Annual program 2025

Offensive for more dialog in Vienna’s municipal buildings

Housing City Councillor Kathrin Gaál is expanding the Wohnpartner services.(Bild: PID/VOTAVA)

To mark the 15th anniversary of Vienna's "wohnpartner", City Hall is giving the neighborhood service of the municipal buildings a few extra treats: Leopoldstadt is getting a new Grätzl center, but more dialogue should also bring more respect and joint activities in all other municipal buildings.

Kathrin Gaál, City Councillor for Housing, wants to create more spaces "for the community to come together and fill an active neighborhood with life" in the municipal buildings in 2025, in part also structurally: on its 15th anniversary, wohnpartner is getting its tenth Grätzl center in the city: from the second half of March, it is to enliven the 1930s municipal building at Engerthstraße 230.

People who cook together argue less
The new Grätzl-Zentrum follows the shift in objectives that Wiener Wohnen is increasingly focusing on after positive experiences in other districts: it is not just about help, support and conflict resolution, but also increasingly about joint activities to actively ensure good neighborliness even before any conflicts arise: cooking together as a team has become a particular hit with the public.

The "Respect.together.safely" meetings tried out in 2024 have proven to be a success.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Successful trial balloons become permanent fixtures
Following positive feedback, the "Respekt.gemeinsam.sicher" meetings introduced last year and the "Democracy Cafés" will also be retained: while the meetings together with the district police officers focus on current problems in individual municipal buildings, the Democracy Cafés are intended to encourage more participation in decision-making structures, from municipal buildings to local politics. Both formats will be reactivated in the spring.

The focus on women in the housing estates is also to be strengthened. The offerings range from educational and health services to career advice and formats designed to network the women living in the municipal housing estates. The cultural program will also be continued. Highlights in the new year include artistic façade projections, a circus program on a 200-metre-long red "Viennese carpet" and a cultural competition in which Vienna's municipal housing estates can compete against each other with the ideas of their residents and win a cultural event specially tailored to their courtyard.