The City Council of Vienna, Austria is piloting a new initiative – the Vienna Kultur-Token – as an innovative way of promoting climate-friendly behavior. The initiative’s intention is two-fold: to encourage sustainable transit habits among users and to increase the overall presence of art and culture in their daily lives.
A total of 1,000 users will test Vienna’s “Culture Token” app during a six-month trial period. The app will track users’ movements and methods of transport and calculate CO2 savings when compared to driving a car. Once the user has stored up 20 kilograms of CO2 savings – possible with about two weeks of car-free commuting – they’ll receive a token which can then be redeemed for cultural venues and events. There’s no limit to the number of tokens a user can collect, but once the user reaches five, they’ll have to use one token before acquiring more.
The initiative will be in its trial phase and the Kultur-Token will apply only to a select few cultural venues – the Vienna Volkstheater, the Vienna Museum, the Kunsthalle and the Vienna Konzerthaus. The use of the Token will be expanded in the future, with nine other cultural institutions already having expressed their interest to join, according to local authorities.
The technology presents a “playful bonus system as an app to motivate citizens to reduce CO2 emissions and do something good for themselves. Digital credits can be redeemed in cultural institutions using the culture tokens,” according to a press release from the City Council.