Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 2. (Budapest, 2007)

Abstracts

SÁNDOR BÉKÉSI Urban Mobility through Networks: The Construction of Public Transportation in Vienna during the Gründerzeit. The expansion of urban infrastructural networks since the middle of the 19

th century was evident not least in the large-scale development of public transport systems. Looking at the case of Vienna, this paper analyzes the importance of the network in this process primarily as a technical system, as well as a metaphor of urbanisation. City transport networks are examined first theoretically in terms of their qualitative properties, and then practical forms of implementation are considered with regards to mobility and urban development. It emerges that the often narrowly or uniformly postulated link between metropolitan growth and transportation development needs to be qualified in the case of Vienna before 1900. Accordingly, a pcriodisation of the city's history over the last one and a half century is put forth based on subsequent generations of transport systems: moving from the horse/omnibus city, founded on the first mass transport vehicle, via the horse/train and omnibus city, to the tram/bicycle city, and finally to the underground/local railway and automobile city of the present. Lastly, the development of the public transport services in Vienna is analysed based on two quantitative measures (network length and performance) in order to evaluate both the achievements and failures of the transport network of the Francis Joseph era. GERHARD MElßL Network Development and Urban Space The development of Vienna's technical infrastructure in the Francis Joseph era offers an exemplary case of the close interplay between urbanisation and scientific and technical innovations under specific social, political and economic conditions. While the 1

st municipal spring-water system built by the liberal city council in 1873 supplied excellent quality water for the city, its quantity was unpredictable, and became even more so as the city grew rapidly. Only with the construction of the 2

ml spring-water supply in 1990 was sufficiently high-standard water made available for the entire city. The I

st spring-water supply also led to improvements in waste water disposal. The creation of a comprehensive sewage network, however, was made possible only after the city expanded into the outskirts. Still, in low-lying and/or less-developed areas of the agglomeration, the water supply and waste water disposal remained limited. Over