This volume briefly explores the way Vienna is bureaucratically mapped in relation to building and city development, by examining two pillars of the Viennese planning system; the Kataster, the land registry, and the Flächenwidmungs, the zoning plan.

 

Both are essential to the city’s development, yet they receive unequal funding and attention. The Kataster, managed by a federal agency, is updated almost yearly, while the Flächenwidmungs, overseen by the city, updated on a case by case basis. This results in an inconsistent overlapping. 

 

Even this small act of comparison between administrative cartographies reveals a misalignment that distorts how we identify and divide the city—raising the question of whether these sites, when seen as a volume, offer an opportunity for careful reexamination. 

 

By whom and how does the city come to be spatially legislated? As we adopt merely faster tools for expediting processes, and space still comes at a growing urban premium, we should be positioning ourselves to reduce neglect.

John Clayson

Andrei Dinu