17 min read

Vienna

Vienna is the capital of Austria, on the Danube. It shows up in the reading as the grand but unwelcoming city of Bill Bryson’s Neither Here Nor There.

Summary

Vienna, the capital and largest city of Austria, is renowned for its historical and cultural significance, as well as its high quality of life. Situated on the banks of the Danube River, the city is steeped in a rich history, having been a major center of political power and culture in Europe. It was the heart of the Habsburg Empire and has played a crucial role in European history.

Vienna is celebrated for its elegant architecture, with stunning examples of Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau styles. Iconic landmarks include the Schönbrunn Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the Hofburg Imperial Palace, and the Belvedere Palace. The city’s historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its architectural and cultural significance.

Culturally, Vienna is a worldwide hub for music, renowned for its classical music heritage and as the home of famous composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Strauss II. The city is host to prestigious institutions like the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.

Vienna is also known for its vibrant arts scene, museums, and galleries, such as the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Albertina. Its coffee-house culture, with historic cafes frequented by intellectuals and artists, is an integral part of the city’s charm.

In addition to its rich history and culture, Vienna consistently ranks highly in global quality of living surveys, noted for its public transport, green spaces, safety, and clean environment. The city strikes a balance between preserving its historic past and fostering innovation in areas such as technology and science, recognizing it as a leading destination in Europe for both tourists and expatriates.

Can Urban Design Have a Gender? In This Vienna District, the Answer Is Yes.

rw-book-cover

Metadata

Highlights

  • A new planned community is built on the urban design philosophy known as ‘gender mainstreaming (View Highlight)
  • Not everyone is convinced. (View Highlight)

Including me

  • The community of Aspern Seestadt, in northeast Vienna, is a living model of gender-conscious urban design concepts honed over the past three decades. (View Highlight)
    • Create a note for Vienna, Austria within Europe. Add a point to go here if I visit Vienna
  • Eva Kail stood outside the gleaming subway station in Aspern Seestadt, a sprawling planned community in northeast Vienna that she essentially manifested from an idea into a real place. (View Highlight)
    • Determine if Eva has written any books on Urban Design
  • Eva Kail in Vienna, where she pioneered the urban design concept of gender mainstreaming during her 30-year career, spearheading dozens of projects in housing, transportation and public spaces (View Highlight)
    • Find a few of her projects
  • About 12,000 people live here today, with another 14,000 expected in the next decade, making Aspern Seestadt one of the largest urban development projects in Europe. (View Highlight)
    • Wow, 26k people when finished. Figure out a way to follow along
  • “gender mainstreaming,” with the goal of embedding gender equality into infrastructure, legislation, budgets and beyond. So while this community promises “something for everyone”— homes for sale or rent, offices, health care facilities, green spaces, public transportation, schools and nurseries — a central mission becomes clear as one looks a bit closer. (View Highlight)
  • wider sidewalks for strollers (View Highlight)
  • safer parks with more benches for resting (View Highlight)
  • more services and amenities within walking distance (View Highlight)
  • Are these things inherently gender related? (View Highlight)

I think not

  • Historically yes, since women tend to be more responsible for child care and often spend more time at home or without the use of a family car. (View Highlight)

While this may be true, choosing to take a hard turn toward embracing that isn’t the solution. The Scandinavian approach of men playing a much bigger role in child care is a much more positive approach

  • In Austria, a survey last year found that women perform two-thirds of child care and spend about two more hours each day doing unpaid labor like housework. The United States isn’t much different: In 2023, women did 50 percent more child care and about 30 percent more housework, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (View Highlight)

I’m always so challenged by this point since our situation clearly leans toward this direction, but if Andrea & I both worked, I would feel strongly that I would need to have equal responsibility for child care and housework

  • But feminist urban-planning scholars maintain that modern cities and suburbs were designed primarily by men, with men in mind. And not just any men — middle-class white men who drove to work in the morning and returned home in the evening. There was little infrastructure to serve other citizens. (View Highlight)

I suppose why I disagree so heavily to jumping to Feminist design is because I hate this urban planning strategy that involves the commute to work by men. I fucking hate it and do not want to be associated with it as a man

  • Leslie Kern, an associate professor of Geography and environment at Mount Allison University and the author of “Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World. (View Highlight)
  • For example, she wondered, could an apartment building be constructed with the goal of specifically serving women? (View Highlight)

Asking if we can build apartment buildings with the goal of serving women is a great question. But specifically serving women, I just can’t get there

  • In 1997, she unveiled Frauen-Werk-Stadt (Women-Work-City), a 357-unit apartment complex designed by four female architects to address what they felt were the needs of women at the time. (View Highlight)
    • Look up this building and add to Vienna, Austria Note
  • storage rooms for strollers and bikes (View Highlight)

If I lived in an apartment, I would both want and be willing to pay for this. I remember being responsible for the stroller and I’m definitely responsible for bikes

Does anyone enjoy doing laundry in cramped and poorly lit rooms?

Does anyone enjoy poorly lit stairways?

The parks of Fort Collins are one of my favorite parks. They play a critical role in my “Theory of Proximity” with “The park that is closest to you is the best”

  • part of the assessment criteria that Vienna uses to choose which housing projects to invest in. (View Highlight)

If they are using these criteria for all housing projects, then hooray for that

  • The centerpiece of Aspern Seestadt is its 12-acre artificial lake with its surrounding park. (View Highlight)

There is nothing feminist about a lake / park and a place to swim. Swimming with my kiddos is a core part of our experience as a family

  • Ms. Kail helped improve Vienna’s streetlights to make neighborhoods safer. (View Highlight)

I walk at night all the time and want my kids to be able to safely do it as well

  • She fought for smoothing and widening sidewalks for better accessibility for strollers (View Highlight)

I often took our children on long walks with the stroller when they were younger

  • She ensured that public transport — especially for those not commuting to an office — was well-connected and punctual. (View Highlight)

I use public transit way more than Andrea and feel strongly about it being a better solution. Teaching my children to use it is an important skill I’m working to build into them.

  • She also helped develop gender-sensitive innovations for parks and gardens, including footpaths that crisscross a park and circle it, creating more options for traversing the space and encouraging visibility. (View Highlight)

These were spread all across our trip to Europe and I loved them. They contributed to our “Urban Hiking” in every city. The park in Malmo, Sweden comes to mind, but so do Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen

  • “We are not big fans of bushes,” said Dr. Julia Girardi-Hoog, who has replaced Ms. Kail as the chief gender planner for the city of Vienna. “Trees are much better because they provide shade and you can see through them.” (View Highlight)

Walkable City talked extensively about the value of Trees. Constrasting them to buses is interesting though

  • Dr. Girardi-Hoog researched Ms. Kail’s work as part of her Ph.D (View Highlight)
    • See if I can find her work to read that was done for the PHD
  • why it is important to apply a gender lens.” (View Highlight)

I think I can agree that applying a lens is a wise way to get solid perspective

  • Vienna’s public transit system was extended in order to reach Aspern Seestadt. The development has two rail stations, seven bus routes and a tram link in the works (View Highlight)
    • Add to my Vienna, Austria note. I want to take this public transit to really experience
  • Aspern Seestadt, where slightly more than half the residents are female. (View Highlight)

I think this really gets at what stirs me up within this article. Only “slighly” more than half are women. That means “slightly” less than half are men & boys.

  • Most services are easy to reach by foot, bus or bike (bike rentals are free here) (View Highlight)

Awesome

  • a level of accessibility that feminists have promoted for decades, (View Highlight)

I’m definitely on board with promoting this line of thinking

  • A services hub with a medical center, grocery store, bank, cafe and stationary shop is a five-minute bus ride from the subway station (View Highlight)
    • I like the term Services Hub. Define this term and write a section about it within a note called “My Urban Planning Philosophy”. Also, it fits within my “Theory of Proximity”
  • Even closer is the 12-acre artificial lake and surrounding park. The theory is that short distances make running errands and dropping off or picking up children more efficient, lightening the load for care workers. (View Highlight)

This is good for everyone. Not just those that have care responsibilities

  • “The time for doing these tasks can add up,” said Anna Nagy-Staron, 40, a data scientist who moved to Seestadt in 2015 and lives there with her husband and two children. Having everything within walking distance allows her to maintain a full-time job without sacrificing too much of her family life. (View Highlight)

This applies to everyone that has a full-time job

  • Another striking aspect of life in Aspern Seestadt is its lack of cars — only a third of the streets allow them. (View Highlight)

This definitely aligns with my thoughts. I think everywhere should only allow cars on 1/3 of the streets where people live

  • it means improved accessibility to services for people with fewer resources — especially women, who are paid less than men on average, and who are more likely to work part-time and use public transportation, according to many studies. (View Highlight)

I’m curious how much this really applies to a place like Vienna. I know very little about Vienna, but I don’t think of it as poor

  • “There’s a pedestrian zone next to our building,” said Anja Alexandrova, 39, a pharmacist who moved to Seestadt in 2022 with her husband and toddler. “My son was able to ride his bike here when he was 2. That never would have happened in the city center.” (View Highlight)

Again, 2/3 people in their family are male and they benefit from this. My son has really shown such joy with his ability to have some independence when riding to school. Doing that safely applies to all genders

  • Ms. Alexandrova thinks of Seestadt as a little city connected to a big city. “I think it’s totally safe,” she said. “If anything would happen on the street, the willingness of residents to help if they heard it, immediately 10 flats would probably call the police.” (View Highlight)

This shows the “Trust” test that was mentioned in Happy City

  • As for those street names, “it makes you Google people,” she said. “Many of them I didn’t know before.” (View Highlight)

I love this street naming strategy. Streets should always cause people learn about history

  • But while these improvements have been aimed primarily at helping women, skeptics have long argued that gender mainstreaming fails to tackle inequality at its root, and worse, perpetuates outmoded stereotypes. (View Highlight)

I definitely call into this skeptic category. It points out what I think of as the main risk “perpetuating outmoded stereotypes” I think “Human Scaled Design” much more. Everything mentioned so far benefits both genders and potentially helps the gender stereotypes around childcare & housework

  • As the concepts of gender and gender roles evolved into the 21st century, Ms. Kail tried to expand the mission to support residents of any gender who care for children, older people or those with disabilities, and who run errands throughout the day. “You can’t change the imbalance of care work,” she said, “but you can make it more visible, show its value to society and make it a topic that people are concerned about.” (View Highlight)

I’m glad she has evolved her perspective

  • Ms. Kail acknowledges that the parameters of gender mainstreaming are in flux. Where there used to be “a focus on the everyday life of white, middle-class women and their children,” she said, over the past decade or so a new crop of urban planners has widened the lens, just as she’s stepping out of it. (View Highlight)

I’m so glad she has come to acknowledge this.

  • “There’s a new generation that’s really interested in this topic, specifically in gender planning issues,” she said. “But they are defining it more largely, as a holistic, socially sensitive approach. This feels quite good, but it’s also a bit of a pity now, to feel the new energy and not be part of it.” (View Highlight)

That’s exciting for everyone

SupergrĂ€tzl — Vienna’s first superblock (Favoriten)

Added 2026-09-25 by Claude (source/ai/claude), from Superlist 06dd2add-6c8d-40aa-86ff-0d1236c67181.

Kaja Ć eruga, "How 'Superblocks' Can Create People-Centered Cities," Reasons to be Cheerful (16 Jan 2025)

Vienna started testing out its first superblock — called SupergrĂ€tzl in the Viennese dialect — in 2022, by blocking through-traffic and using temporary interventions like pavement paintings, street furniture and movable greenery. This year, the city started making permanent changes, which includes planting 62 additional trees and adding water features and play areas for children.

(Highlight; checked in the article, which adds that the pilot is in Favoriten, a lower-income district where the health benefits are largest.)

  • Where to go: 10th district, Favoriten: the streets Gudrunstraße, Leebgasse, Quellenstraße and Neilreichgasse, around the Mittelschule Herzgasse (City of Vienna).
  • What’s there now: 60+ new trees, planted areas, water play near the school, seating and pergolas, permeable paving (City of Vienna). ⚠ The completion/opening date wasn’t confirmed from a primary source.
  • Pair it with the gender-sensitive planning district in the NYT article above: both are Vienna designing streets around who actually uses them.

Places to visit: gender-sensitive planning

Added 2026-10-23 by Claude (source/ai/claude), from three Readwise tasks on the NYT article above (Safronova, 17 July 2024). Figures checked against current sources, Oct 2026.

Aspern Seestadt (22nd district, Donaustadt)

The planned district on the old Aspern airfield that the NYT article tours. See Aspern Seestadt.

  • Size now and planned: official factsheet (June 2026): 12,000+ residents, 6,000+ jobs; at build-out 25,000+ residents, 20,000+ work and training places, 11,500+ flats, with sales running “into the 2030s” (aspern Seestadt factsheet, PDF). The resident count is about where the NYT put it in 2024.
  • What to look at: every street and square named after a woman (Hannah-Arendt-Platz, Janis-Joplin-Promenade, Ada-Lovelace-Straße), the lake and its park at the centre, the playgrounds under the elevated U2, and the car-light street grid (in 2024 only a third of the streets allowed cars, per the NYT).

Riding transit to Aspern Seestadt

The point is to arrive the way residents do.

  • U2 serves two stations, Aspern Nord and Seestadt (the terminus). Karlsplatz → Seestadt is about 30 minutes, Rathaus about 25 (aspern Seestadt, “Seestadt optimally connected”, 25 Sept 2025).
  • Tram 27 (the “tram link in the works” in the NYT) opened on 6 October 2025: Strebersdorf → Floridsdorf → Kagraner Platz → Aspern Nord, partly on 2.4 km of new track with a cycle path alongside. It stops at Aspern Nord, one U2 stop short of the lake (vienna.at, ORF Wien).
  • Rail at Aspern Nord: S-Bahn and regional trains. The Marchegg line through Aspern Nord to Bratislava was electrified and double-tracked and reopened on 11 October 2025 (RailwayPro; ⚠ trade press, not ÖBB).
  • Buses: seven lines, per the 2025 official post. ⚠ The line numbers last confirmed are from a July 2024 sheet (84A, 88A, 88B, 89A, 99A, 99B, plus the N84 night service) and may have changed.
  • Bikes: WienMobil Rad, 8 stations in the Seestadt, €0.75 per 30 min (€0.35 for Wiener Linien pass holders) (aspern Seestadt press, Jan 2025). ⚠ The NYT’s “bike rentals are free here” no longer holds for visitors.
  • A loop that uses all of it: U2 out to Seestadt → walk round the lake and Hannah-Arendt-Platz → WienMobil bike up the tram-side cycle path to Aspern Nord → tram 27 back via Kagraner Platz (U1). Built from the facts above; not an official route. The east-shore promenade is due for construction work from October 2026.

Frauen-Werk-Stadt (21st district, Floridsdorf)

Eva Kail’s first big project, and the prototype for the housing rules Vienna now applies. See Frauen-Werk-Stadt.

  • What it is: 357 flats, built 1992–97, residents moved in over winter 1997/98. Designed by four women architects, Franziska Ullmann (urban design coordination), Liselotte Peretti, Elsa Prochazka and Gisela Podreka, with landscape design by Maria Auböck (City of Vienna project sheet, PDF).
  • What was designed in: varied open spaces meant for staying in, community rooms and shops, a kindergarten, doctors’ practices and a police station on site, and naturally lit underground garages and corridors (city sheet). The NYT adds the lessons that became citywide criteria: spacious, well-lit stroller/bike and laundry rooms, daylit stairwells, playgrounds in large buildings.
  • Where: Donaufelder Straße, Floridsdorf. ⚠ The city sheet gives No. 95–97; German Wikipedia gives No. 99 (corner of Carmingasse). It’s a residential estate, so plan on seeing it from the street; ⚠ whether the courtyards are open to the public wasn’t confirmed.
  • Sequel: Frauen-Werk-Stadt II, Troststraße, Favoriten: 140 flats, occupied 2004, designed around older residents and several generations living together (City of Vienna, PDF). It’s in the same district as the SupergrĂ€tzl above.

At a glance

SourceAuthorRoleIn one line
Neither Here Nor ThereBill BrysonsubjectThe grandest city Bryson has ever seen, and one of the least welcoming.

Sub-places

Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)

Source: Readwise highlight

Vienna is certainly the grandest city I have ever seen.

  • Role: subject
  • In the book: End of chapter 19. Bryson walks in from the station along Mariahilferstrasse, which he finds seedy, until near the Hofburg he passes “into the charmed circle of the Ringstrasse” and everything turns golden. He stays at the Hotel Wandl behind the Schottenkirche. Along the Ringstrasse, the Parliament, the Opera, the museums and the Hofburg “proclaim an imperial past”: a Martian “would unhesitatingly land at Vienna, thinking it the capital of the planet.”
  • Why it matters: Grandeur set against expense, rudeness and, at the end, a sour passage on Austrian anti-Semitism and Kurt Waldheim, whose limousine he sees pass on Karl Luegerstrasse. The chapter’s museum, cafĂ© and park scenes are pinned as sub-places.

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