Viennese Green Spaces Digitally Accessible: Connecting Past and Future

How digitalization in a current research project by the Institute of Landscape Architecture at BOKU University Vienna makes the landscape architectural heritage accessible

Starting in 1950, Vienna saw an increasing variety of public green spaces: parks, open spaces for educational institutions, and outdoor areas for multi-story residential buildings ("Social Green"), as well as large-scale new recreational areas (e.g., Danube Island, Wienerberg area). These continue to shape the cityscape to this day. Thousands of plans and photographs of these projects are stored in the Archive of Austrian Landscape Architecture (LArchiv) at BOKU University Vienna – until now, only accessible in analog form.

A digitization project is changing this: High-quality digital copies are being created and published in an online collection. These documents make the landscape architectural heritage accessible to a broad audience.

By integrating into platforms such as Kulturpool and Europeana, the significance of Vienna's green spaces and landscape architecture becomes visible on an international level.

The research project is being carried out as part of the Kulturerbe digital funding program of the Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media, and Sports (BMWKMS). The project duration runs from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2026.

More information: https://forschung.boku.ac.at/en/projects/16134