Giving streets and power to the people

The document describes the effort by the Green vice mayor of Vienna to transform Mariahilferstrasse, the city's most congested shopping street, into a pedestrian area. Despite exhaustive planning and a test run from August 2013 to February 2014, the project faced significant public opposition and 'collective hysteria' regarding safety. The author argues that the resistance stemmed from a clash of urban visions: one seeking a 'liveable city' with a 'radical limitation of cars' and another viewing the city merely as a place of work. Ultimately, a referendum saw 53% of citizens in the two adjacent districts vote in favour of the project. The author concludes that for the green transformation to succeed, the movement must move beyond its 'small green microcosm' and develop narratives of 'gain and of abundance' to convince majorities rather than preaching abstinence.

• The project to turn Mariahilferstrasse into a pedestrian area involved over two years of inclusive planning and a test run from August 2013 to February 2014 to evaluate the impact before a public referendum.
• Despite the lack of accidents during the test period, the project faced intense public opposition and perceived danger, characterized by the author as 'collective hysteria'.
• The conflict over the pedestrian zone represented a deeper ideological clash between those wanting a 'liveable city' with a 'radical limitation of cars' and those who view the city as a 'necessary burden' on the way to other destinations.
• A generational divide was observed in the support for the project, with car owners under forty being supportive of the pedestrian zone, while older people were opposed regardless of car ownership.
• The referendum resulted in a narrow victory for the project, with 53% of voters in the two affected districts in favour.

APA

Maisser, G. (2014). Giving streets and power to the people. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/giving-streets-and-power-to-the-people/

Chicago

Maisser, Georg. Giving streets and power to the people. Green European Journal, 2014. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/giving-streets-and-power-to-the-people/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Maisser |first1=Georg |title=Giving streets and power to the people |publisher=Green European Journal |date=30 April 2014 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/giving-streets-and-power-to-the-people/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{maisser2014giving, author = {Maisser, Georg}, title = {{Giving streets and power to the people}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2014}, month = apr, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/giving-streets-and-power-to-the-people/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }