Topos

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THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN

Editor’s Note

WHAT IF… … PUBLIC TRANSPORT WAS COMPLETELY FREE? • Dear reader, please free yourself for a moment from all the limits, restrictions and "yes, but… - concerns". Just for a few hundred words – jump into a little reverie with me. What if public transport were completely free?

Vienna and the Beast • Vienna’s public transport system is considered one of the strongest in the world. The Austrian capital set new international standards, in particular with the introduction of the 365-euro ticket twelve years ago. Since then, the demands and expectations placed on the network have continued unabated. By 2030, over two million people are expected to live in Vienna. At the same time, the use of public transport – including from the surrounding areas – is continuously increasing. This was the result of a recent survey on the city’s border with Lower Austria. The city is making long-term investments in its future. Last autumn, the Vienna City Council passed a double budget of 40 billion euros for the years 2024/2025; a "record budget volume" according to City Councillor for Economic Affairs Peter Hanke (SPÖ). This includes a budget increase of 22 percent for the areas of innovation, mobility and urban planning. And this will be necessary. With the extension of the U2 and U5 subway lines, the city is pushing ahead with the "most important future project of Vienna’s public transport system", according to its own edition, and is planning a crossover of the two lines. The project is made possible by the 120-metre-long and 1,200-tonne U2 tunnel boring machine. Currently still stationed in southern Germany, it will be dismantled into individual parts and transported to Vienna in the coming months. From autumn 2024, it will then dig four kilometers through the ground between Matzleindorfer Platz and Augustinplatz, leaving behind an excavation diameter of no less than 6.84 meters in order to bring Vienna’s more than two million daily passengers to their destinations from 2028.

Venice • Venice is one of the most famous cities in the world. So much so that its fascination and beauty have been recreated several times – at least in part – in places like Las Vegas or Macau. One of the things that makes the city so special is how public transport is centred around the water.

Mister Bus Driver

For the Footprint • Whether autonomous driving, free public transport or air taxis: there are numerous mobility ideas for the city of tomorrow. They alone do not offer a tangible solution for climate-friendly mobility in the city. Because that means having the courage for a transport transition. The example of Germany makes it clear that it may not be easy for a country to find this courage.

PUBLIC TRANSIT IN LOS ANGELES

PICTURE SERIES: LOCKDOWN

CARROTS AND STICKS

MOBILITY IN PARIS

BEST PUBLIC TRANSPORT CITIES

“C’EST VOUS QUI DÉCIDEREZ!”

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AROUND THE WORLD • The question of future public mobility concerns all cities around the world. But how do cities deal with this issue and what does local public transport look like? What visions do these cities have in the field of transportation and mobility? In this series we present a small selection of ten interesting cities and their concepts.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO TOKYO

PICTURE SERIES: CABLE CARS AND SUSPENSION RAILWAYS

INNOVATIONS IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT • There is no shortage of ideas for the sustainable, fast and reliable transport of tomorrow. But...