrian capital has ranked first on the list for seven years in a row [mobilityexchange.mercer.com; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018]. Mercer has consistently praised Vienna for being a safe city with good public services, transport and recreational facilities." Monocle magazine also praised Vienna (monocle.com; June 20, 2016; dat accessed Aug. 23, 2018). Although Vienna placed third on that list, the magazine still chose it as the site of its annual Quality of Life conference this past April (conference.monocle.com; June 28-30, 2018; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018). Just last week, The Economist ranked the Ciy second on its "Liveability Rankngs" (eiu.com; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018).
What is Vienna's secret, you may ask. Mr. Sehgal writes, "According to government and business leaders,mit's a mix of good long-term planning, an emphasis on citizen participation and a relentless focus on social equality. Judith Sandberger of the Vienna Business Agency told Citiscope, Vienna doesn't stand for the 'fast buck.'
To be fair, Vienna, like any other city, does have its unique set of challenges. The city of 1.8 million is dealing with growth pressures as 30,000 new residents call it home. Like any European city, Vienna is trying to integrate the recently arrived thousands of migrants and refugees (ft.com; June 23, 2016; date accessed Aug. 20. 2018) more people continue to drive cars than civic officials would like.
Be that as it may, Vienna consistently manages to overcome these challenges to come out in the top three. There three reasons why the Viennese rate their city so high on quality of life surveys--and what lessons other cities can learn. Pay attention Los Angeles.
"Housing and transport are affordable"
One of the reasons global glamour cities such as London and New York rank lower on quality-of-life surveys is the high cost of living. Mr. Sehgal writes, "By contrast, Vienna's housing framework rests on the belief that providing housing is a basic human right--and local policies reflect that." The municipality owns over a quarter of the housing stock. Half of the population lives in subsidized apartments, and for the rest of the population there strict rules against regarding rent increases. He reports,
"In Vienna, residents typically pay about a quarter of their household income on housing. By comparison, renters in London on average put 72 percent [theguardian.com; July 16, 2015; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018] of their income toward housing."
As Vienna expands, the municipality adds more housing. "In 2015 alone 7,200 units were handed over to residents and 20,000 subsidized housing units were either under construction or getting ready to be built." Vienna annually spends "€450 million in national funds and about €150 million in municipal funds on construction new homes and refurbishing old ones."
Private developers also participate in the affordable housing campaign. Are you paying attention Mayor Eric Garcetti? Bojan-IIija Schnabl, senior researcher with the city housing department MA50, explained,
Here, private developers who work together with city government to construct reasonable housing have to allow the government to rent about half the share of flats to lower-income residents,me hike the developers had the right to lease the remaining share to moderate-income inhabitants.... This contributed to a social mixture that is healthy for any growing city.
Not only is Vienna a very affordable place to live but it is also inexpensive to get around. "An annual pass to the city's transit system costs just €1 a day for a yearly pass." L.A. Transit planners pay attention to this fact, the Vienna transport system is clean, safe, reliable, and goes everywhere. Vienna is also committed to invested in new stock and extending the system. "By 2025, Vienna aims to have 80 percent of all trips in the city made using eco-friendly modes of transport."
"Green space galore"
Tales of the Vienna Woods (bpww.at; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018). Central Europe's largest continuous area of deciduous forest, encompasses seven city districts and nearly 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of territory. The Wienerwald (Vienna Woods) was designated a "biosphere reserve" (unesco.org; date accessed Aug. 2018) by UNESCO, are reachable by public transport.
Florian Hutz of the Vienna forestry and urban agriculture department, which manages a quarter of the city's land, said,
The Viennese are actively involved in designing green spaces and their needs and demands are considered in new green projects.
One example of this dual process is evident in the Lobau (wien.info; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018) wetland, is part of a national park (donauauen.at; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018) partially located within the Vienna city limits. Saransh Sehgal reports, "The city forestry agency regularly invites citizens to help with the protection of green spaces and their upkeep. In return, the department regularly organizes workshops that educate individuals about the flora and fauna of the area."
"Planning for a sustainable and inclusive future"
As Vienna grows, civic leaders have "pledged to reduce per-capita greenhouse gas emission 80 percent by 2050 (smartcity.wien.gv.at; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018). The urban project Seerstadt Aspern is the laboratory for this ambitious plan.
The former airfield, located in the northeast of the city, is transforming into a "modern, multi-functional, neighborhood--and one of Europe's largest urban development projects [Ibid]. By 2030, Seerstadt Aspern is expected to accommodate 20,000 residents and a similar number of jobs [siemens.com; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018], situated around an artificial lake." Planners envision the Vienna city center only 25-minute subway ride away and a 28-minute train trip to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
Seerstadt Aspern is also a test site for developing innovations in urban energy efficiency technologies. Corporate partners lik Siemens and Wien Energie are looking at the "potential of buildings to monitor power consumption and produce energy to be fed back into the grid." Community-wide information is collected to run the system in real time and inform new technology advancements.
The first participants in this experiment are the residents of the 213 apartments in complex D12 of Aspern (tedxvienna.at; date accessed Aug. 20, 2018). Mr. Sehgal writs, "Smart meters and home automation systems will give residents an unprecedented picture of their energy consumption and the means to control home power usage through their smartphones."
The skeleton for this and other strategies is the "Smart City Framework Initiative" (smartcity.wien.gv.at). This document was the result of years-long workshops, open forums, and conferences (Ibid) to get citizen input about creating a "smart city," as well as address issues of privacy. The final draft emphasizes "the need to provide the best quality of life for all of the city's residents, while minimizing the consumption of resources." The first page of the document boldly declares,
Cities are smart if all people living them have access to the same degree of participation. (Ibid)
Brigit Ginzler of the he Smart City Wien initiative (Ibid) told Citiscope "the framework is simply he lasts manifestation of Vienna's deep commitment to social inclusion. It is centered on
narrowing the socio-economic divide,... If you look at our Smart City Principle, most big cities focus on two pillars--resources and innovation. But Vienna's strategy comprises a their pillar focusing on social inclusion and public participation.
Vienna vice mayor, executive city councilor for finance, economy, and international affairs Renate Brauner echos the sentiment for social inclusion as a key to Vienna's success. Ms. Brauner said,
Social equity has been the primary focus of our policies for many decades,... People can feel safe and secure here because they are given the right chances, they like living here and are happy to contribute.
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