A dignified shade of green
Römische Ruine Schlosspark Schönbrunn
Villa Dostal, Dostalgasse 15 / EHL
Vienna’s upmarket idyll in the west
Lots of space and lots of green. At first glance, the Thirteenth District looks somewhat different from its neighbouring districts; most of its streets are characterised by front gardens and tree-lined avenues, and the district benefits from extensive green recreational areas such as Schönbrunn, Roter Berg, and Lainzer Tiergarten park. It comes as little surprise that families are especially attracted to Hietzing as a residential area. The district has more than green spaces to make it attractive – there are many historical buildings to visit and admire such as Schloss Schönbrunn palace as well as the Klimt and Hermes vil- las, carefully curated concept stores and hip cafés in Alt-Hietzing to stop at during a stroll around the district, while the restaurants and coffee houses at the centre of Hietzing have now become institutions attracting visitors from far beyond the district’s limits. The Thirteenth District may take third place in surface area behind Donaustadt and Floridsdorf, but it only has a population of just under 54,000. The number of new buildings in Hietzing is relatively low despite the district’s large area, and the housing
supply cannot keep up with its popularity. The limited land available for development only allows a limited amount of new construction, resulting in heavy demand for few, mostly exclusive, projects. The few new construction and renovation projects include Villa Dostal on Dostalgasse, Villa Hietzing on Gobergasse, and Jardin Hermes on Hermesstraße. The Das Noah project on Lainzer Straße is a somewhat more large-scale new building development. Hietzing scores top marks in Vienna for green percentage area at seventy percent but is still making efforts to take it further in greening and traffic calming. This includes a traffic calming project on historic Altgasse together with a green meeting area and a project to turn the junction between Gallgasse and Klitsch- gasse into what is referred to as a micro-open space or pocket park: this previously sealed area has started showing its age, and is due for an upgrade into a welcoming place to stop and take a break, or use the new bike parking facility. There is also a rezoning and development plan for Hörndlwald in the Thirteenth District – previously zoned for construction and development, these areas will be added to the forested green belt.
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