PostIT:U
a university-political memo for a city
PostCity x IT:U - Linz, You Saved the Grüngürtel,
NOW Let's Make PostCity Work for All of Us
What is this about/why now?
Now that the city has backtracked on the planned Dornach "Grüngürtel" extension, here is another chance for the PostCity location, the place where the university began.
this initiative aims to continue the colaborative dialog since we all stand to profit from doing this long-term project right.
Based on the original PostUni idea by post:collective, this website aims to collect mayoral candidate statements about Linz's PostCity as a possible location for IT:U, in the run-up to the 2025 election, as well as related facts and the (political) story so far, as understdood by students IT:U's own Founding Lab.
Art Credit (Background Banner): post:collective (PostUni)
Who are we?
We are an unlikely grouping iterested in a sutainable, smart, relevant and promising development of the university sector in Linz that still goes together with economic prowess: we are Catholic University Youth Upper Austria leadership, as well as IT:U Founding Lab and IT:U 2024 Summer School participants. But above all, we are Linzer. And we are students!
Read on for more background.
Options for reading this page:
Recommended.
Jump directly to 2025 Linz Mayoral Election info section.
Photo Credit: Founding Lab member @sonialitwin
Transforming Infrastructure
This website tells a story, in pictures, of a spectacular piece of old infrastructure, and what it could become for the new university in Linz.
THE FACTS
What is the Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria?
The Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria (IT:U) is Austria’s first interdisciplinary university, located in Linz, and dedicated to merging technology, hands-on learning, and global problem-solving. IT:U offers a project-based, inclusive approach to education, where students from diverse backgrounds apply technologies like AI and robotics to tackle real-world challenges.
In some ways, because it was launched by politicians at both the state and federal levels, it is like an alien space ship that has come to land in Linz: this is an opportunity, for sure, and we are talking friendly aliens 👽 we think at least ❤️.
From a City and Citizen's Perspective, so much Seems Clear: IT:U Needs to Be In the City-Center to Fulfill Its Mandate
As an institution centered on interdisciplinary research, IT:U is determined to demonstrate that excellent science can be transformed into innovative products, services, and social advancements. With its unique mission, IT:U aims to empower students, scientists, and regional networks to drive transformative impact across Linz and beyond.
The University Is Called IT:U
IT:U x PostCity Is PostIT:U
Photo Credit: Founding Lab member @sonialitwin
Let's go into PostCity!
Some Lucky Numbers for PostCity ->NOW<-?
students founded the university here
signatures against closing the Green Belt
Mayoral Candidates in 2024/25
Owner: NOW Open to Negotiation
So Why ->ARE<- Decision Makers Like This About It?
Where many people across party-lines are starting to see an opportunity, it sounds like our politician-leaders see expensive private real estate development and a shopping mall thrown in, leading Linz down the road of not just the ordinary and bland, but laying the groundwork for an undesirable urban social development in the century to come.
We are convinced: Linz can do better than business-as-usual here.
THE IDEA
The Original Idea, Relevant Once Again
postUNI - post:growth | post:operative | post:position
by Lisa Ackerl, Daniel Schöngruber, Marco Thaller
Underused facilities and institutions in Linz like the postal distribution center PostCity, but also the slaughterhouse, or the Nestlé site are ready for new, versatile uses, which could be implemented in a climate- and environmentally-friendly manner within existing structures. Universities, along with their buildings and spaces, are essential, identity-shaping institutions within cities. Through students, educators, and infrastructure, they have the power to activate entire neighborhoods socially and economically as places to live and work. Over 26,000 people study in Linz, with around 3,000 more expected to join IT:U. To fulfill the societal mission of a university, its impact should not dissipate on the outskirts of the city but rather be integrated into the urban fabric, enhancing the city’s social and economic potential.
Art Credit: post:collective (PostUni)
Photo Credit: Founding Lab member @sonialitwin
What Is Special About PostCity?
See Also: Ars Electronica Blog Article "Once Again In PostCity"
by Katia Kreuzhuber
With 80,000 square meters usable space spread over several levels, a 4,000-meter long parcel distribution facility, a storage unit for 10,000 packages, an entire battery of 12-meter high spiral chutes, and a rail track hall that is around 240 meters long made for both incoming and outgoing railways, the post distribution center that was abandoned in 2014 offers almost limitless opportunities for artistic stagings by Ars Electronica.
PostCity Is Just ->AN INSPIRING PLACE<-: Most Visitors to the Ars Electronica Festivals 2023 and 2024 Agree
Endless open spaces, magical affordances like the postal slides, labarynthine corridors invite to play and to explore: people do fall in love with this space itself and the fit for the insitution IT:U aims to be is apparent. More so, we believe IT:U needs a space like PostCity to achieve its mission.
So now in 2024, going into 2025, let us review ...
THE STORY SO FAR
October 2024
The new Digital University will not be built near Johannes Kepler University after all.
Read morePhoto: IT:U and Fotokerschi/Kerschbaum
This kicks of the current story and this initiative.
Throughout 2024
The "Post City Gardens" project in Linz, planned on the PostCity site, has faced significant delays due to challenges in securing investors.
Read moreLogo: Post AG
With this location available, will an open-minded, inspired Post AG remain open and push for intelligent transformation as part of its OEBAG (who majority-owns the Post) mandate?
Related linkOctober 2024
Governor Thomas Stelzer has stated that the search for a location for the "Digital University" will be handled at the highest level.
Read morePhoto: austriavienna.info
And so, as the governor considers all of Upper Austria in his own search, will Hallstatt also be shortlisted, we wonder?
October 2024
Despite other applicants: Linz is the IT:U location.
Read morePhoto: 1000things.at
The national government (Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research) sees the university in Linz, however, where it belongs - we agree.
This Leaves the ->MAYOR OF LINZ<- as a central figure in this story
IT:U was supposed to be built near Johannes Kepler University. However, acting mayor Dietmar Prammer halted the rezoning to building land due to a negative ecologocial assessment (Link in DE). So how will the next Mayor of Linz shape the project?
->LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT MAYORAL CANDIDATES<-
MAYORAL CANDIDATES 2024/25
The Current Political Options in the Upcoming Mayoral Election for Linz
The election is an important political moment for Linz with regards to the question of IT:U's location - where we strongly believe Linz is the appropriate location in Upper Austria.
We collect this information from official campagin materials and direct inquiry only: we are looking for a firm statement for use of PostCity for the IT:U and related educational facilities instead of alternate projects.
Let's Vote for Linz
The following list is in alphabetic order and gives an overview of the relevant information about candidates and their stance as well as history with the location selection.
| Image | Candidate | Position | Supports IT:U @ PostCity (PostUni) | Connection to Original Grüngürtel Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Martin Hajart | supports establishing IT:U in Linz, considers PostCity one of further options (however) - *see note below, voted for the original Grüngürtel plan. | *see Note below: voted FOR the problematic original greenbelt plan | |
 | Michael Raml | sees PostCity as the ideal location for IT:U due to its excellent transport links, avoidance of environmental impact, and potential to transform the area around the main train station | ||
 | Eva Schobesberger | strong supporter of the Grüngürtel aktion, considers PostCity the main alternative due to public transport links | ||
 | Lorenz Potocnik | supports IT:U location in PostCity or another city location, after a proper location selection process, which has been absent so far | ||
 | Dietmar Prammer | supports IT:U location in PostCity as well as others in the city, according to media outlets (no direct statement as of yet) - *see note below, voted for the original Grüngürtel plan. | *see Note below: voted FOR the problematic original greenbelt plan |
Note: The two representatives of the larger parties, SPÖ and ÖVP in Linz, are notable because they voted for the original Grüngürtel plan (in line with their parties) under then SPÖ Mayor Luger before backtracking under Deputy Mayor Prammer, under some pressure from the county government. The original idea for this location came from a questionable process without any significant transpareny or inclusion of stakeholders beyond politics and business, not to mention the public.
Courtesy of Linz+
With this ->NEW INTEREST IN THE IT:U LOCATION QUESTION<- we are hopeful a sensible decision will be made and voted for under the new mayor
THE VISION
Make It Yellow!
You can take the yellow in the following designs to be the manifold spaces for creative transformation, aligned with the new Interdisciplinary Transformation University's mandate.
Yes, ->don't<- take this literally.
The university itself does not need to be yellow, we would agree.
Some ->Q&A<-
Are these designs final?
No, they are one of many options for a transformational opportunity in Linz, where this transformation occurs in the dimensions Social Change, Ecology and Climate, Public Spaces and Transit, Global Communication, and City Politics.
Why would this amazing location be used for anything but a truly transformational project, or this university be put at an ordinary location? (Not to say a green field.) In other words, what is the reasoning for not doing exactly this, which does somehow seem pretty obvious?
A lot of people have been wondering this and now a collective of groups is taking action: fact is, the decisions so far have been happening in the background, probably driven by business-only (and business-as-usual) and certainly a non-participatory-democracy mindset. We want to change this and present a concept that is truly transformational and inclusive, in fact coming directly from students and concerned citizens of Linz.
And since this has been in the news: What about Wels and Steyr?
Apart from the fact that Linz is the IT capital of Upper Austria, aligning with the academic focus of this university, along with the fact that Linz is the main university city of Upper Austria and the interdisciplinary orientation of this university would suggest an exchange with the other universities, with the original decision to place the university in Linz a whole cohort of staff, professors and now students have already started a new part of their life in Linz, which makes a fundamental change of location like this very difficult and potentially damaging.
So what are the people directly involved saying?
It is important to note that the content of this website is not a statement from the IT:U, who have not issued a statement in any other venue so far, but does reflect the voice of various groups in the vicinity of the project: starting with the very first students at the university!
So ->WHO<- are we? IN DETAIL
Art Credit: Ars Electronica/IT:U Founding Lab 2023
Art Credit: post:collective (PostUni)
CATHOLIC UNIV. YOUTH
(Re-)Thinking University-Impact - Socially, Ecologically - in Linz
KHJ Leadership 2024/25
by Jack Heseltine
First and foremost, PostCity is an inspiring and unique location in Linz: whether you consider the underground train hall, the vast open spaces with the famous blue package slides, or the baffling amount of backoffices slightly frozen in time, from when there was post being processed here. Anyone who has attended the Ars Electronica Festival here, particularly the last two editions in 2023 and 2024, knows this well. Exhibits, talks, workshops — PostCity is not just a prime venue for the activities that define a university too, all conveniently situated in the heart of Linz and seamlessly connected to the outside world via the central train station — it is, in fact, a place perfectly matched with this sort of use, even in its current state, as proven by the festival’s success. That is not to say it should stay exactly as it is!
Yet, there is another story at play here, one that recent festival visitors may have forgotten or even chosen to overlook: the homelessness and visible drug-related activities just outside the train station have long marked this area as a problem hotspot for the city. I, too, have at times felt uneasy crossing the square in front of the main entrance, positioned between the train station and PostCity. This isn't the exaggerated concern of supposedly pampered, disconnected festival-goers — it’s a very real issue, reflected in crime reports that can easily be found online.
The Catholic University Youth believes in the power of transformative dialog within the university, striving for social and cultural relevance at every opportunity. At the same time, a core Catholic social principle is the prevention of further displacement of marginalized individuals and communities — an all-too-common consequence when high-rises filled with luxury apartments and over-priced ground-floor cafés spring up, as has been seen in the mechanics of gentrification across cities worldwide.
Here, however, we have the chance to do something different, something more inclusive and open-ended. Motivated by the potential for social progress, the Catholic University Youth advocates for a thoughtful and socially relevant use of PostCity — one that includes housing IT-U and related educational facilities at this key location, provided the IT-U and its partners are prepared to engage with the surrounding (social) environment in a meaningful way.
We believe that the people of IT-U are up to this challenge and express our support at this critical juncture, in the lead-up to the mayoral elections — though we do not, however, align ourselves with any established or emerging political parties.
THE NEXT STEPS
Thank You for Reading This Far!
You see, we care about this stuff. Are you getting this idea? If yes, we hope to count on your support: make your voice heard at January 12th Mayoral election by voting for a candidate prioritizing this important project at this excellent location.
For our part, we will continue to publicize the story and related efforts, exercising a democratic, soft counter-power to the politics- and business-as-usual leading to bad decisions like closing the Green Belt (Grüngürtel).
Next stop: Linz, PostIT:U!
Art Credit: post:collective (PostUni)
heseltime: website design, deployment and content except where indicated. Based on the original postuni.at-concept by Collective:Detention