Miriam Haselbacher and Ursula Reeger
During our fieldwork, we conducted several walks that included the historic centre of the city of Vienna. Each one of these walks made us aware of the performative nature of public space: how it is shaped by both institutional presence and citizen engagement, and how the boundaries between representation, resistance, and everyday use are continually redrawn. In this context, the city becomes a vivid canvas and a stage that is used to convey political messages and to appropriate spaces. With this reading of public spaces, we follow key scholarship within urban studies that highlights how public spaces function as a contested stage where different actors appropriate urban environments in both every day and extraordinary ways, enacting claims to visibility, belonging, and political voice (Lefebvre, 2016; Harvey, 2008).
Graph 1: Three sites of fieldwork, own illustration
Up until 1850, the area that today constitutes Vienna’s First District essentially made up the entire urban territory of the city, which is why it features historic architecture, representative buildings, and narrow medieval streets. Today, the district is heavily visited by tourists and encircled by the grand Ringstraße [Ring road], along which many of the city’s most important political and administrative institutions are located. For this blog post, we focus on one section of the Ringstraße, as outlined below, to showcase how three key sites that are located next to other – the University of Vienna, the City Hall and the Parliament – are used as stages for political expression.
We observed the first two events on May 14th in front of the University of Vienna. We knew that, as every Wednesday at noon, members of German-nationalist student fraternities would gather on the university ramp. At the same time, the student union elections [ÖH-Wahlen] were taking place, and many student groups were handing out campaign materials in front of the university. So we settled down shortly before noon, positioning ourselves with a clear view of the university ramp. For a brief moment, it seemed as though nothing was going to happen, until the fraternity members appeared right on time, approaching the ramp from the left side of the university, escorted by three police officers. Around twenty young men, easily identifiable by their traditional caps [Deckel] and attire, were accompanied by an older member [so called Alter Herr], who watched the scene from a slight distance.
Illustration 1: Assembly of the fraternities, own illustration
Not much happens during these gatherings; their purpose is less about activity and more about occupying space, asserting presence, and provoking. While such fraternities usually meet behind closed doors, in private fraternity houses [so called Buden], these weekly appearances represent a deliberate act of spatial appropriation and visibility. Leftist groups and the student union (ÖH) have long attempted to pressure the university to prohibit these gatherings, so far without success. There have also been repeated counter-mobilizations over the years. The whole event was over after five to ten minutes and the fraternities left, seemingly unnoticed.
Afterwards, we moved a little further over to the university’s side entrance, which is the main access point for most students. This was also where the campaign stands for the different student groups participating in the ÖH elections were set up. We approached a stand belonging to a leftist faction whose campaign slogan included the call to dismantle (male) fraternities [Männerbünde]. We struck up a conversation and asked whether they had noticed the fraternity gathering earlier, and why there hadn’t been any counter-protest, not even shouts or visible signs of resistance. One of the representatives told us that the group had simply been too large, and that the fraternities were effectively protected in this space. She explained that their efforts to oppose the gatherings were primarily channelled through student politics, particularly by pushing for a university-level ban on such events. However, she also acknowledged the difficulty of this demand, pointing out that the university administration has so far been unwilling to act. According to her, one of the reasons is that not all fraternities are classified as far-right, some are Catholic or considered more moderate, so the rectorate has been reluctant to issue a general ban.
Illustration 2: Impressions from campaigning in front of the University of Vienna, own illustration.
A little further from the university lies Rathausplatz, the expansive square in front of Vienna’s City Hall. During our fieldwork, three major events took place there: the May Day celebrations from the Social Democratic Party [SPÖ], the opening of the Vienna Festival [Festwochen], and the Pride Village during Pride Month. Unlike the spaces around the University or the Parliament, where political expression is often bottom-up or contested, Rathausplatz functions largely as a stage curated from above. The City of Vienna, led by the Mayor’s office, actively manages this space by granting permission and organizing access for specific events and initiatives. Representation plays a central role in these uses of space, both in terms of how the city presents itself and in the decisions about which causes and communities are granted access to this prominent public stage. The events selected to take place here reflect broader municipal priorities and narratives about Vienna’s identity, culture, and values. In this way, Rathausplatz exemplifies how power operates in public space not only through physical occupation but also through control over access and symbolic framing.
Illustration 3: Impressions from Rathausplatz, on the left a picture from the entrance of Pride Village, on the right, a picture from May 1st, own illustration
Finally, adjacent to Rathausplatz is the Austrian Parliament. Although the space in front of the Parliament is much smaller than that in front of the City Hall, the square is still frequently used for political mobilization. The size of gatherings here varies greatly. While most large demonstrations march along the Ringstraße, passing by the Parliament, smaller groups and initiatives regularly hold actions directly in front of the building, especially on days when the National Council is in session. During our fieldwork, we observed several such events, inter alia on May 1st, when the rally organized by communist groups passed by the parliament and on some other days, where we witnessed pro-Palestinian activists and animal rights activists.
Illustration 4: Impressions from political mobilisations in front of the Austrian Parliament, own illustration
In sum, or walks and field notes show how Vienna’s central public spaces serve as diverse and dynamic stages for political expression and social negotiation. These spaces are appropriated in various ways, illustrating how public spaces are never neutral but are continually shaped through ongoing struggles over access, meaning, and presence. Together, they reveal the multiplicity of publics and the contested nature of urban space as a site of memory, identity, and political action, topics we explore in depth within WP4.
