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Research project (§ 26 & § 27)
Duration : 2024-01-01 - 2024-12-31

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.
Research project (§ 26 & § 27)
Duration : 2024-01-01 - 2026-06-30

The spatial adaptability of brownfields towards reindustrialisation is emerging as a key territorial priority for Danube's regions and municipalities. There are major trends contributing to the rise of industrial manufacturing in Europe: technological advancements make it feasible and affordable, the need for circularity, shorter value chains and closed loops make it necessary, geopolitical reasons and the pandemic showed the need to reduce dependency on global value chains, for more self-sufficiency and resilience. Re-industrialisation needs to take place in the context of a circular and resource-efficient economy and environmental-friendly regional development strategies. Brown is Better than Green BBG principle) Brownfields represent already degraded land. The transformation of heavy industrial sites/polluted wastelands into post-industrial landscape is economically and technically very challenging and costly, while an adaptation for new industrial use is much more feasible. The revitalising existing brownfields for industrial or production-oriented purposes reduces the construction of new production sites in greenfields, avoiding new land use, the sealing of soil and the further loss of biodiversity in the Danube Basin. The reindustrialisation following the Brown is Better than Green principle, represents a complex planning challenge, which requires: - Co-planning and co-creation process in line with the social, environmental and economic priorities of the affected communities, strong involvement of civil society actors - Inter-institutional collaboration on different governance levels solving spatial planning, contaminations or other environment issues, embedding in transport and communication, infrastructure, building and reconstruction (permits), business support, investor management, ... - integration with regional strategies and polycentric development plans - the development of good financing concepts, relying on private-public partnerships The projects will jointly develop solutions and tools based on the Brown is Better than Green principle and integrate them into their local and institutional framework. It aims to come up with a joint strategy and an action plan taken up by organisations.
Research project (§ 26 & § 27)
Duration : 2023-12-15 - 2024-11-14

Groundwater recharge in forest areas: in parts of Austria - specifically Weilhartsforst - it has been shown that annual precipitation totals are decreasing (e.g. Braunau area). The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of this on groundwater recharge, especially when there is no significant surface water supply. For the future water management utilisation of such groundwater bodies, the complex interaction between percolating precipitation and underground groundwater inflows - taking into account different forms of land use such as forest, meadows and arable land - is to be investigated using a specific area (Weilhartsfort in the Braunau area).

Supervised Theses and Dissertations