Held online in the framework of the POCITYF project, the session gathered local development agencies, city representatives, and sustainability professionals from across Europe.

Themed "Vienna’s Green Infrastructure for Cultural Heritage," the session explored how green infrastructure can be effectively integrated with the preservation of historical landmarks and cultural identity. Vienna’s approach stands out for its ability to combine environmental resilience with citizen-led innovation. The featured initiative, the Vienna Climate Team, enables residents to actively participate in shaping climate policy through a structured process of idea collection, co-creation, and participatory budgeting.

Our guest speakers from the City of Vienna’s Office for Participation and Empowerment, Tijana Matić and Katharina Schwarzfurtner-Lutnik, shared insights into how the Vienna Climate Team has evolved into a city-wide programme. They described how citizens submit climate protection ideas, which are then developed in collaboration with city experts and evaluated by representative citizen juries. These ideas ultimately become fully funded projects implemented by the city, ensuring democratic legitimacy and direct community impact.

The presentation highlighted various citizen-generated solutions ranging from urban greening and mobility improvements to energy-efficient building upgrades. Through inclusive outreach methods such as workshops, town hall forums, mobile engagement units, and multilingual communication, the initiative successfully engages a broad cross-section of the population, including traditionally underrepresented groups.

The Q&A and discussion session saw enthusiastic engagement from attendees, many of whom expressed interest in adapting similar participatory models to their own local contexts. Speakers responded to questions about feasibility, administrative coordination, and the long-term sustainability of the initiative. The conversation underlined the importance of creating governance frameworks that are both responsive and collaborative.

This meeting reaffirmed the transformative power of civic participation in shaping climate-resilient and heritage-conscious urban spaces. EURADA extends sincere thanks to Tijana, Katharina, and all attendees for making the session a meaningful exchange of ideas and inspiration. We look forward to continuing this dialogue in future Working Group meetings.

To learn more about the Vienna Climate Team, visit Startseite - Wiener Klimateam. You can watch the Webinar of the 17th Smart Heritage Cities Working Group by clicking here. 

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