As I mentioned in the section about the history Marchtrenk has a very old settlement. With the Roman Street the economic development begann. It was very important that this street went through Marchtrenk. It connected the village with other parts of the region and made intercultural exchanges possible. Over the centuries it gain more and more importance. There was the horse-drawn railroad and all its facilities (vets, hotels, workshops, and so on) and the mills along the small rivers. And also the detention camp had its positive effects. With the nearby Traun there is a big resource for producing ecological energy.
With this said I think it´s clear that ecological energy and economy are two important developments in this town. The two big cities Wels and Linz nearby Marchtrenk are building a good surrounding for economic investments. You can easy find Marchtrenk driving the nearby motorway. There are three exits for Marchtrenk and for trucks and businesses it´s very important to get to their business destination fast. You can look up the map in the introduction part.
So what is going on in Marchtrenk and its economy? There are lots of projects and financial backings, I want to describe some of them.
Association of city marketing
Austria is one of the first European countries that established a village-/city marketing to help cities and villages in making the local market more attractive. Since 2014 is Marchtrenk a part of it (Marchtrenk ).
The association city marketing Austria tries to help founders of companies (small or big) to build up their company in Marchtrenk.
With the right consulting and marketing support they want to give young businesses a chance to establish themselves in the local market (Marchtrenk ).
In Marchtrenk they organize some local markets, like the Leopoldimarkt (in November, kind of an early Christmas market) and they help the local businesses with their advertisement, putting up offers, or even at the beginning with the search for the right premise, financial support, giving them information about economy and the city. Networking is a big part of their services. They try to keep all of the businesses in Marchtrenk contacted (Marchtrenk ).
For more information click here
Smart City Region – SMARchTrenk
“Smart Energy Solutions for the Urban Region Marchtrenk”
This program has its focus on the development of a smart city or smart urban region in Austria.
Austria has small settlement areas and a very unique variety of culture and nature. This project wants to guide cities and urban regions into a sustainable future (SMARchTrenk).
Smart City in general
Smart City is a holistic concept of city development. Cities should develop more efficient, technological forward-looking, green and social. This concept contains technological, ecological and economical innovations.
Since 2000 the idea of this concept is getting more important. It´s going hand in hand with the utilization of technologies and dealing with postindustrial problems (politically, economically, social) that cities are dealing with in our times. The focus lays on saving the environment, the demographical changes, demographic growth, financial crisis and shortage of resources.
So the important fact is the cooperation between the citizens, city administration, economy, sciences and politics (Smart city).
- Dimension of Smart City
- Economy – Smart Economy
Smart Economy shows the importance of the interconnection between different actors on local, regional and global level. It is based on innovational and promising ideas from the citizens. So the knowledge of the citizens is very important (human capital) and should be promoted (Smart city). - Politics and administration
The 2007 decided Leipzig Charta shows the changes of the paradigms in city development and leads to a more sustainable European city politics and the Smart City concept.As part of “Horizont 2020” European cities should develop themselves to “Smart Cities”. Some prestige projects are getting funded.But the dimension of politics in Smart Cities is controversial. It´s important to include the citizens in the decision making process (more participation possibilities). More of bottom up than a top down politic. With new technologies it is getting easier to let the people decide (E-Democracs, Open Government) (Smart city). - Citizens
The Citizens of a Smart City are characterized creative, flexible, social heterogeneously and connected. They have a high potential of individual initiative and use the technology to better organize their life.The “sharing culture” is one important part of it, like car- sharing or food sharing. And it could for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Also urban farming is a part of the concept.
All in all the citizens and their connection to each other and the city developing process are very important (Smart city). - Sustainability
The sustainability dimension is based on the principal of sustainability, the fulfilment of the needs of today’s generation should not interfere with the needs of future generations. This topic is getting discussed on all city political levels, like renewable energy, transport, sustainable economy, emphasis the regional economy, socio-cultural mixture in the city, participation possibilities for citizens (Smart city). - Mobility – Smart Mobility
The Smart Mobility dimension driving in an energy efficient, low on emission, safe and cheat way. New technologies are useful in this area, like traffic cameras, apps or public transport system and bicycle ways (Smart city). - Points of critic
- Economy – Smart Economy
- Technology as a cure for everything
- Danger of surveillance with cameras, sensors, abuse of the data or the technology
- Technology has to be useful for citizens not the other way around
- Censorship
- Technology is not yet matured. Nobody knows the long term effects and possibilities
- Potential of mental enfeeblement of citizens, because of the false usage of technologies.
- Participation could get degraded as a side issue, and not been seen as one of the most important parts of the smart city concept. The focus strongly lays on technological innovations (Smart city).
For a better understanding here is a little video about smart cities.
Marchtrenk is located on the intersection of two important cities, Wels and Linz. In the future it will have more responsibilities in the development of the Upper Austrian central area.
SMARchTrenk is a project that will create a concept to guide them to an ideal design for the urban region of Marchtrenk. The focus is on new sustainable parts of town or district (SMARchTrenk).
The demo project is on the property of the old Sternmühle or Marchtrenker mill. It´s located on the Mühlbach. Along this Mühlbach there where 12 mills, even a pepper mill, and the Sternmühle is one of the best preserved ones. This mill was important for jobs in the 19th and 20th My great grand dad was the master of the mill, and my granny grew up there. In the 90ies the owners of the mill closed it up, and since than some families lived in it, and some rooms where rented by companies or artists.
The project wants to optimize the living in this area with a smart building approach. The innovative energy concept shows that this part of town will produce its own energy on the property of “Sternmühle” and it will be all based on renewable ressources. It also wants to implement a user-friendly electric mobility concept to get rid of traffic and environmental pollution. It´s also important to come up with an intelligent solution combine Humans and Living, Humans and Working and Humans and Energy. At the moment they are talking about the concept and the funding of this project. It´s just in the early stage of developing and plans are getting made (SMARchTrenk).
“Klimabündis” Austria – Marchtrenk
The “Klimabündis” is the biggest commune based network for protecting the climate in Austria. It is a worldwide partnership for reducing the greenhouse gases and protecting the Amazonian Rain forest. It was founded in 1990 in Frankfurt am Main (Klimabündnis).
Marchtrenk joined this program in 2003 and wants to make differences on the energy, traffic and public relations activities level. For example with different kinds funding, consulting, promoting photovoltaic and LEDs, building more pedestrian and bicycle ways.
Another important part is to inform the inhabitants about ways of getting ride of unnecessary pollution, like with information material in the town hall or at fairs, publication in papers, information days, and so on.
Homepage of Klimabündnis Austria
Conclusion
I had just time for a short overview about the programs that are happening in my hometown. I was very surprised about the quantity and quality of the programs.
I did not know about them, not even about the smart city project at the Sternmühle.
I´m keen on the development of the smart city project. I think it´s a good idea to revitalize this old and beautiful landmark of “Sternmühle”. It was so important in the history, and it´s going to be trend-setting for future generations as well. It´s a pioneer project in this region, so lots of other later projects will build on this one.
The newest project that started this year is the E-Carsharing Project. It started on October, 2nd this year. For an hourly price of € 3 you can drive in a VW e-up. The people that sign up for it will save a lot money for insurance, repairs and other car related stuff (Carsharing).
Marchtrenk 