Brownfields, i.e. commercial or industrial properties that have already been developed and are no longer used, represent a significant and, above all, sustainable reserve of space for business settlements. In Lower Austria and Upper Austria, this potential was recognized some time ago and made visible with the help of nationwide brownfield surveys.
“Brownland revitalization enables business establishments without additional land use and is therefore a future-oriented way to keep economy and ecology in balance. Lower Austria and Upper Austria are pioneers here. It is all the more pleasing that the federal government is now following suit and that we can use the anonymized data from our brownfield site surveys to support the development of an Austria-wide ‘brownfield potential map’ using AI. This underlines once again that we are on the right track with our strategy,” agree Lower Austria’s Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Upper Austria’s Economic and Regional Planning Councilor Markus Achleitner. The data from the brownfield land surveys in Lower Austria and Upper Austria are also used to train the AI. “At the same time, the first nationwide brownfield potential map, which should be available by the end of 2024, will finally provide objective data about the actual brownfield potential throughout Austria. This is all the more important as fantasy numbers are currently being bandied about based on projections,” said Mikl-Leitner and Achleitner.
“Our goal is to further develop Lower Austria into a leading green and smart economic region in Europe. Our action program for climate-friendly location development shows what is possible here, which has been focusing on the reuse of brownfield sites in Lower Austria since 2020,” informs the governor and continues: “We want to create framework conditions so that the economy and environmental protection are kept in balance but we still have enough space for new business establishments in our state. Business settlements create jobs and are therefore of central importance for prosperity in Lower Austria. Brownfields make a valuable contribution to this.”
In order to get an overview of the brownfields available in Lower Austria, ecoplus launched a Lower Austria-wide survey among all 573 municipalities for the first time in 2023 and the result is impressive: a total of more than 700 locations with a total area of around 920 hectares were identified, which are now successively analyzed and processed.
“The principle of our sustainable spatial planning policy, ‘Protecting the soil and enabling the future’, also applies especially to company settlements and expansions. For Upper Austria, as the No. 1 economic and industrial federal state, the establishment of new companies and the expansion of existing companies are of particular importance. This is the only way to secure existing jobs, create new ones and create added value to maintain our strong social network,” emphasizes State Councilor Achleitner. “Before areas are re-allocated for business settlements, existing empty buildings or unused areas should be used. This requires reliable data about available objects, which we then store in our location database www.standortooe.at publish. That’s why our Upper Austrian location agency Business Upper Austria has been surveying vacant properties every three years since 2018. The survey in 2021 showed that 277 areas with a total area of 110 hectares are lying fallow in Upper Austria,” he explains. Together with the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and the DORIS group at the state of Upper Austria, the Upper Austrian. Location agency is currently conducting the third survey.
Achleitner further emphasizes: “With our #upperREGION Award, we also highlight showcase projects for the reuse of brownfields and vacant lots as well as innovative and sustainable projects for the revitalization of the town center every year.” Submissions for this are open online until August 30, 2024 www.biz-up.at/upperregionaward possible.
Lower Austria and Upper Austria are pioneers in the area of brownfield revitalization – but there is currently no Austria-wide survey. That should change now. The Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, in collaboration with the German Fraunhofer Institute and the Federal Environment Agency, wants to implement a nationwide, AI-supported identification of brownfield sites from geodata, aerial and satellite images in Austria by the end of the year. Support comes from Lower Austria and Upper Austria: The business agencies of both countries – ecoplus for Lower Austria and Business Upper Austria for Upper Austria – provide the data from their brownfield surveys anonymously and free of charge.
“Brownland surveys have previously been complex and time-consuming. If the AI-supported brownfield potential map meets our expectations, we will have a practical tool that will provide us with enormous support in our daily work with companies and will make it easier to bring brownfield sites back to life in the future,” emphasize ecoplus Managing Director Helmut Miernicki and Werner Pamminger, Managing Director of Business Upper Austria.
Further information: ecoplus business agency, Mag. (FH) Markus Steinmaßl, telephone 02742/9000 196 19, email m.steinmassl@ecoplus.at
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