Dialog Architektur: Demokratie und Stadt

Zentren geistiger Stadterweiterung

Social housing, which is still regarded as a model today, is inextricably linked to the history of Red Vienna. After World War II, the city took on another construction project: the creation of neighborhood centers for adult education centers in the new municipal housing developments.

The Volksheime and “Häuser der Begegnung” (Community Centers) carried forward the idea of a comprehensive network of dedicated facilities, as formulated by the adult education movement at the beginning of the 20th century. The publication “Centers of Intellectual Urban Expansion” examines the previously overlooked buildings of the Vienna Adult Education Center in the context of urban development and housing construction during the three decades following 1945. Authors Carina Sacher and Lukas Vejnik recount successful experiments and failed projects, flexible club spaces and spacious district centers, as well as continuities and breaks on the path toward spatial design for adult education. In addition to situating this polycentric, neighborhood-oriented architecture for education and community within a historical and international context, the book engages with current urban and educational policy discourses and is intended as a contribution to the ongoing development of democratic and public spaces in a growing city with many focal points.

Contact heinrich.lessing(at)fra-uas.de if you have any questions