Donaustadt#
Donaustadt, Vienna´s 22nd district, area 102.34 km2, pop. 106,589 (1991), Vienna´s largest district, formerly most sparsely populated district of Vienna; increasing urbanisation over the past decades has led to soaring population figures (1961: 57,268). Since 1954 Donaustadt has been made up of areas handed over by Floridsdorf in 1938 (Stadlau, Kagran, Hirschstetten, Aspern and Lobau), of the former Lower Austrian municipalities of Suessenbrunn, Breitenlee and Essling and of Kaisermuehlen (formerly part of the 2nd district) with the Old Danube. The 22nd district was formed in 1938 as the district of Gross-Enzersdorf and comprised 15 municipalities of the Marchfeld region; in 1954 its borders with the 21st district and Lower Austria were re-defined and it was given its current name.
The district formerly displayed a very rural character (except for
Stadlau), the former village centres are still evident today. Some
parts are still used for horticultural and agricultural purposes;
suburban housing estates and large blocks of council flats (Aspern,
Hirschstetten, Kagran and Kaisermuehlen - Goethehof, 1930;
Marschallhof, 1959). The centre of activity in Donaustadt is Kagran.
The more modern part of Donaustadt is the location of the Vienna
International Centre (1979), the Austria Center (1987), the Donaupark
with the Donauturm tower (252 m high, built 1964 on the occasion
of the International Horticultural Show in Vienna), the
Sozialmedizinisches Zentrum Ost hospital, the international school
centre (1984), the Donauzentrum (1975, Vienna´s largest shopping
centre), the OMV petroleum blending plant and Lobau tank farm, Opel
Austria Ges. m. b. H. (on the premises of the former
Aspern airfield), a sewage pumping station, the Freudenau Danube
power station the Donaustadt steam power plant and a municipal reserve
garden. The district acquired a totally new atmosphere and image with
the construction of a superstructure over the A 22 motorway
(Donauuferautobahn) and the construction of office and residential
blocks (e.g. the Andromeda-Tower and the Wohnpark Alte Donau
residential building in 1998 and the Internationales Zentrum
Donaustadt in 1999). Along with the swimming area on the Old Danube (
Gaensehaeufel), the New Danube (which covers an area of
700 hectares including the Donauinsel has become a popular
recreation area for the Viennese. Since 1977 Donau-Auen nature reserve
(Lobau), since 1996 national park.