Research

Paradigm change towards sustainable transition to a climate-neutral society requires forward-looking ways of curbing and meeting energy demands (connected particularly to spatial and mobility planning) at strategic levels AND prioritize nature-positive decision-making, explicitly accounting for nature’s contribution to people. In practice, planners face increasing intensity of competing societal demands and strong pressure on land as a resource. At the same time, they are confronted with a lack of reliable and recent data to base their decisions upon. BIOGAIN surveys how far novel (digital & AI supported) data and knowledge on changes in ecosystems reflecting complex dynamics are a way out of these deficiencies towards net-gain planning. BIOGAIN enhances transparency of how predicted effects of renewable energy on species and their habitats are integrated with preference-trade-offs to inform planning decisions. It investigates what prioritization is needed to follow a net-gain strategy reflecting the various competing interests and need for multi-functional land use. Additionally, it surveys the acceptance of models accounting complex interferences occurring due to multiple land use changes related to energy transition and evolving preferences, values and trade-offs related to societal transformation. To this aim BIOGAIN identifies and analyses social tipping points towards a net-gain planning system in a transdisciplinary actors-centred approach. BIOGAIN seeks efficient use of economic resources to achieve net gain in biodiversity (as encouraged by the Taxonomy) instead of no-net-loss (i.e., mitigation, compensation). Involving private companies, consultancies and public authorities in a real-planning-simulation both in the development and the testing of a serious game prepared by a collaborative decision analysis and accompanied by a DCE as well as in a “living-lab setting” with explicit spatial-optimization in three case study regions, that employ digital biodiversity data and models within, allows for investigating deep leverage points in public-private cooperation along with barriers and opportunities from a procedural, values/ mindset, power-dynamics and also economic perspective.

In accordance with Article 25 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED III, Directive (EU) 2023/1791), municipalities with more than 45,000 inhabitants are bound to draw up local plans for heating and cooling supply from 2025 onwards. These plans must include specific requirements, existing infrastructure and possible potentials, with energy efficiency being the top priority. Such plans must be based on a thorough understanding of how heating and cooling requirements are likely to develop. In combination with efficiency-enhancing measures, various development scenarios should be mapped out and incorporated into the formulation of urban cooling strategies. Based on the results of the R&D service "Urban Cooling Demand in Austria (UKÖ) 2030/2050" commissioned by the BMK and drawing on the results of detailed building simulations carried out by the customer, taking into account the specific characteristics of large cities (e.g. with regard to the building stock), the project objective is to examine in what spatial and factual resolution (1) publicly available data can map the spatially relevant influencing factors for the cooling demand of a large city and (2) the cooling demand can be determined using the example of the city of Vienna in the status quo and up to the year 2050.

The impacts of the flood event in September 2024 demonstrated that building development in Lower Austria is not risk-adapted. New construction, additions, and building conversions in flood affected areas continuously increase the damage potential. Existing spatial planning regulations allow building land uses in potential flood-plains. In view of the initial estimate of damage amounts (€ 700 million for private households), it is clear that risk-based planning has not yet found its way into spatial planning and building law procedures - i.e. planning practice. Spatial planning restrictions for hazard areas have been in place in Lower Austria for decades, but the action plan of the Austrian Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change emphasizes that further regulatory improvements in planning law should be under-taken to prevent natural hazards and adapt to climate change. The event in September 2024 also shows that there is not a regulatory deficit per se, but that the available hazard information and climate change-related dynamics in hazard frequencies and characteristics are not optimally integrated into spatial development - particularly at municipal level. Two central questions for RiskPlan can be derived from this: (i) Which legal adjustments in spatial planning and building law can promote risk-based planning and thus long-term adaptation? (ii) How can a professionally sound advisory service be organized that allows municipalities to make risk-based decisions regarding flood adaptation in spatial planning and building law? Methodologically, RiskPlan is based on an explorative approach. The legal analysis builds on a comparison of regulations in the federal states. The development of procedurally embedded advisory services is carried out in a transdisciplinary approach together with representatives of the authorities and planning consultants.