Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus has a persisting reputation allegedly as one of Vienna’s most socio-economically disadvantaged districts. How truthful is this presumption? Do all parts of the district fall to the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, or is there more inner diversity in Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus than commonly presumed?

Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus has the highest share of non-Austrian citizens amongst all Viennese districts and a share of academically educated inhabitants below city (see also our story From a former red light district towards a new creative bohemia?). But how homogenous is the district after all? In this story we take a look into the socio-economic status of the 15th district in a more detailed scale – on the level of the seven sub districts and the more detailed census districts covering areas of one to six city blocks. The resident base of individual census districts varies from 150 to 2500 inhabitants. We will explore the socio-economic position of the 15th district with two main indicators:

1. The educational level

2. The unemployment rate

The educational level is composed by the share of inhabitants holding an academic degree and the share of inhabitants with compulsory education as their highest education. The unemployment rate is defined as the share of unemployed inhabitants from the total labour force.

Higher educational level = sign of gentrification?

Besides rise in income level, growing level of education is a major indicator in detecting the progress of gentrification and the influx of new socio-economic groups. Over the last decades, the 15th district has followed the general trend in the city, as the share of inhabitants holding an academic degree has increased from the 1980’s onwards. Today, this share is highest in the north-eastern sub districts of Reithofferplatz (14.8 %) , Fünfhaus-Westbahnhof (14.3 %), and Stadthalle (14.0 %). Even these shares remain slightly smaller than the current city wide average laying in 15.3 %, and are left far from the comparison group of the old, dense inner city districts where on average 26.0 % of the population is academically educated. The educational levels of the inner districts are not met in the 15th district even on the census district level, where only few individual districts have a share of academically educated inhabitants exceeding 20 percent. Mirroring the growth in the shares of academically educated, the shares of inhabitants with compulsory education as their highest education have declined in all the sub districts. In 2011, this share was highest in the Sechshaus sub district.

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On the sub district level, the share of inhabitants with an academic degree is lowest in the Schmelz area, where the average is brought down by several census districts with remarkably low shares. These census districts are generally small in area size, and consist predominantly of municipality housing. However, in Schmelz and in the surrounding northern sub districts the census district with little or no municipal housing have generally higher than average shares of academically educated inhabitants. This setting is somehow reversed in the southern sub districts, where majority of the census districts place lower than the district’s average. Especially in the Sechshaus sub districts the shares of academically educated inhabitants are consistently low without individual districts with extremely low values. In addition to being generally low, the shares of academically educated inhabitants in some parts of the Sechshaus sub district have grown much slower than the average in the 15th district in 1981-2011. The growth has been more moderate only in the northern census districts consisting solely of municipal housing. The highest shares of academically educated inhabitants are found in the area of the architecturally eminent Nibelungenviertel in the sub district of Stadthalle and in the immediate vicinity of the Auer-Welsbach-Park in the south-east of the district. The sub districts with the highest and lowest amount of inhabitants with compulsory education as the highest completed education do generally correspond to the ones with the lowest and highest shares of the academically.

Jugendstil-housing in the Kriemhildplatz. The census districts belonging to the area of the Nibelungenviertel have the district’s highest shares of academically educated and the lowest unemployment rates (Source: Own picture)

Municipal housing in the Stadthalle sub district. Characteristically to the municipal housing stock of the northern sub districts of Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, the housing estate covers the area of an entire city block (Source: own picture)

Shifts in the unemployment rate

Since the 1990s, the unemployment rate has been slightly growing on the district level. This development has not affected all the sub districts as directly as the general increase in the level of education. In 2011, the sub districts of Reithofferplatz and Fünfhaus-Westbahnhhof – featuring in 1991 the district’s highest unemployment rates – showed an unemployment rate lower than the district’s average (12.3 %). The unemployment rate is highest in the Sechshaus sub district (13.1 %), but has increased most from 1991 to 2011 in the sub districts of Rudolfsheim-Braunkirchen and Stadthalle. On the whole, the variation between the sub district level unemployment rates has over the last twenty years decreased, and is non-existent compared to the variation in the more detailed census district level.

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Looking at the census district level, the local unemployment levels correlate substantially with the low shares of academically educated inhabitants. Especially the districts with the highest unemployment rates are roughly the same as the ones with the lowest shares of inhabitants holding an academic degree – these districts by rule being small and consisting exclusively of municipal housing. From the areas with little or no municipal housing, the most southernmost census districts in the Sechshaus next to the heavily trafficked Linke Wienzeile stand out with their high unemployment rates.

In the southern sub district of Rudolfsheim-Braunhirschen the housing stock in the immediate vicinity of the Auer-Welsbach-Park stands out with its high share of inhabitants with an academic degree (Source: own picture)

One district, different evidences for gentrification?

The sub districts in the southern part of the 15th district share a relatively homogenous socio-economic structure, while the northern part has more inner diversity. The northern part of the district is characterized by pockets of considerably low and respectively relatively high socio-economic status. This observation is explained, interestingly enough, by historical context and changes in the prevailing urban policies and architectural style guiding the development of subsidized housing. In the northern half of the district, especially in the Schmelz and Stadthalle sub districts, majority of the municipal housing dates back to the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1950’s. True to the planning ideologies of these decades, the housing complexes are extensive and clustered together to form entire city blocks. Due to the size and vicinity of these complexes, many census districts in the area consist exclusively of municipal housing. However, in the southern part of Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus majority of the municipality housing dates back to the 1970’s and 1980’s, and has been incorporated into the urban structure as individually standing apartment buildings. More scattered between different census districts, municipal housing in the southern sub districts does not dominate individual census districts as it does in the north. Considering this setting, it is easy to see how the socio-economically most disadvantaged areas in the northern sub districts correspond to the areas with extensive municipal housing. Some of the areas with mostly private housing, on the other hand, have the district’s best socio-economic positions.

Looking past the census district comprised solely or mostly of municipal housing, we notice that the socio-economically most disadvantaged census districts are located in the southern part of Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus. Especially in the sub district of Sechshaus several census districts are characterized by both high unemployment and low educational level. Although the share of substandard apartments does not by rule correlate with the socio-economic indicators discussed here, these census districts do also have high shares of substandard dwellings. On the other end of the socio-economic spectrum, the area of the historic Nibelungenviertel in the Stadthalle sub district has a socio-economic status unlike any other part of the district. Even this area is does not reach the educational level and low unemployment rate of the inner districts neighboring Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus in the East, but places on these two indicators higher than the city’s average.

Besides causes related to the inner diversity the 15th district’s urban structure, also the influence of the nearby districts is detectable both on the sub and census district levels. Many of the areas which have experienced the highest upgrade in their socio-economic status over the last decades are situated in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the district. Taking in account also the general improvement in the housing conditions in these areas, this development would suggest gentrification proceeding slowly outwards from the inner districts into the eastern parts of the 15th district.

The Sechshaus sub district has the district’s highest unemployment rate (Source: own picture)

Pockets of inner diversity

Although district level statistical data doesn’t suggest gentrification detected by socio-economic indicators, analysis on a more detailed scale implicates more inner diversity. Especially entering the census district level shows several pockets of considerably higher and lower than average socio-economic stand within the census districts.

The census districts with the highest share of academically educated and the lowest unemployment rate are all unique and can’t be straightforwardly categorized by their other characteristics. The following qualities, however, are associated with many of these areas:

• Attractive, historic housing stock

• Good housing conditions

• Vicinity to the inner city districts of Vienna

• Immediate vicinity to extensive green space

• Low share of subsidized housing

The improvement of the education level and reduction of unemployment rate are not alone indicators for gentrification, but suggest where the preconditions for speeding gentrification could be met.