At the time of the restrictions and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent how difficult it is for city dwellers to adhere to the prescribed behavioural measures and the protective distance in densely built urban areas. Inner-city parks and green spaces were heavily used for recreational purposes and were thus periodically overcrowded. These observations highlight the need for green open spaces in urban areas, especially in exceptional situations regarding pandemics and climate-related heat periods. Green open spaces and greened buildings help cities and the population cope with the consequences of climate change and have a decisive positive effect on human health and well-being. This paper aims to outline which social issues are related to the availability of green infrastructure close to home and which health consequences need to be considered. The COVID-19 challenges could offer a chance and an opportunity to increase the resilience of cities and their inhabitants in various terms. A cross-disciplinary team of authors (public health, urban and landscape planning, landscaping and vegetation technologies science) describes and discusses challenges and opportunities that arise from this crisis for cities from an inter-disciplinary perspective, concluding that urban green infrastructure helps in two ways: to adapt to climate change and the challenges posed by COVID-19.

Continued urban growth, densification and the constantly increasing number of days with excessive heat provide challenging conditions for urban green infrastructure (UGI) and intensify the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI). Therefore, new approaches are required to improve the urban ecological function of buildings and to provide high-quality (urban) open spaces that affect the meso- and microclimate in a positive way. Based on the research project “Green Resilient City”, this paper shows how climate simulations can support landscape and urban planning and development. A proof of concept for a multiscale tool set for the evaluation, regulation, and optimization of green and climate-sensitive urban planning projects is the overall aim. The tool-set combines a Green and Open Space Factor, as an urban planning index and controlling instrument, as well as three climate simulation models on different scales in order to harmonize them: the GREENPASS® as an optimization instrument on parcel and neighborhood level, MUKLIMO_3 on neighborhood and city level and Cosmo-CLM as evaluation tools on mesoclimatic and regional level. Several advantages arise from the unprecedented combination of these four instruments: It transfers the use of climate models to the planning process, enables the testing and optimization of different UGIs with a focus on how they can influence the climatic performance of the proposed design of an urban development or retrofit project and serves as a scientific basis for urban planning decisions on a political level.

Based on the analysis of two field tests in the City of Vienna, this article describes the advantages and disadvantages of using an augmented reality app in participation processes. Using the results of an applied research project “ways2gether – target group-specific use of AR and web 2.0 in participative traffic planning processes”, the possibilities of implementing AR in planning and participation processes are discussed. The article points out that augmented reality tools expand the repertoire of methods used in participation procedures and that they have the potential to support many phases of a planning and participation process.

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Adapting spatial development to the challenges of climate change is a major task facing cities. In particular, urban heat islands caused by increasing average temperatures and urban growth are a challenge for cities. The use of climate simulations to assess current and future urban heat stress is a helpful approach for supporting this transition. In particular, green and blue infrastructure helps to reduce the urban heat island effect. These cooling effects can be analysed using simulations. However, a central challenge is that urban adaptation to heat needs to be implemented consistently at different planning levels. A second major challenge in adaption is identifying the amount of urban green infrastructure required in order to achieve a specific cooling benefit and establishing this by means of planning instruments. This article presents two case studies in the city of Vienna to demonstrate how climate simulation tools can be used across different planning levels if they are standardized. When combined with a green and open space factor as a steering instrument, the necessary amount of greening for subsequent planning processes can be secured. The result is a multi-scale toolset consisting of three climate simulation models and a green and open space factor, coordinated, and standardised for use at different levels of planning.