Austria's cities are very livable
Austria's cities are attractive places to live and work. The supply of jobs and services of general interest is “typically in the upper middle field or even in the top field” of the EU, shows an analysis by the WIIW. Above all, the costs for public transport, water, energy and especially housing are low compared to the total expenditure. This leaves significantly more money for leisure and culture in Austria than in other cities.
When it comes to early childhood care, Austria's cities are in the European midfield and Vienna in the top third. When it comes to the density of hospital beds, the large Austrian cities are among the leaders and Vienna is among the European average. Public transport in the large Austrian cities is “in the good European midfield”, but if you take into account the low costs, then the Austrian cities do “extremely well”.
According to the WIIW report, the quality of the apartments in terms of living space is comparatively high compared to other European cities. The fact that housing costs in Austria are relatively low is due to the “generous welfare state system combined with a less commercialized housing market and an active social housing policy”. The housing costs of Austrian city dwellers are more than a third lower than those of residents of large German cities. Conversely, Austrian city dwellers can consume more than 5 percent more leisure activities and spend more than 13 percent more in restaurants.
The comparison with large cities in Italy, where there is even less welfare state system, a commercialized housing market and hardly any social housing, is “even more dramatic”. Compared to cities in Italy, Austria's city dwellers have almost a third lower housing costs and can spend almost three times as much on leisure and culture and over 60 percent more on restaurants and hotels.
The WIIW deduces from the results of its study that the subsidized housing should be expanded with cooperative and community housing in order to keep housing costs low in the long term. This also applies to the expansion of public transport and health care. The WIIW sees “potential for improvement” in (early childhood) education, where local cities are currently not in the top group.
