LA 21 documents and Newsletter

  

The LA21 Model of Vienna

The LA 21 model of Vienna is a decentralised model based on the principle of sustainable urban development at the district level. A process architecture based on the different bodies such as the agenda steering teams and agenda offices in the districts, and the Association Local Agenda 21 in Vienna as a coordinating and financing entity, fosters new forms of cooperation and communication at the district level between citizens and politicians. The results achieved show that a variety of topics are put forth and dealt with by the residents and that some of the solutions developed by agenda groups evolve into role models for solving similar situations. The participants appreciate the possibilities of working on projects within a new and remarkable framework, and by working together with politicians and other actors of the district they are able to gain new experiences. They assess Local Agenda 21 as a new form of democracy. Nonetheless, challenges do exist such as the difficulty in achieving a broad participation process; the lengthy periods until projects are realised due to administrative procedures; the trouble communicating the specific quality of the work of the agenda groups and of the whole process to people not involved; the fact that it is hardly possible to measure improvements of the mostly highly localized agenda projects by the usual sustainability categories.

Basic principles

The Local Agenda 21 in Vienna is based on the principle:

• Sustainable urban development at the district level

This ensures the participation of citizens as local experts and creates a suitable environment for communication between citizens, policymakers and district representatives based on the autonomous competencies of the districts. Citizens are valued as “local experts” with the competence to negotiate projects that may influence the sustainable development of the district with the district’s politicians.

The aims are:

• To achieve the intensive participation of citizens on a broad basis

• To make LA 21 a long-term sustainable process

• To give a chance to new forms of cooperation between politicians, representatives from the city administration and citizens

The Model for LA 21 Governance

To put these principles into practice, the City of Vienna decided to implement a model with decentralised LA 21 processes at the district level and with a coordination office to ensure the cooperation and harmonisation between the LA 21 districts and the district level as well as with city-wide politics and programs. In 2003, five districts started their LA 21 processes and each year a new district will join. At the moment, there are six LA 21 districts and one-third of Vienna’s inhabitants take part in Local Agenda 21 processes.

Key Elements of the Process Architecture

Intermediary bodies as the “Agenda Offices” in the districts, operated by professional firms and the Association Local Agenda 21 in Vienna.

The Agenda Offices operate on behalf of the Association Local Agenda 21 in Vienna and they have the task of mobilising the actors (residents, politicians, business people, persons from the institutional network of the district) to take part in the LA 21 process; they support them in identifying issues, in developing projects and in the implementation of projects. This means that their main activity is building up and supporting communication and decision-making processes between the different actors as well as bringing in or organising expertise knowledge. They are also responsible for the process architecture in the district. They ensure that a Steering Committee is in place and that decision-making rules and guidelines are drafted by the actors, and that a vision is created for the sustainable urban development of the district. The main tasks of the coordination office of the Association Local Agenda 21 in Vienna are: networking, public relations work, controlling, organising reflection and learning processes, securing the results and making them public.

The financing of the agenda offices is provided by the city and the districts via the Association Local Agenda 21 in Vienna. The budget is between some EUR 110,000 and 140,000 for each district per year four years long. The coordination body receives EUR 200,000 per year from the city.

Steering Teams in the districts: Each Local Agenda 21 has its own steering team to decide on the utilization of resources, activity planning, suitable Agenda topics and recommendations on the financing of Agenda projects for presentation to the district council. In the beginning, the steering teams consisted of the district councillor, the chairpeople of the political parties represented at the district level, the Association Local Agenda 21 and the agenda offices. Later on, citizens’ representatives were elected to the steering teams. To be precise, they are not representatives. Their role is to contribute the experiences and perspectives of the residents. These citizens are members of Agenda groups and are elected at meetings of all Agenda groups in a district.

Agenda Groups and Agenda Forums: The residents of the district develop ideas, prepare projects, and take part in the implementation steps in the Agenda groups. They work in a self-organised manner, but with support of the agenda offices as necessary. At the Agenda forums, all groups meet to share experiences, discuss visions and new agenda activities.

Advisory Council and LA 21 Team City Administration: The Association Local Agenda 21 in Vienna is supported by an Advisory Council in strategic issues and when selecting “Agenda districts” and the organisations to operate the Agenda offices. The LA 21 Team City Administration consists of some twenty staff members of the municipal departments who represent the most important issues of relevance for LA 21.

LA 21 Platform: is a communication platform where all actors with a function in the process architecture share their experiences and develop new ideas and know-how for the further steps in the LA 21 processes.

Benefits of the Process Architecture

• A broad variety of topics are brought up and dealt with by the residents. The main focus lies on projects relating to the layout of public spaces with respect to traffic problems and on the divergent wishes for the use of green areas. Other topics are cultural themes, intercultural exchange, upgrading of streets, measures to promote bicycle traffic, and so on. As persons with different interests work together on the social, economic and environmental aspects of subjects, these are more or less automatically treated in an integrative way.

• Diverse projects have been realised or are in the process of being put into practice. Most of them concern the improvement of people’s quality of life within a highly localised area. In this sense these are “small-scale projects”.

• Some of the solutions developed by the Agenda Groups have become role models for solving similar situations.

• The Agenda projects are evidence of the successful participation and cooperation between the different actors and of the effectiveness of self-organisation; it also shows that it is feasible to mobilise a lot of resources and achieve realistic outcomes.

• The experience made in the pilot Local Agenda 21 process in the 9^th district, which started in 1999, reveals that the decision-making structures at the district level are changing. Politicians are using the participation models more often, and there are intense debates on the relationship between “cooperative democracy” and representative democracy as well as a heightened sensitivity to the effects of urban district development projects. In this sense, the population has gained an awareness of the issues of sustainability and quality of life.

• The participants of the Local Agenda process have come to appreciate the possibilities of working on projects in a new and remarkable framework, and in working together with politicians and other actors of the district, they have gained new experiences through these options. They assess Local Agenda 21 as a new form of democracy.

Challenges and Limitations

• The effects of the results of Agenda Projects can hardly be measured by the usual sustainability categories such as reduction of emissions, or other indicators. Additional surveys would be necessary. In any case, it is clear that the contribution is small to reducing, for example, total emissions into the environment or to solving the problems of a multicultural society, but nonetheless, this project can serve as role models. Local Agenda 21 is only one of many measures that can be used to achieve sustainable development in Vienna.

• It is hard to communicate the specific quality of the work of the Agenda Groups and the quality of the whole process to people not involved.

• It is difficult to achieve a broad participation process. Relative to the number of inhabitants of a district, only a very small percentage participate in Local Agenda 21. Usually, the Agenda Groups depend on a few very active citizens. Migrants, young people and seniors are hard to involve in the process.

• Compared to other cities, the funding of Local Agenda 21 in Vienna is good. Nonetheless, more funding would be necessary, especially in the field of public relations, but also for the work of the Agenda Offices. As many different actors are involved, the support provided for communication processes is intense, above all, when conflicts emerge and mediation work is necessary.

• The realisation of the projects takes a long time due to administrative procedures, and it is hard to keep people in the Agenda Groups from losing their interest because of the long waits.

• Many topics in a district are relevant for sustainable development, but not all can be dealt with by Local Agenda 21. Sometimes it is not easy for the steering teams to decide on the topics that LA 21 should deal or which should be relegated to other instruments.