Abstract (eng)
Housing construction policy in Austria is characterized by a focus on demand- and supply-side object subsidies. The federal states regulate the allocation of these subsidies. Despite an ongoing ecologization of subsidies, which takes the regulations relating to the energy efficiency of buildings into account, the allocation of subsidies is widely independent of location and building structures. This approach favours the construction of buildings on the outskirts (where real estate prices as well as the amounts to be invested are lower) and acts as a driver of urban sprawl. Building a linkage between the allocation of subsidies and locational as well as structural parameters is the main topic of this thesis. Using an analysis of federal regulations, expert interviews with federal representatives, and a GIS-based analysis of housing development in Vorarlberg as its methods, an inventory of potential measures is established. Based on the empirical findings and theories on the housing market, the strengths and weaknesses of different regulations can be identified. Additional subsidies for above-average densities - while considering service infrastructure costs - and constraints of the maximal usable floor space can have a positive effect on sustainable spatial development. However, these incentives only exert a minor influence on land market prices. Also, additional subsidies for regions that qualify for a densification (as areas next to public transport), despite the occurrence of deadweight effects, can have a steering effect as well. In order to reduce environmentally inadvertent impacts of construction subsidies and interplay with the instruments of spatial planning, spatial issues have to be considered to counteract urban sprawl.