Vienna is frequently ranked top for prosperity, innovation and quality of life – so what’s its recipe for success? Jenny Southan reports
There is a passageway connecting to Vienna’s Museum Quarter that talks to you. I am just on my way to see the latest exhibition at the Leopold Gallery, and can see the sunny open square ahead of me buzzing with people eating and drinking, and children paddling in fountains, but I stop in my tracks when I hear the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger over my shoulder. “So here are some of the rules,” he booms.
It then cuts to a series of other familiar voices who preach affirmations of wealth and self-realisation. “Make the decision that you want to be rich. You can achieve anything you desire. You too can be a millionaire. You gotta want it as bad as you wanna breathe. It’s about goals and work. You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pocket. Assets, a beautiful house, cash flow, stocks, bonds, real-estate – it’s awe-inspiring. Get your millionaire head on. If you are going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”
If Vienna was a person, these evangelists of the American Dream would proudly adopt it as a poster child. The Austrian capital may only have a population of two million, but last year it was ranked number one in the world for prosperity by the UN Habitat (unhabitat.org), number one for quality of life by Mercer (uk.mercer.com) and, earlier this year, the number one city in Europe for innovation by 2ThinkNow (2thinknow.com).
In 2011, it also earned the title of “smartest” city in Boyd Cohen’s global index for intelligent use of information and communication technology (boydcohen.com).
What is the secret to Vienna’s success? The UN Habitat’s State of the World’s Cities report for 2012-13 looked at how five different aspects – environmental sustainability, productivity, infrastructure, quality of life, and equity and social inclusion – advanced a city’s prosperity in a holistic way, “beyond the narrow domain of economic growth”.
“A common set of conditions can be found prevailing in all cities, which enable human beings to flourish, feel fulfilled and healthy, and where business can thrive, develop and generate more wealth. These conditions mark out the city as the privileged locus of prosperity, where advancement and progress come to materialise,” the report says. “Cities that succeed in educating, attracting and retaining creative individuals are more likely to prosper, as they not only generate new ideas and products but, in turn, also attract high-value added firms, such as knowledge-based industries.”
That Vienna was ranked the most prosperous city in the world is no mean feat – New York, Toronto, London and Stockholm were ranked two to five, respectively – but given what is required to achieve this, it is perhaps less surprising that it has also come out trumps for being smart, for offering excellent quality of life and for fostering innovation.
Christopher Hire, executive director for innovation agency 2ThinkNow, says: “Prosperity is important in many respects. There is a direct correlation between some aspects of wealth and innovation because if you want to implement an idea you have to have a market for it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that innovation only occurs where there is wealth. You need enough wealth, though, and the right kinds of connections within the industry. Once you get below US$10,000 to US$15,000 GDP per capita you are less likely to be in a place with global reach.” (Vienna has a GDP of about e38,600/US$50,200 per capita.)
2ThinkNow’s innovation reports evaluate 445 cities on the basis of 162 indicators ranging from film production, arts education, student population, public green spaces, fine restaurants, history, bookstores, nightlife, sports facilities, hotels and inbound visitors, to international conferences, exports, trade routes, crime, web censorship, equality of women and wireless internet availability. The 2012-13 index saw Boston at number one, New York at number two and Vienna in third place.
According to Hire, an innovative city is one where someone can conceive of an idea, implement it and then communicate it globally. “We are measuring how an idea spreads. If you lived in Smolensk or Harare, and you came up with the world’s best mobile phone innovation, the chances of you getting anywhere with that are virtually nil. Some cities are really good at generating ideas but not so good at implementing them. China is a great place for implementing manufacturing ideas but the ideas [themselves] come from Italy or the US.”
Vienna is a balanced city. “We don’t reward concentration in one industry so much,” Hire explains. An average of 7,700 start-ups are launched here every year and it has used its geographical position to act as a hub for Central and Eastern European markets. The creative industries also receive a lot of support, with events such as Viennafair, which showcases contemporary art, and Vienna Design Week, along with studios for artists and designers in the Museum Quarter, and venture funding through the City of Vienna’s Departure body (departure.at/en).
The city also has more than 53,500 scientists and 105,000 students, and more than e2.6 billion is spent on research and development each year – the Campus Vienna Biocentre is one of the most respected life science hubs in Europe, and backing can be found through the Science and Technology Fund and the Technology Agency of Vienna, a subsidiary of the Vienna Business Agency.
For his smart cities index, Boyd Cohen – associate professor of entrepreneurship, sustainability and smart cities at the Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile – focused on “how cities use information and communication technologies to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and quality of life, and reduced environmental footprint”.
Examples of smart services in Vienna range from ubiquitous free public wifi to bikes for rent (some of which are electric), along with programmes such as Smart Energy Vision 2050 (helping the city to achieve its “energy efficiency and climate objectives”).
Last year, Vienna slipped to fourth in the European ranking, behind Copenhagen, Stockholm and Amsterdam (London was seventh). But it’s still something to be proud of and the Austrian capital is determined to improve upon it. Thomas Madreiter, the City of Vienna’s director of urban planning, is reported on wieninternational.at as saying: “Vienna intends to play a pioneering role as a model European environment city and as a leading European metropolis for research and technology development. Intelligent cities must take innovative steps especially in the areas of urban planning, mobility and energy supplies, and modernise continually.” In a bid to open up the discussion, the capital has launched a website (wien2025.at) and Facebook and Twitter pages for local residents to post their visions of the future.
Quality of life is also something Vienna is excelling in, but you only need to spend a few hours in the city to get a sense of that. The streets are clean and the historic buildings are beautifully preserved (or being restored, in the case of St Stephen’s cathedral). Shops, cafés and restaurants are doing a good trade and, on Saturdays, Naschmarkt is crammed with people eating exotic food, drinking beer and selling their wares. In summer, the banks of the Danube sport urban beaches with pop-up bars and deckchairs, while tourists and locals alike flock to the many galleries, gardens and concert halls.
Christian Mutschlechner, managing director of the Vienna Convention Bureau (vienna.convention.at), says: “When I think back to the seventies and even the early eighties, at 7pm everything closed down. That has changed completely. We are a really cultural global capital.” Brigitta Hartl-Wagner, chief sales and marketing officer for the luxurious Sacher hotel, agrees: “I remember 15 or 20 years ago there were not a lot of restaurants but, nowadays, the choice is so big. There are outdoor coffee shops in the pedestrian areas, a lot of rooftops have been expanded and you have beautiful apartments and penthouses.”
Hans Olbertz, general manager of the new Kempinski hotel, adds: “I’m German and have lived in 17 cities around the world but this one I fell in love with. It has infrastructure, charm, history, music, culture, accessibility to neighbouring countries, mountains, skiing, golf, lakes, the entertainment, which is endless, and the old tradition, which Vienna is still very proud of.”
With more than five million visitors a year, the hotel market is also doing well. In the city centre alone, there are about 160 four-star properties with 14,000 rooms, and 19 five-stars with 4,000 rooms. The Jean Nouvel-designed Sofitel was unveiled in 2010, and its psychedelic panorama bar is a standout feature. More recent openings include the Ritz-Carlton, on the Ringstrasse, last August, and the Kempinski in March. This magnificent hotel is also located on the Ring, housed in a restored palace dating back to 1879. Park Hyatt will open early next year in the Innere Stadt district’s Goldenes Quartier.
The Austrian capital, it would seem, can teach us a lot about success. Just think about Arnie. “If I had listened to the naysayers I would still be in the Alps yodeling,” he says, before the other voices in the Tonspur passageway chip in again. “You have the power. Self-made rich people are confident. As human beings we have limited willpower – make sure you are not holding yourself back from financial independence. People act as if time owns them instead of them owning time. Waiting is for losers, winners take charge. Average is weak – you’ve got to be strong. Would you like to make more money? Well you’re in the right place.”
