S'ReVit

Funding: Österreichischen Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG) (1^st Call Bridge Young Scientists)
Amount of Funding: € 256.352,-
Duration: 07/2019 - 06/2022
Partner: Schwarz.Platzer.Architekten.zt-gmbh
Contact: Dr. Andrea Jany

Description:

Austria has set ambitious climate, energy, and sustainability goals. With a share of 25% of overall energy consumption housing is a major issue. 
For new buildings, high standards are in place, especially regarding energy efficiency. Furthermore, the development of sustainable urban districts and Smart City concepts is urged. The City of Graz goes further and aims for the whole city to become a Smart City as laid out in the City Development Plan. Therefore, it is important to find new inclusive methods and solutions for the revitalisation of existing buildings. At the moment these issues are only addressed via strategic measures supposed to foster the renovation of buildings. However, the rate of building renovation is currently decreasing, and the measures do not lead to the desired outcome. Furthermore, renovation is traditionally focused on the technical modernisation of buildings while participatory approaches aimed to improve social sustainability only play a minor role. Even though Smart City strategies include the promotion of sustainable lifestyles the development processes are usually organised in a top-down approach. Systematic and early inclusion of citizens and civil society organisations in participatory planning processes for the development and implementation of Smart City measures and projects is rarely practised. Especially with renovation projects, this leads to conflicts regarding goals and interests reducing the acceptance of new solutions or even impede renovation projects. The goal of the S’ReVit project is the creation and development of a systemic approach for the smart revitalisation of housing which includes not only the technical, material, and ecological improvement of buildings but also measures for increasing social sustainability for residents. The guidelines for the smart revitalisation of housing for practitioners developed in this project will be tested and refined in co-operation with diverse stakeholders. This innovative and participatory approach opens up new possibilities to integrate aspects of residents' everyday life into the further development of the housing stock. This leads to higher acceptance of renovation measures and contributes to a raising number of renovations. Furthermore, awareness measures for sustainable lifestyles reach residents more directly which can help reduce rebound effects.