Research

Democracy thrives on the participation of as many people as possible. However, more and more people living in Vienna are not allowed to vote because of their citizenship (City of Vienna 2023). Vienna is on its way to becoming a ‘majority-minority city’ (Lazëri 2023). This goes hand in hand with a democratic deficit and a loss of legitimacy. One way to address these problems is to involve as many people as possible in their local communities (Kohlbacher et al. 2015). The City of Vienna has so far focused primarily on information and consultation (Arnstein 1969). Bottom-up formats that go beyond these proto-participatory stages and demand participation in decision-making have always found it difficult to gain a hearing among political representatives. In Vienna's Sonnwendviertel district, city citizens (Baubock 2003) have been developing a new form of participation for a year now: the sociocratic neighbourhood council (SNR). Around 100 city residents have contributed their knowledge and skills, mostly on a voluntary basis, in two different formats to improve their living environment. This deliberation (Arendt 2018, Habermas 2015) was organised according to the principles of sociocracy, which appears to have had several positive effects for citizens and politicians. This project aims to investigate the extent to which sociocratic neighbourhood councils are a needs-oriented, legitimate and strategically relevant form of participation and what qualities they bring to the table through their local roots and continuity, in addition to the already tried and tested forms of participation. What are the effects for politics and city residents? Following an evaluation of the Sonnwendviertel neighbourhood council prototype and a comparison with citizens' and neighbourhood councils, the SNR will be optimised and researched during a new implementation.

Biodiversity loss is considered the next big global crisis, overshadowing the COVID‐19 pandemic and climate change. Biodiversity loss and climate change are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. However, many people perceive both biodiversity loss and climate change as abstract and psychologically distant threats. Citizens and farmers may struggle with translating these global crises into imminent concerns they can identify and act on in their local livelihood. BIODIVERCITI engages citizens and farmers to reflect on the interrelation between biodiversity loss and climate change and the role they personally play in these crises in a familiar environment – their own garden and cropland. The project analyses how beliefs and behaviours may transfer from biodiversity to climate action in order to transform mindsets and practices. BIODIVERCITI aims to close the gap how to leverage engagement with biodiversity to simultaneously advance engagement with climate action. Therein, the project pursues four research questions: - Which improvements in biodiversity indicators can be achieved? - How do individual climate action and efficacy beliefs change? - How may citizens and farmers collaborate for combating biodiversity loss and climate change? - How may gardens and farmland provide conjunctive elements in habitats? BIODIVERCITI is a multi‐stakeholder citizen science project. The project involves and observes citizens and farmers and their respective gardens and cropland over the timeframe of two vegetation periods. Citizens and farmers receive personal advice on enhancing biodiversity, observe their garden/cropland and are evaluated how their attitudes and beliefs change. Each participating citizen is supported and trained in biodiversity‐enhancing elements and techniques suitable for their garden, which species may benefit, and how to identify and monitor these species. Farmers are grouped by their participation in the Austrian agri‐environmental programme ÖPUL and supplementary organic farming certification.

The project supports the revision and creation of a guide for integrating relevant provisions of the Alpine Convention and its protocols into the practice of municipal spatial planning. To this end, the project will carry out a legal dogmatic analysis and develop indicators for assessing planned planning decisions. The results are validated in stakeholder workshops and then published. The project thus contributes to better consideration of the Alpine Convention protocols in planning practice.