The world's largest expert conference on walking, quality of life and urban development is being held in Vienna for the first time.
From 20 to 23 October, Vienna will host the world's largest expert conference on walking, quality of life and urban development. 280 experts from the fields of urban planning and development, politics, science, health and architecture will meet at Vienna City Hall for the 16th "International Conference on Walking and Liveable Communities", or Walk21 for short.
The conference with the motto "stepping ahead" will see 600 participants from 39 countries participating in over 240 discussions, seminars, workshops and "urban labs". Over 200 creative ideas from 47 countries were submitted for the Walking Visionaries Awards.
Vienna has established a reputation as one of the world's leading smart cities and is considered a trailblazer in new urban mobility and efficient ecomobility. The promotion of walking plays an important part in securing a high quality of living for everyone who lives in Vienna. As host city of Walk21, the city will be able to benefit from international know-how about recent developments in pedestrian matters and the design of public urban spaces.
"Vienna has one of the highest modal shares of pedestrians internationally. More than one in four Viennese make all their daily trips on foot. With Walk21 Vienna, we are inviting international experts, pioneers and activists to look at the situation in Vienna and think about how conditions for pedestrians can be improved further. It is also a question of increasing traffic safety in the city," says Vienna's Deputy Mayor Maria Vassilakou.
Walk21 Vienna is an opportunity to learn about best practice examples from all over the world and discuss new strategies for smart pedestrian-centric urban development.
On Friday, October 23, you can choose more than 30 Walkshops and Urban Labs as a great opportunity to experience public spaces in Vienna. Find it here.