Michaela Kauer

Michaela, born in 1966 in Vienna, has a long work experience with the City of Vienna, where she occupied different posts, starting in 1992 as spokesperson of the City Councillor for Housing and Urban Renewal. She moved on to the cabinet of the City Councillor for Women´s Rights, Integration and Consumer Protection for more than 10 years where she became head of the cabinet in 2092, followed by leading the office of the City Councillor for Health and Social affairs from 2005 until 2009, when she was appointed to lead Vienna´s official representation in Brussels as its director.

“Vienna House” has a leading role in the city´s EU affairs with a strong focus on sustainable and inclusive urban development, resilient public services – especially in water, waste, energy, mobility. Since many years, housing is at the heart of her work, as are public finances and urban policy. Michaela Kauer coordinates Vienna´s activities in Eurocities and leads the network´s Task Force on Women´s Rights and Gender Equality. In addition, she serves as the Mayor´s assistant in the European Committee of the Regions. She was one of two coordinators of the EU Urban Partnership on Affordable Housing from 2015-2021 in the framework of the Urban Agenda for the EU and is pushing for a strong recognition of cities in the EU policy context. Since 2021, she holds to function of the Joint Representative of the Austrian Provinces for the Urban Agenda for the EU and regularly takes part in events on urban matters. She has been working with UNECE Housing and Land Management, UN-Habitat, OECD and the EU institutions since long in the field of social and affordable housing, urban policy and gender equality.

Her academic background is with international public management, she regularly publishes on urban, housing and gender policy and teaches in academia, amongst other at the University of Vienna and the University of Applied Studies in Burgenland. She has been a visiting lecturer to the universities of Lille in France and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. She loves to be a mentor for young women and girls, encouraging and empowering them to get involved in the political arena.

 

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