Demographic trends in urban structures: Comparison of development in the broader centres of the cities of Brno (CZ) and Vienna (AT) in the 21st century

Abstract

Czech Republic is facing housing insecurity and cities are challenged by a shortage of housing supply. The issue of housing affordability can be demonstrated on the cities of Brno and Vienna, which are connected by a close geographical position and a similar urban development in the 19th century. After 1918 (the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the Austrian capital Vienna has focused on a continual support of social housing. The development of housing in the Czechoslovak city of Brno was changing and influenced by the period of socialism. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the housing development in Brno and Vienna has been therefore, after a politically different period, comparable again. Vienna has a similar historical development to Brno, and in the long term, it represents an adequate comparative study due to a successful social housing policy. In this paper, we mobilize a comparative study of broader city centres. The development of housing is monitored in the parameters of demographic trends. The paper reviews comparable demographic data obtained from databases of the office for national statistics of Austria and the Czech Republic: population development and population ageing expressed as a percentage of the population aged 65+ to the population aged 0-14. The study demonstrates the importance of these two indicators of demographic changes, which can reflect the attractiveness of housing for different groups of residents. The results show that in both cities, there is a population decline in historical city cores. While in the vicinity of the historical core of Vienna, there is moderate population growth, a similarly uniform trend cannot be observed in Brno.