Dossiers

Each dossier takes up one question: what do we know for Linz, what is open, where does it get interesting? The dossiers keep growing – for now they contain the guiding questions and the first documented facts.

01 · Dossier in progress

Work & industry

Linz as an industrial and commuter city: which work disappears first, which stays, which emerges?

Guiding questions

Which tasks in Linz companies can already be automated today – in production, administration, retail, logistics?
What does it mean for a city that tens of thousands commute into every day when those jobs shrink?
Which work stays human – care, crafts, culture, relationships?

What we know

In July 2025, 104,033 people were employed in Linz’s commercial economy (2024: 104,966).

In December 2025, 11,795 people were registered as unemployed in the Linz labour-market district – 4.5% more than a year earlier.

Upper Austria counted around 681,000 employees in December 2025, practically the same as the year before.

02 · Dossier in progress

Income & distribution

What replaces wages as income – and what does the city live on when its most important tax depends on wages?

Guiding questions

Basic income, basic services or a stake in companies: which model suits Austria and Linz?
The local payroll tax (Kommunalsteuer) is levied on wages. What happens to the city budget when the wage bill shrinks?
What can a city do itself – and what only the federal government and the EU?

What we know

In 2024 Linz collected around €199.4 million in local payroll tax (2023: €187 million). Businesses pay this levy on their employees’ wages.

Finland ran a basic-income trial in 2017–2018; the main reported effect was better well-being among participants.

03 · Dossier in progress

Urban space

Space that is freed up or used differently: the Danube banks, traffic corridors, business parks.

Guiding questions

If fewer people commute: what becomes of car parks, access roads, office blocks?
How does leftover space become urban quality – by the water, between districts, along the motorway?
Who decides about such space, and how fast?

What we know

The Urfahr fairground covers around 36,500 m² – about three times the size of the main square – and runs for more than 400 metres directly along the Danube. The entire site lies in the flood discharge zone, which severely restricts building.

On the city’s “Mein Linz” platform, 120 ideas from more than 1,640 users came together in two months in 2017/18. The most popular: wide steps down to the Danube, modelled on Zurich.

04 · Dossier in progress

Time & meaning

Work provides income, but also structure, recognition and community. What of this can be replaced?

Guiding questions

What do people do with time gained – culture, volunteering, sport, care, learning?
Which places in Linz already show how work and leisure, art and technology can go together?
How do we prevent less work from meaning mainly loneliness?

What we know

Facts for this dossier are being collected.

05 · Dossier in progress

Education

What do we learn for when education no longer primarily prepares for a job?

Guiding questions

What should children learn today to have a good life in 2045?
What role do universities and schools in Linz play in the transition?
How does lifelong learning become a joy – not an obligation?

What we know

The IT:U (Interdisciplinary Transformation University) in Linz is planning a new campus for 5,000 students. In October 2025 almost 40 master’s students started; at the research campus 27 professors work with around 40 doctoral students.

06 · Dossier in progress

Governance & participation

Who decides about the transition – and how fast can a city act?

Guiding questions

How can big changes be planned when responsibilities are split between city, province and federal government?
Which forms of participation really work?
What does “abundance” mean for Linz: building and enabling instead of preventing?

What we know

For the Urfahr fairground, the city says that on some questions it depends on the approval of the Province of Upper Austria, the federal government or via donau.

The book “Abundance” by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (2025) describes how rules and procedures slow down building and progress – food for thought for this dossier.