Innsbruck - City of Bans: Expulsion as a strategy to solve social problems?

THE CHALLENGE
Since 2008, Innsbruck's municipal council has passed several resolutions banning alcohol consumption in public places. With the introduction of the ban on overnight stays in 2017, Innsbruck was the first city in Austria to introduce such a ban. Each new decision was preceded by a media discussion, the effect of such measures and their effectiveness are controversial. The research group set itself the goal of identifying alternatives to the bans and working out proposals for solutions.

OUTCOMES
The interviews conducted in the course of this project showed that the influence on decision-making is related to the social position of respondents. According to the surveys carried out, it was mainly local residents who had the greatest influence on the decision-making process regarding bans. Politicians consider the expansion of social care facilities for those affected to be extremely important. The main reasons given for introducing the bans were the visibility of homelessness and poverty itself, the degradation of the urban landscape and the influence on the feeling of security. While the bans tended to have a positive effect on the everyday life of residents and shop owners and, above all, increased their sense of security, the bans have a negative effect on those affected. The measures put them under a "general suspicion" and experts have been able to point out major restrictions for those affected. When asked whether the bans have led to a shift in the problem, it became clear that the experts, politicians, neighbours, police and the group of people directly affected by the bans share this view.

The research group developed several alternative approaches which can be divided into acute, preventative and reflective/evaluative measures:

Immediate measures
Initiation of an information campaign to improve the handling and understanding of the topic.

Preventative measures
The information provided and the way the subject is dealt with are to be changed. The political mandate of social work should be given more attention.

Reflective and evaluative measures on existing prohibitions
Regular evaluations, surveys of qualitative data, evaluation of statistically collected data, qualitative research and calculation of the follow-up costs resulting from the prohibition laws could be helpful measures to check the effectiveness of decisions already taken.