City of Graz / Stadt Graz

Graz is the second-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Styria (Steiermark). With a population of 273,838 it has always been an important center of economy and employment politics in the south-east of the European Union. Graz has a long tradition as a student city: its six universities have about 55,000 students.

Its "Old Town" is one of the best-preserved city centers in Central Europe. Graz was added to the UNESCO lists of World Cultural Heritage Sites(1999) and Cities of Design(2011). Graz became the first European Human Rights City in 2001.Graz has a radial public transport system with harmonised tariffs, tickets and timetables for the city and the province as a whole. Regional mobility issues has been addressed in EU projects such RURBANCE and City Regions, with the result of making Graz, together with the Regional Management of Metropolitan Area of Styrian, responsible of bringing together Graz surrounding municipalities in an structured way, also using URBAN+ experiences. Furthermore the City of Graz got a subdelegation as managing authority for the Styrian ERDF programme in the previous founding periode.

Graz was the first city in Europe to implement a speed limit of 30 km per hour for the entire city (with the exception of major roads). The city center features many pedestrian zones and the city administration has dedicated great efforts to promoting cycling. Graz was the first Austrian city to open a mobility center.

The city has also started to convert the public bus fleet to run on more environmentally friendly bio-diesel, thus there is still great potential in the field of transportation for sustainable development. Finally, the City of Graz is a member of the association CIVINET Deutscher Sprachraum (CIVITAS network), and a member of its management board.