Most urbanization projects are exempt from the environmental impact assessment requirement.
Union law does not agree that the environmental impact assessment of an urban development project depends on its size. This is because a company from Vienna has applied for a building permit for the Heumarkt Neu project. This project is planned to be implemented at a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the historic center of Vienna.
This project seeks to redevelop the site to demolish the existing InterContinental hotel and build new buildings for commercial purposes. The construction project would occupy an area of 1.55 hectares and a gross built-up area of 89,000 m2.
When the Viennese company did not receive a response from the city administration, it filed a complaint for failure to act with the Vienna Regional Administrative Court. Arguing that, given the thresholds and criteria established by Austrian law, the project is not subject to an environmental impact assessment.
The importance of environmental impact assessment
In an urban space where space is limited, the measurements of the spaces that dictate the thresholds are very high. Only constructions exceeding 15 hectares and a gross built-up area of more than 150,000 hectares are required to assess the impact on the environment. In practice, most urbanization projects are exempt from the obligation to carry out such an assessment.
Therefore, the evaluation should not depend on size but on several factors. Such as the location of projects, for example. In addition, various thresholds should be established depending on the size of the projects, always taking into account the nature or location of the project.
Therefore, a project that is located in the central space of a UNESCO heritage site needs to be evaluated. The directive also opposes the granting of licenses to individual construction projects without first evaluating them.
Finally, the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (International Iberoamerican University) (UNIB) offers the Master in Project Design, Administration and Management with a specialty in Architecture and Urban Planning.
