2023-08-18 04:05:59
Austria is currently suffering from the third heat wave this summer. Cities are hit even harder by the high degree of sealing. A WWF analysis shows that the country’s largest cities are becoming increasingly sealed – i.e. covered with an impermeable layer. Linz is therefore the front runner in a per capita comparison. The WWF calls for green space offensives and unsealing programs.
Heavily sealed surfaces heat up particularly intensively. The analysis by the environmental protection organization shows that the five largest cities in Austria continue to waste valuable soil despite a high degree of sealing. “With a sealed area of 116 square meters per capita, Linz is the sad leader among the five largest cities in Austria,” said WWF soil protection spokesman Simon Pories. The city of Salzburg is in second place with a total of 102 square meters of sealing per capita, followed by Graz (88 square meters), Innsbruck (76 square meters) and Vienna (55 square meters). “Austria’s big cities are sinking into concrete and asphalt. Especially in times of the climate crisis, politicians must take countermeasures quickly,” Pories demanded.
According to the definition of the Federal Environment Agency, land consumption (“land consumption”) also includes other settlement-related types of use (e.g. sports fields), an area only counts as sealed if it is covered with a layer impermeable to water and air. The analysis by the WWF refers to sealing, as this has serious consequences, particularly in urban areas. All biological functions are lost as a result of soil sealing. In addition, sealed soil can no longer contribute to cooling, but instead creates islands of heat. This can even have deadly consequences, especially in urban areas. “Due to the higher population density, cities use less land per capita than rural areas – but the degree of sealing is significantly higher. This is not only fatal for us during heat waves, but also during heavy rain, because water can no longer seep there,” warned Pories .
Relative to the past ten years, Innsbruck had the largest increase in sealed area – by 12.5 percent. This corresponds to an area of 112 hectares. Second place is taken by Salzburg (plus 6.9 percent), followed by Graz (plus 5.3 percent), Linz (plus 3.54 percent) and Vienna (plus 3.46 percent). In absolute figures, the largest area, 368 hectares, was newly sealed in the federal capital over the past decade. If you look at the degree of sealing, i.e. the proportion of sealed area in relation to the total area, Vienna is also ahead with a share of 26.5 percent. In the other places: Linz (25.4 percent), Salzburg (24.3 percent), Graz (20.5 percent) and Innsbruck with 9.6 percent).
In Austria, an area of more than 2,400 square kilometers is now completely sealed – this corresponds to almost the entire area of Vorarlberg. Almost half of it consists of streets or parking lots. “Excessively wide streets and ground-level parking spaces, for example in business parks or in public spaces, should be gradually dismantled and unsealed. In addition, federal and state politics must boost the systematic restoration of destroyed habitats, as required by the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the planned provide for an EU renaturation law,” demanded Simon Pories.
For the analysis, the WWF evaluated official data from the Federal Office for Calibration and Surveying. The methodology corresponds to that used by the Federal Environment Agency for the calculation of the soil consumption statistics published annually up to 2021. A distinction must be made between soil consumption (loss of biologically productive soil due to construction or intensive use) and soil sealing (covering with a waterproof layer). In 2022, well over half (55 percent) of the floors consumed were also sealed. In cities, this proportion is sometimes significantly higher.
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