Page - 78 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

78 siting futurity of strict rules apply to them. However, 28% of the projects were completely privately financed” (Riegler 2012). In reminding viewers of what Ottakring stands for local- ly — its historical status as Vienna’s prototypical working-class district, home to its brewery, a famous uprising, and the cem- etery in which Franz Schuhmeier “was enshrined as a politi- cal icon of a proletarian suburban culture” (Maderthaner and Musner 2008, 127) — Riebl’s film champions the alternative the district stands for: a place of neighbors with built-in checks and balances, where foreigners, whether from the Balkans or Germany, are accepted and given both lodgings and work, and criminals who do harm, such as by selling hard, as opposed to recreational, drugs, are swiftly made aware of the errors of their ways. Roughing foreigners up a little is a form of acclimatiza- tion, and it is only if they do not respond by becoming good neighbors that they are treated more harshly. The film’s overarching argument is about internal self-regula- tion and the district’s ability to provide itself with its own capital. In fact, it is due to the City of Vienna’s careful regulating of its housing stock over the course of the twentieth century that the district has taken the form it has. As scholars of gentrification such as Johannes Riegler have pointed out, the current phase of gentrification is merely the latest in a long history of urban planning: “gentrification, although disguised by terms as urban renewal and revalorisation, is a governmental strategy for creat- ing social balance in Brunnenviertel,” seen as necessary given “the downward trend” in the district and its reputation as a place of small-time criminals. Riegler finds that “[t]he governmental strategy chosen was appropriate to do so as it brought impor- tant impulses and improvements.” However, the effects of this strategy now need to be reined in as “the different social groups do not intermingle and mix in public space since both ethnic groups and the newly arriving people have different places and corners to meet. The next step has to be to connect the groups and to foster integration” and prevent “a development towards an island of middle and upper classes” typical of gentrification processes.