Vienna, a city seen through a feminist lens

Our second field trip as part of our Environmental Justice program led us this time to Vienna, with our partners from Virage Énergie, the Seine-Saint-Denis department, and the City of Paris. On the agenda: the topic of gender-sensitive urban planning, a hallmark of the City of Vienna, which has been implemented for over 30 years in housing development, park design, and budget management... We also addressed the issue of energy through a meeting with Our Power and the Austrian Energy Agency, focusing on the movement to reclaim energy production and the challenges related to including women and young people in these movements. Finally, we met with Alexandra Jing-i Wang, who coordinated the Der gute Rat  initiative launched by Marlene Engelhorn—an Austrian activist and heiress who mobilized a group of citizens as representative as possible of Austrian society to propose ideas beneficial to society for the use of her fortune.

Among the questions that guided and preoccupied us during these meetings: what does the city’s iconic feminist approach look like 30 years after its launch, how has it become institutionalized, and how does it integrate the more recent challenges facing these movements (diversity, intersectionality, etc.)? How do these gender priorities engage with more recent challenges regarding climate and environmental issues? How do these initiatives align with or challenge our own practices?

In the 1990s, under the leadership of urban planner Eva Kail, the Austrian capital began to focus on the specific needs of women. She established the Frauenbüro and launched a series of pilot projects, including the Frauen-Werk-Stadt (external link), a residential complex designed in part by architect Elsa Prochazka. The aim was to better address child care, a sense of safety in public spaces, the diversity of family structures, and the need for flexible apartment layouts. These initiatives led to the development of a series of recommendations and guidelines (external link) for city administration to create more inclusive public spaces. 

One observation remains today, shared by Julia Girardi-Hoog, Director of Urban Planning: the disappearance of women from public spaces as they grow older. The city is working to involve young girls in planning projects to address their needs regarding recreational spaces and safety. For example, emphasis is placed on the quantity and diversity of street furniture to offer a variety of gender-neutral uses (inclusive play and sports areas, the creation of seating areas and platforms that can be used for gathering to chat, engaging in artistic activities, dancing, etc.). 

To enhance the sense of safety, urban planning focuses on ensuring that people can “see and be seen” and on lighting; in parks, this involves creating open spaces with minimal low-lying vegetation and shrubs to promote social surveillance. The issue is also addressed through services offered to users, particularly the ability to report any problematic or unusual situation that creates a sense of insecurity: a “hotline” system allows users to submit requests regarding the layout of spaces or lighting; emergency call boxes located at tram stations allow users to alert authorities in case of a problem by connecting them to a live operator who can provide reassurance or dispatch assistance.

Among the points of tension is the conflict between the priorities of securing public spaces—which leads to limiting low or intermediate vegetation layers—and biodiversity concerns, which would instead call for denser vegetation. We also considered the diversity of women’s profiles: how, for example, can we better account for the specific situation of women of color (given that Vienna is home to communities from various immigrant backgrounds—Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia), which may act as a barrier to their engagement with public spaces, the commons, and public policies?

To date, a gender-sensitive perspective has become deeply embedded within the administration. This commitment has been institutionalized through, among other things, a Gender Mainstreaming Department, established in 1991 and now directly integrated into the general directorate that oversees the City’s strategy; internal training courses that must be completed, for example, to hold positions of responsibility; or a handbook titled “Gender mainstreaming - made easy (external link),” which offers advice supported by very concrete examples for integrating this approach into staff practices, covering topics such as language and representations (including inclusive writing in all communications), methods of analysis and data collection (systematically incorporating gendered data), accessibility to services, decision-making and management practices (during meetings, how many women and men are invited? What are their hierarchical positions, and what roles will they play? etc.), steering and evaluation processes, the development of standards and regulations (by questioning gender biases reflected, for example, in acceptable noise limits set for construction workers but not for early childhood educators), public spending (promoting women’s participation in the execution of public contracts), etc.

This also involves the annual implementation of a “gender-responsive budget (external link)” by the city’s 60 departments, which scrutinize their projects to assess the relevance of their actions in terms of gender equality. Michela Shatz, head of the city’s Gender Budgeting Department, describes approaches that align with best practices for implementing a carbon or climate budget: the importance of integration across departments and cross-cutting approaches, the transformation of governance models, the involvement of staff and the issue of competencies, and tools for monitoring and evaluation—all within an integrated framework that enables more precise steering and clearer policy decisions. 

How, exactly, do these two issues intersect? The city has indeed adopted a climate law that combines transition and social justice, along with a roadmap that also includes a climate budget. The latter is quantified, unlike the gender-responsive budget, which does not specify a financial value. Our interviewee explains this choice by pointing to the greater difficulty in quantifying measures related to the gendered approach, but also by the fact that gender equality is less widely accepted than the transition. The City, moreover, communicates little publicly about the gendered approach (which is used primarily as an internal management tool) and finds it easier to discuss the concept of quality of life with the general public.

Since 2019, the city of Vienna and its universities (26 universities and 120 research institutes) have committed to strengthening their collaboration, particularly on climate issues. On the part of public institutions, the applications are diverse and similar to those of French local governments: better understanding the causes of climate change, identifying future trends, providing scientific backing to justify government actions and explain their rationale, and supporting the development of solutions, tools, programs, and indicators to address these challenges.

A fairly sophisticated dialogue process has been established, bringing together nearly 200 experts and officials to identify the research needs of city departments and formulate research questions specific to the municipality (external link); these are organized into 16 themes, one of which focuses on climate justice. The goal of the final document is to serve as a practical tool to facilitate dialogue and joint projects (led by clearly identified thematic leaders). For universities, the catalog is intended to provide guidance, align research topics with the specific needs of local governments, and give research projects a concrete field of application with access to data and users. For the institution, it allows staff members to access a solid body of scientific knowledge on the topics they deal with on a daily basis.  

Beyond this catalog, other activities and events embody this collaboration, such as sessions to curate research findings for public officials, or, conversely, “policy briefs” written by researchers for elected officials to summarize the key scientific findings on a given topic. Meetings are also organized in libraries to allow researchers to share their research topics.

The goal of the cooperation between researchers and the City is to ensure “a high quality of life in Vienna for everyone”; the way research themes and questions are organized may bring to mind the mission-based approach theorized by economist Mariana Mazzucato (Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, UCL). Without claiming any direct connection to her work, this approach provides a common framework for the various research projects that can be conducted across diverse disciplinary fields.  

We were also welcomed by Anke Schaffartzik, a researcher in environmental science and policy at the Central European University, for a conference-workshop titled “Who Shapes the City” with young researchers and members of civil society to share our respective approaches. Citizen participation, conflicts, and the role of unions; the intersection of social disadvantages based on gender, origin, and social class; artistic interventions in public spaces to challenge the dominance of cars in the city; and mobility constraints faced by minorities in Paris, Vienna, Istanbul, and South India were among the themes discussed during this meeting, which was notable for the greater representation of women and researchers from gender and ethnic minorities among the participants. 

A Vienne plusieurs acteurs se saisissent de la transition énergétique en essayant de la rendre la plus inclusive possible.  OurPower (external link)est une coopérative énergétique fondée à Vienne en 2018, dont l'objectif est d'impliquer les citoyen.ne.s dans le marché de l'électricité. Elle met en lien des producteur.rices et des consommateur.rices en animant une « market place ». Traditionnellement, le profil des producteurs est plutôt masculin et rural, mais Our Power anime la plateforme « Women's Dialogue », un espace qui permet à des femmes de se retrouver dans le cadre de groupes de parole sur la transition énergétique et s'entraider pour devenir productrices d'énergie (via la toiture de leur habitation ou l'installation d'éoliennes, panneaux solaires au sol, unités de méthanisation ou barrages hydroélectriques sur des terrains leur appartenant). Our Power propose également des plages horaires particulières pendant lesquelles les clientes sont sûres de tomber sur une interlocutrice féminine qui pourra répondre à ses questions sur l'énergie avec bienveillance et sans jugement. 

L'Agence Autrichienne de l'Énergie mène pour sa part plusieurs projets pour favoriser l'implication des femmes dans le secteur de l'énergie, comme l' « Equality in Energy Transition Initiative (external link) », une initiative visant à accélérer l'égalité des genres et la diversité dans le cadre d'une transition vers les énergies renouvelables. Elle participe également au projet européen Gender4Power (external link) qui contribue à la création de solutions énergétiques respectueuses de l'égalité des genres au sein de communautés énergétiques locales.

En 2024, une initiative singulière a vu le jour en Autriche : Der Gute Rat, (external link) portée par Marlene Engelhorn, héritière d'une grande fortune industrielle, décidée à reverser 24 millions d'euros à des causes d'intérêt général. Pour ce faire, un panel de 50 personnes a été constitué par tirage au sort, à partir de 10 000 invitations, avec un soin particulier apporté à la représentativité sociale. L'enjeu : dépasser les biais habituels de participation pour inclure des profils souvent absents de ces dispositifs. Indemnisation généreuse, prise en charge complète des frais, services de traduction, garde d'enfants ou accompagnement spécifique : tout a été pensé pour lever les freins à l'engagement. Pendant six semaines, accompagnés par des facilitateur.rice.s et des expert.e.s, les participant.e.s ont délibéré sur l'allocation de ces fonds, selon une méthode de consentement visant un accord partagé. Résultat : 77 associations soutenues, et un consensus construit plus rapidement qu'attendu, malgré la diversité des parcours et des opinions initiales.

Difficile toutefois de faire de cette expérience un modèle duplicable. Son coût (2 millions d'euros), l'ampleur des moyens mobilisés et le caractère exceptionnel de la démarche - une redistribution privée, hors cadre institutionnel - en font un objet à part. Mais c'est précisément cette liberté qui en fait un terrain d'expérimentation précieux. L'évaluation souligne notamment la capacité des participant.e.s à s'approprier des sujets complexes, à monter en compétence et à faire évoluer leurs points de vue dans un cadre délibératif exigeant. Pour certains, l'expérience a même constitué une première véritable reconnaissance de leur voix dans un processus démocratique. Ici, la qualité du chemin parcouru semble compter autant que le résultat final, invitant à regarder de près ce que produit, concrètement, une telle immersion citoyenne.

Au cœur du dispositif, une approche très pragmatique de la redistribution : pas de débat théorique, mais une question simple et tangible : que faire de 25 millions d'euros ? Les participant.e.s ont ainsi été amené.e.s à arbitrer entre des priorités, en mobilisant des critères mêlant impact social, justice, crédibilité des acteurs et transformation à long terme. Plutôt que de redistribuer directement à des individus, ils ont choisi de financer des organisations, dans une logique proche de l'action publique. Si cette démarche éclaire une manière concrète d'aborder les inégalités, certaines zones d'ombre persistent : peu d'éléments sur la manière dont ces enjeux ont été vécus et débattus en profondeur, ou sur les effets réels en termes de transformation du débat public. Entre expérimentation démocratique, geste militant et opération de communication, le « Bon conseil » laisse ainsi ouverte une série de questions, notamment sur sa capacité à inspirer - ou non - d'autres formes d'action plus ordinaires.

Cet article a été écrit avec les multiples plumes des participantes et participants à ce voyage. Merci à elles et eux !