"Take a risk, visit Linz" - We visited Linz on a city marketing study tour.

On December 4th, we visited Linz with a delegation of 27 people to gather inspiration on how a city with a poor reputation can become a future-oriented creative and cultural center. In the morning, we visited Ars Electronica, Linz's interactive future museum. Through the interactive exhibitions, we gained insight into future topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, 3D printing, and the relationship between humans and technology. Additionally, through VR experiences, interactive installations, and intersections of digital art and social issues, we actively participated in "future thinking." Overall, the visit to Ars Electronica was a spectacular, thought-provoking, and inspiring start to the day - the visit highlighted how Linz envisions the future of technology, art, and society. After the museum visit, we crossed the Danube and took a short lunch break, then walked along the shore to the former tobacco factory area, now becoming a creative cultural quarter called Tabakfabrik, which serves as an incubator for the Linz startup ecosystem. The Tabakfabrik building, which was previously a textile and then a tobacco industry factory built in the early 20th century and in the 1930s, today exemplifies industrial heritage combined with modern creative recycling. After the factory's closure, the city purchased the entire area in 2010 and transformed it: clubs, art studios, exhibition and event spaces, offices, cultural companies, and startups have all found their place here. Today, the old buildings function as co-working spaces and individual studios — thus, Tabakfabrik is not a museum but a living, functioning creative space: a workplace, workshop, and cultural center all at once. Tabakfabrik can serve as an inspiring example for Hungarian settlements where significant industrial cultural heritage brownfield areas are underutilized. Following this, Balázs Kovács, an expert commissioned by Linz Tourism, gave a professional presentation in the conference room of Tabakfabrik. The presentation showcased the concept of "new tourism" through the example of Linz, emphasizing that the future of tourism lies in an experience-based, sustainable, networked, and human-centered approach, where quality of life, mental openness, inspiration, and new narratives - such as the art of encounters, the flow experience, "life artistry," and happiness culture - are in focus. During the presentation, we heard about best practices such as the alternative conference format BlueMeeting® and the volunteering-based tourism application CopenPay. We concluded the formal part of the study trip at Linz's Advent market, where we viewed Austria's largest illuminated cathedral, followed by a punch drink before heading toward the train station. Due to the positive feedback, the Urbavis team is already thinking about the next study trip destination, which is planned to be Bratislava. We also made a little summary video about this truly inspiring day! It can be viewed on our LinkedIn page!