The Austrian Society for Landscape Architecture ÖGLA led a two-day tour through cool and chilly Vienna. On the agenda for the 35 participants from the Association of German Landscape Architects (bdla) and the Association of Swiss Landscape Architects (BSLA) was landscape architecture with a climate impact. Their effectiveness could be tested immediately in very different Viennese "neighborhoods" and districts at around 30°.

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For example, in Aspern, a lakeside town that has been growing since 2010, which provides revealing evidence of the paradigm shift in landscape architecture: depending on the construction phase, wide streets with (too) little greenery are juxtaposed with cool residential courtyards with a quality of stay and the practiced sponge city. The crystal-clear groundwater lake will become the future center of a hopefully green lakeside city.

Squares and promenades in the center of Vienna are also being developed - greener, cooler and more social. Vienna's abundance of water is always striking - fountains, spray mist and irrigation are constants of the transformation at Praterstern, Praterstrasse and Neubaugasse, alongside perennials, climate-resistant trees and the sponge city principle. A lock island in the Danube has become a "consumption-free" place for young people to spend time. Unfortunately, unbound surfaces have a hard time in Vienna - and landscape architects have to deal with them creatively.

The end of the first excursion day was rewarded with a view over the city from the Museumsquartier. There, sustainability management is accompanying the process of becoming a model student of climate change. The temporary greenery is waiting in its bales to turn the courtyards of the former stables into miniature forests.

The next day, it was noticeably cool in front of the Haus des Meeres, a former bunker - a research project developed a special cooling spot for it, which could also be used in other places. At Amthaus Mariahilf, an overview was given of Vienna's climate strategies, the sponge city principle for urban trees and the practice of participatory processes, before moving on to a Scandinavian furniture store. Here, 160 trees up to 6 meters high grow on terraces next to the building - and are automatically watered by sensors.

In projects in and around the Westbahn area, many user interests come together and the former railroad area is being transformed into an exciting urban quarter with many green and open spaces. Thaliastrasse is a role model for green urban redevelopment: with an exponential increase in recreational space, benches and trees, the thoroughfare has been transformed into a promenade.

The two days of concentrated expertise came to an end at the Vienna Climate Biennale - whose creators broke up the asphalt, among other things, to create a new home for rescued trees and everything that is carried by the wind. Powerful images and solutions in the face of huge challenges!

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