The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7A,
- Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7B.49 and 41 COM 7B.42, adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and 41st (Krakow, 2017) sessions respectively,
- Also recalling the concerns expressed by the 2012 mission regarding the critical level of urban development reached since inscription and its cumulative impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, the need for new tools to guide the development process towards sustainable development that protects the attributes of the OUV, and the specific recommendations of the 2015 mission to the property;
- Welcomes the process put in place by the State Party together with the City of Vienna, ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre in order to establish a clear milestone plan for addressing the Committee’s decisions;
- Also welcomes the completion of the study on historic roof constructions in the Historic Centre of Vienna by the Federal Monuments Authority in collaboration with the City of Vienna, which will contribute to the conservation of this important attribute of the property, as highlighted in the 2012 and 2015 mission reports;
- Notes with concern that legal approval was given in June 2017 for the “Intercontinental Hotel – Ice Skating Club – Vienna Concert Hall” project by the Vienna City Council, and that construction work is proposed to start in spring 2020, subject to a ‘clarification of whether the 2017 modifications to the project are sufficient to retain the authenticity of the property’, even though the Committee has advised that this project in its current form would adversely affect the OUV of the property; and that a political decision allowing the Wien Museum and the Winterthur Building projects is expected in spring 2018;
- Requests the State Party to halt any further approvals for high-rise projects, and the implementation of already approved projects, pending the adoption of the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) and corrective measures by the Committee;
- Notes with satisfaction the three-stage process proposed by the State Party, to address the substantive threats posed by current planning instruments and new developments at the property that led to Danger listing; and also requests that the State Party ensure that an outcome of the three-stage process is an agreed DSOCR and a related set of corrective measures and timeframe for their implementation, addressing decisions 40 COM 7B.49 and 41 COM 7B.42, and the recommendations of the 2012 and 2015 missions, for adoption by the Committee;
- Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2019, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 43rd session in 2019;
- Decides to retain the Historic Centre of Vienna (Austria) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.