Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2023)24 - New European Bauhaus Progress Report - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2023)24 - New European Bauhaus Progress Report.
source	COM(2023)24
date	16-01-2023

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 16.1.2023
1. Executive Summary
2. NEB funding
3. Implementation in Member States
4. NEB impact on the EU policy environment
4.1 NEB in EU policy making
4.2 The Commission walking the talk
5. Education and skills
6. Growing community of supporters and implementers
6.1 Partners
6.2 Friends
6.3 High-level Roundtable
6.4 National Contact Points
7. The NEB Lab
7.1 Commission-led projects
7.2 Community-led projects
8. The New European Bauhaus Prizes 2021 and 2022
9. Communication, public engagement, events
9.1 Communication and public engagement
9.2 NEB events
9.2.1 New European Bauhaus Festival 2022
9.2.2 Other NEB related events by the European Commission
9.2.3 NEB related events outside Europe
2023
Table 1: Dedicated calls and actions for transformation of places on the ground supporting the transformation of the built environment and lifestyles at local level
Table 3: Calls and actions for the diffusion of new meanings, questioning our perspectives and mindset around the core values of aesthetics, sustainability and inclusion
Countries of origin of NEB Partners (09/10/2022)
3.Share helpful content and information on getting project support through the available funding opportunities.
9.2.1 New European Bauhaus Festival 2022
New topics were also put on the agenda, such as the dire situation in Ukraine. The NEB team organised a series of meetings with the Ukrainian NEB Community present at the Festival.
9.2.2 Other NEB related events by the European Commission
9.2.3 NEB related events outside Europe

1. Brussels, 16.1.2023

COM(2023) 24 final

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

New European Bauhaus Progress Report

Table of Contents

2. 1. Executive Summary

3. 2. NEB funding

4. 3. Implementation in Member States

5. 4. NEB impact on the EU policy environment

6. 4.1 NEB in EU policy making

7. 4.2 The Commission walking the talk

8. 5. Education and skills

9. 6. Growing community of supporters and implementers

10. 6.1 Partners

11. 6.2 Friends

12. 6.3 High-level Roundtable

13. 6.4 National Contact Points

14. 7. The NEB Lab

15. 7.1 Commission-led projects

16. 7.2 Community-led projects

17. 8. The New European Bauhaus Prizes 2021 and 2022

18. 9. Communication, public engagement, events

19. 9.1 Communication and public engagement

20. 9.2 NEB events

21. 9.2.1 New European Bauhaus Festival 2022

22. 9.2.2 Other NEB related events by the European Commission

23. 9.2.3 NEB related events outside Europe

1.Executive Summary

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) was launched to translate the European Green Deal into tangible change on the ground that improves our daily life, in buildings, in public spaces, but also in fashion or furniture. The New European Bauhaus aims at creating a new lifestyle that matches sustainability with good design, that needs less carbon and that is inclusive and affordable for all, while respecting the diversity that we have in Europe and beyond.

Only two years after its launch, the NEB has become a catalyst for the European Green Deal transformation, ensuring social inclusion and participation. The initiative has grown into a movement with an active and growing community from all EU Member States and beyond.

At the same time, thanks to a broad funding from different EU programmes, the NEB has started to implement real change on the ground. In 2022, the first six NEB demonstrators were chosen and started to work. In 2023, the next 10 will follow. Although the NEB has no specific EU programme at its disposal, over 100 million Euros were already invested into NEB projects supported by different MFF programmes such as Horizon Europe, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), LIFE, the Single Market Programme and Digital Europe. The NEB put a special focus on the support of smaller initiatives and projects for example with the NEB Prizes that awarded already 38 projects.

24. 2023

With 600 official partner organisations ranging from EU wide networks to local initiatives, the NEB reaches millions of citizens. The initiative managed to bring together people from various backgrounds - from art and design, cultural and creative industries, cultural heritage institutions, to educators, scientists and innovators, local and regional authorities and citizen initiatives, and they all play a crucial role in delivering the NEB. For example, the first friends (companies and public entities) support the initiative in many ways including private investments. The network of national contact points disseminates the NEB directly on the ground. You will find examples of the implementation in the Member States in the corresponding chapter.

On top of the actions, events and projects that the Commission initiated itself, the NEB has also encouraged and inspired a huge number of local, regional and national actors to create their own NEB initiatives. It is impossible to mention them all in the report, but most NEB projects and Communities are featured in the NEB dashboard ¹ , an interactive map which will be evolving as the NEB Community continues to grow.

The NEB has not only created its own movement, but also inspired others to work together around the NEB values. For example, the European wood-based sector has launched Wood4Bauhaus ² , an open platform to reach out to the construction industry and all involved stakeholders. The recently founded European Fashion Alliance ³ is another example of a cross-national initiative that took its inspiration from the NEB. The leading European creative fashion organisations formed an alliance with the aim of fostering a thriving, sustainable and inclusive European fashion ecosystem.

These are only a few examples of the impact of NEB to contribute to the transformation of our economy and societies and to reach our climate goals The NEB also supports and contributes to other policy initiatives of the Commission like the revision of the construction product regulation or the transformation pathways of several ecosystems. In 2023, the NEB will develop the NEB Academy as a contribution to the European Year of Skills and put in place trainings on sustainable construction, circularity and biobased materials to accelerate the transformation of the sector.

The NEB has developed into a credible and powerful narrative of a transformation that leaves no one behind. It communicates via different communication channels directly with the citizens. To engage even further, in 2023, the NEB will get its own LinkedIn account.


Website	Other web platforms	Instagram	Newsletters
298 200 visitors 792 500 page views in the last year [Since the launch: 624 000 visitors 1 881 400 page views]	110 000 visits to the 2022 NEB prizes platform 49 910 unique visitors to the NEB festival platform in the two weeks around the event	24 700 followers 37 900 interactions in the last year 272 average interactions per post	27 300 subscribers to the monthly newsletter 1 000 recipients of weekly community updates

To make the NEB tangible, clear criteria are needed to assess projects and initiatives. Together with this report, the Commission publishes the NEB Compass, a first evaluation tool that allows project developers to check the NEB level of their projects. It explains what the three NEB values, sustainability, inclusion and beauty, mean; how they can be integrated and combined with the working principles of participation and transdisciplinarity. Based on this Compass, more detailed assessment tools will be developed, starting with the built environment. First results should be available in 2024.

The Commission will keep working on removing barriers, including bureaucratic and legal ones, for people with local initiatives on the ground. In this context, the regulatory analysis of the NEB Lab will deliver first results in 2023 for example with a workshop on bio-based construction materials which will also link to the NEB Academy. The Commission will keep looking for solutions to new ways of funding smaller structures that find it difficult to access existing EU funding schemes via the NEB Lab project for Innovative Funding.

The NEB wants to be an inspiration to citizens, giving all the confidence to speak up and participate. One of the NEB’s important tasks therefore remains to more closely associate those regions and countries with little NEB activity thus far and to reach out to sectors underrepresented in the Community including the social economy and the younger generations. The NEB will also engage even more with the creative and cultural sectors because of their crucial role for the initiative, in particular as regards the integration of the value of beauty and the diffusion of new meanings.

The Commission will also continue working on mainstreaming the NEB in EU programmes, including under shared management in Cohesion Policy, and increasing the funding of the initiative; EUR 106.3 million of funding will be allocated to NEB dedicated calls under the Horizon Europe Mission and Clusters in 2023 and 2024. In the context of European Year of Skills 2023, the next edition of NEB Prizes will have a thematic focus on education, and it will expand the geographical coverage to the Western Balkans in addition to EU Member States.

The NEB will look more and more beyond borders and reach out to partners elsewhere in the world.

The European Commission will continue to drive and nurture the NEB, while counting on the enthusiasm of the NEB Community to grow and spread the movement organically, and on the engagement of the EU institutions and national authorities to support and facilitate its development, so that the New European Green Deal means an inclusive, beautiful and sustainable today and tomorrow for all.

2. NEB funding

One of the main challenges for the NEB initiative was to mobilise funds to support and incentivize innovative and transdisciplinary projects that embody NEB values and enable the Green Deal on the ground. A special focus has been put on innovation, the link between culture and technology and the funding of smaller initiatives and projects.

Several EU programmes joined forces for the implementation of the initiative. The two main pillars are Horizon Europe and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Single Market Programme, the Digital Europe Programme, and the LIFE Programme ⁴ also contribute. Through the successful mobilisation of the different EU programmes, a series of dedicated calls – adding up to €106.3 million – supported the NEB delivery in 2021 and 2022. The NEB initiative acted as a connector and promoter of the funding mechanisms and policy programmes that already exist. An overview of the calls can be found in the tables below grouped by area of transformation ⁵ .

As described in the Communication on the New European Bauhaus, the NEB aims for tangible change on the ground, on the enabling ecosystem for innovation, as well as on products and services, that improve quality of life of our citizens and at the same contributes to mind-set changes in the longer term, ambitions which are also reflected in the objectives of the first generation of dedicated calls. The six NEB lighthouse demonstrators, for instance, will be implemented in 14 locations (12 EU Member States – Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Slovenia– as well as Norway and Türkiye). They will cover building renovation, circularity, arts, cultural heritage, education, smart cities, coastal areas, urban and rural regeneration and more. By the time of their completion, the six demonstrators aim to deliver deep transformations through tangible results that can be adapted and used for learning in other contexts, leading to long-term benefits.

The second generation of demonstrators will follow under the European Urban Initiative under Cohesion Policy. The call that was opened in autumn 2022 will provide up to EUR 50 million from the European Regional Development Fund in support of innovative NEB solutions for urban challenges, including in the areas of: construction and renovation in a spirit of circularity and carbon neutrality, preservation and transformation of cultural heritage, adaptation and transformation of buildings for affordable housing solutions, and regeneration of urban spaces.

Moreover, in July 2022, the Commission and the European Investment Bank launched a model financial instrument: the ‘New European Bauhaus territorial development model’. This voluntary instrument will assist Managing Authorities of Cohesion Policy in EU Member States to set up financial instruments and mobilise cohesion programmes to leverage public and private resources in support of NEB projects.

With the call Support to New European Bauhaus Local Initiatives, Cohesion Policy is addressing the need to build the capacities of local authorities to facilitate local transformation processes through the NEB. This call is also focused on NEB transformations of physical spaces, including in rural areas. 20 smaller and medium-sized municipalities are now receiving tailored, multidisciplinary expert support on the ground to turn their NEB ideas into reality, with projects ranging from new art centres and creative working spaces to inclusion of the Roma to regeneration of abandoned industrial sites.

In addition to direct funding to NEB projects under Cohesion Policy, the Commission under the stewardship of Commissioner Ferreira has signed Partnership Agreements (PA) and programmes for the implementation of 2021-2027 Cohesion Funds, with all the 27 Member-States including specific references to the NEB at PA or programme level. This increased commitment of Member States to support the New European Bauhaus in Cohesion Policy programmes paves the way to mainstreaming its implementation at the regional and local level during the 2021-2027 period. Specific operational programmes already foresee support to NEB projects on the ground, such as the Just Transition Fund in one of Germany’s coal regions in Saxony-Anhalt.

Another important dimension for the transformation of our living spaces and lifestyles is related to industrial ecosystems. The NEB is also supporting innovation towards new products and services, including digital solutions for NEB. Harnessing digital solutions in support of NEB initiatives is becoming increasingly important and is the subject of the digiNEB.eu project which is seeking to foster bridges between the digital and NEB Communities and raises awareness around EU digital solutions for all NEB stakeholders, establishing a pan-European NEB digital ecosystem.

The NEB initiative is not only supporting innovation in the sense of new technical and technological developments but also explores combinations of new and traditional technologies and a new adaptation of local crafts and knowledge. For instance, the first call of the Worth Partnership Project II was dedicated to NEB and selected 65 businesses’ partnerships with new design-driven business ideas ⁶ . Another call, the 2021 EIT Community NEB Booster is providing 20 promising start-ups and scale-ups with support and funding worth EUR 50 000 each.

The NEB also supports citizens and communities to become active actors to accelerate the green transition in their local contexts. Through its participatory approach, the NEB is seeking to involve civil society and people of all ages and in all their diversity. Two NEB dedicated calls launched by the EIT Community NEB, for instance, focused on small-scale projects and had a strong focus on co-creating community solutions with citizens. Following the success of the initial pilot in 2021, the 2022 calls for New European Bauhaus Co-creation of Public Space and New European Bauhaus Citizen Engagement 18 Citizen Engagement projects from 14 countries were selected.

In addition to the NEB dedicated calls and actions, a series of contributing calls and actions also promote the initiative by including NEB as an element of context or a priority (with no specific budgetary allocation for NEB). This is the case, for example, of the recently launched call for tender on a peer-learning scheme on high quality architecture and the built environment or the future calls for artists’ residences under Culture Moves Europe.

Finally, there are several NEB actions that contributed to the European Year of Youth in 2022: For example, the Commission launched a NEB-route under the Erasmus+ Discover EU initiative ⁷ , to help 18-year-olds travel across Europe, in a green way.

25. Table 1: Dedicated calls and actions for transformation of places on the ground supporting the transformation of the built environment and lifestyles at local level

Call	Programme	Budget
Support the deployment of lighthouse demonstrators for the New European Bauhaus initiative in the context of Horizon Europe missions	Horizon Europe	EUR 30 million
Collaborative local governance models to accelerate the emblematic transformation of urban environment and contribute to the New European Bauhaus initiative and the objectives of the European Green Deal	Horizon Europe	EUR 2 million
The New European Bauhaus – shaping a greener and fairer way of life in creative and inclusive societies through Architecture, Design and Arts	Horizon Europe	EUR 6 million
Social and affordable housing district demonstrators	Horizon Europe	EUR 10 million
Strengthening European coordination and exchange for innovation uptake towards sustainability, quality, circularity and social inclusion in the built environment as a contribution to the new European Bauhaus (Built4People)	Horizon Europe	EUR 1 million
Call for Co-Creation of Public Space through citizen engagement	Horizon Europe	EUR 0.27 million
www.urban-initiative.eu/calls-proposals">NEB call under the European Urban Initiative 2021-2027	European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)	EUR 50 million
Technical assistance for public authorities: Support to New European Bauhaus Local Initiatives	European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)	EUR 2.5 million
Affordable Housing Initiative	Single Market Programme (SMP)	EUR 1.2 million

Table 2: Dedicated calls and actions aiming to transform the enabling environment for innovation, supporting innovation which aims to integrate sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics in new solutions and products

Call	Programme	Budget
Acceleration of the New European Bauhaus start-ups by the EIT – EIT Community Booster	Horizon Europe	EUR 0.7 million
Worth Partnership Project II – 1st call for proposals	COSME programme, predecessor of the SMP	Approximatively 1M EUR (the call is integrated in the overall contract of the total value of 3.5 M EUR)
Big Buyers Collective Intelligence and Action Programme (Big Buyers 3 – BB3)	Single Market Programme (SMP)	no pre-established amount allocated to the NEB
Digital Solutions in support of the New European Bauhaus initiative	Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL)	EUR 1 million

26. Table 3: Calls and actions for the diffusion of new meanings, questioning our perspectives and mindset around the core values of aesthetics, sustainability and inclusion

Calls	Programme	Budget
Citizen Engagement Activities – EIT Community New European Bauhaus	Horizon Europe	EUR 0.12 million
Erasmus+ call for European Youth Together	Erasmus+ Programme (ERASMUS)	no pre-established amount allocated to the NEB

Actions	Programme
European Innovative Teaching Award 2022 (NEB annual theme)	Erasmus+ Programme (ERASMUS)
eTwinning 2022 (NEB annual theme)	Erasmus+ Programme (ERASMUS)
DiscoverEU 2022 (NEB route)	Erasmus+ Programme (ERASMUS)

3. Implementation in Member States

More and more Member States integrate the NEB in their own activities and policies. This is partly done via the National Contact Points, but also via other ministries in the Member States as well as by NEB Partners and Friends. This chapter gives a few examples for specific Member State actions:

·In November 2022, the Government of Finland, in collaboration with the European Commission, the Government of Sweden, and the Government of Estonia, organised the high-level event New European Bauhaus Goes Into the Woods ⁸ in Espoo (Finland). The event focused on the sustainable management of European forests, as well as the potential of bio-based materials in leading the construction sector towards carbon neutrality. In the presence of the Prime Ministers of Finland and Estonia, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Commissioner Sinkevičius, President von der Leyen announced the launch of a New European Bauhaus Academy. In the context of the 2023 European Year of Skills, this initiative aims to foster green and digital skills in the construction sector.

·The Swedish Council for sustainable cities and six northern Swedish cities also initiated “Visions of the North” ⁹ involving 11 creative teams to work on the transition to climate-neutral and sustainable cities to develop NEB approaches, based on these six cities’ and towns’ unique starting points and processes.

·In Spain, the NEB was one of the factors that furthered the swift adoption of a new Law on High Quality Architecture ¹⁰ incorporating sustainability, quality, inclusion and accessibility values. The legislative process was prepared by a participatory process which ran in parallel with the co-design phase of the NEB and built on the synergies with the EU initiative.

·NEB is embedded in the new Irish National Policy on Architecture, Places for People ¹¹ launched in May 2022.

·The NEB inspired the new Strategy for culture and creative industry of the Slovak Republic 2030 ¹² .

·The NEB provided the conceptual background for the Slovak-Austrian Year of Climate Care 2022 ¹³ that took place under the auspices of the President of the Slovak Republic. Curated by Mária Beňačková Rišková of the NEB HLRT. The event consisted of a series of events focusing on climate change and its impact on communities, including the creative sectors.

·The Greek government recently launched a transdisciplinary working group on the NEB within the government. The multi-level group was established with members from both the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Culture, professors from all architectural schools in Greece, civil engineers, representatives of the Technical Chamber of Greece and the Hellenic Association of Architects as well as representatives of the Local Government.

·In Germany, the German Environment Agency (UBA) launched an in-house research project that aims to develop recommendations for urban spaces: “Advancing the New European Bauhaus: Sustainable Mobility and Resilient Urban Spaces for a Better Quality of Life (AdNEB)” ¹⁴ .

·In France a call “Committed to the Quality of Tomorrow’s Housing” ¹⁵ by the French Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Housing, distinguished 97 built projects with a seal of excellency for affordable and sustainable quality housing in line with the NEB principles and granted tailored support to 20 projects.

·At an informal conference of EU ministers responsible for Housing, organised under the French Presidency in March 2022, EU ministers of housing declared that they would promote the NEB and other Commission tools and initiatives (such as the Renovation Wave) that combat excessive land take and efforts towards an inclusive, accessible and suitable living environment ¹⁶ .

·In addition, in many Member States, the launch of 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy programmes in 2022 featured high-level events with the participation of Commissioner Ferreira and representatives of government, regional and local authorities, highlighting, among others, NEB aspirations and ideas in the new programming period.

4. NEB impact on the EU policy environment

4.1 NEB in EU policy making

As outlined in the Communication on the New European Bauhaus, the initiative builds on a rich EU policy context. The main focus of the NEB is not regulation, but rather to inspire other Commission initiatives and to integrate the NEB values and principles in EU policymaking. This is done partly by the funding within a series of EU programmes and partly by close collaboration between the NEB team and other services across the Commission. To nurture this exchange, a Steering Committee brings together over 20 Directorates-General and representatives of the cabinets of 15 Commissioners.

As part of the follow-up to the EU industrial strategy, a number of transition pathways have been released or are in preparation with several references to the NEB:

·In November 2022, the transition pathway for proximity and social economy ¹⁷ was launched, setting out the path to make the EU's social economy and local businesses more resilient, green and digital. Overall, more than 400 ecosystem stakeholders participated during the co-creation process, including the NEB Community which contributed to the final document either individually or via a dedicated workshop organised in spring 2022. The transition pathway makes reference to the NEB as an initiative seeking to mobilise different communities at grassroots level for the development of sustainable, enriching and inclusive projects. Of particular note, when addressing the importance of investments in social infrastructure, the document refers to the Affordable Housing Initiative ¹⁸ which is a flagship of the NEB. Besides, the transition pathway stresses the importance of digital social innovation and Tech for Good ¹⁹ in supporting social-purpose driven projects following a bottom-up approach.

·The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles ²⁰ , published in March 2022, proposes actions for the entire lifecycle of textiles products, while supporting the ecosystem in the green and digital transitions. The strategy refers to the NEB as translating the European Green Deal into tangible initiatives that promote sustainable lifestyles, including fashion while meeting demands related to aesthetics and inclusivity.

·The transition pathway for a more resilient, green and digital construction ecosystem ²¹ offers further opportunities to cooperate with NEB. A Staff Working Document to launch the co-creation process in December 2021 ²² contains several references to the NEB, including links to accelerating the annual rate of deep renovation. The NEB Lab is referred to as one possible tool to create an enabling framework to support the resilience of construction, including dealing with strategic dependencies.

Further, among the new regulatory initiatives of the Commission in support of the green deal ambition, the Proposal for a revision of the Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings introduced a reference to the NEB as an element of context ²³ and the NEB also accompanied closely the revision of the Construction Product regulation.

With the aim of developing a forward-looking research and innovation agenda for the NEB, the Commission organised a high-level workshop on ‘Research and Innovation for the New European Bauhaus’, which led to the publication of the ‘Horizon Europe-New European Bauhaus Nexus Report’ ²⁴ in February 2022. The workshop brought together experts in architecture, built environment, design, climate and energy. The report’s recommendations and suggestions contribute to the development of Horizon Europe work programmes that support better the objectives of the NEB. Several calls in the Horizon work programme 2023/24 are inspired by this report.

At interinstitutional level, one of the main policy developments was the adoption in November 2021 of Council conclusions on ‘culture, high-quality architecture and built environment as key elements of the New European Bauhaus initiative’ ²⁵ . The conclusions invite Member States to promote the mainstreaming of the initiative and the circular economy principles and approaches in the national socio-economic and territorial development strategies. In line with the Council conclusions and the report of the OMC group of EU Member States experts on investing in a high-quality architecture and living environment for everyone (2021), the recently adopted Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026 contains a specific action on the promotion of the NEB initiative via post-OMC expert network exchanges and regular meetings of the European Directors for Architectural Policies (EDAP) to consider possible initiatives to achieve a high-quality living environment for everyone, including those living in rural and remote areas, such as outermost regions.

Moreover, in June 2022, the Council adopted Recommendation on Learning for Environmental Sustainability ²⁶ . With explicit reference to the cultural and creative dimensions which the NEB brings to the European Green Deal, it recommends investment in green and sustainable equipment, resources and infrastructure (buildings, grounds and technology) for learning, socialising and recreation to ensure healthy and resilient learning environments.

In September 2022, the European Parliament adopted its report on the New European Bauhaus ²⁷ . The Parliament’s report expresses support for the initiative and notably calls for stronger financing of the initiative. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) ²⁸ as well as the Committee of the Regions (CoR) ²⁹ also adopted positive opinions.

4.2 The Commission walking the talk

The European Commission is working towards the delivery of NEB initiatives also as part of its own real estate strategy and its responsibility as an important actor in the European quarter in Brussels. Since February 2021, the Commission is implementing a new, long-term real estate strategy. This strategy includes a Commission Communication and action plan on “Greening the Commission” ³⁰ which incorporate the principles of the Green Deal as well as the experiences from the global pandemic resulting in the new hybrid ways of working. With the Communication, the Commission is laying out a roadmap for the institution to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.

The New European Bauhaus is part of this new strategy and provides a new channel of interaction in the relations of the Commission with the local partners in Brussels both at the level of the region and of the city, as participation is always at the centre of the NEB activities. For example, the NEB organised a workshop in the framework of the Brussels region’s development of a new plan for the European Quarter, to enquire what others in the neighbourhood expect from a public actor like the Commission.

The NEB also inspired the design of the new Visitors Centre of the Commission in the Charlemagne building where circular and sustainable materials were used and a more human centred design was implemented.

The new European Commission’s Joint Research Centre site in Seville sets out to be the first EC building entirely based, from its conception, on the NEB conceptual framework ³¹ . The European Commission selected through an international architectural competition the concept design for the future site. The construction will cover the entire JRC site with a cloud of solar canopies, sheltering the plaza, garden, and research building underneath, just like the ‘pergolas’ that are typical in Seville.

STREET VIEW © PLAYTIME

These examples are just the beginning of a new sustained approach. Given the current building stock and the ongoing projects targeting the European Quarter, the transformation will continue in the coming years.

5. Education and skills

During the co-creation phase of the NEB, it became very clear that skills and knowledge are key to accelerate the transformation of our societies and economy and enable those who drive the European Green Deal, both at Member State and EU level. The NEB developed several projects linked to skills and knowledge and the Commission will continue to put a focus on this sector – also in the framework of the European Year of Skills in 2023. As announced by President von der Leyen at the “Bauhaus into the woods” conference in November 2022, we will put in place the NEB Academy that will offer training and knowledge sharing with a focus on sustainable construction, biobased materials and circularity. The project will be supported with a grant of 1 Mio Euros by the Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking.

Already now, several education institutions are either proposing new curricula based on NEB values or hiring young researchers to advance projects linked to the NEB. The Delft University of Technology opened a position for a Junior Researcher to work on NEB lighthouse project NEB STAR. A dedicated PhD scholarship awarded by the Irish Research Council to a researcher at University College Dublin explores the potential of the NEB to promote a just low carbon transition as a desirable goal in Irish towns. Additional NEB based research projects at University College Dublin, partnering with local authorities and industry, address themes such as cultural heritage, adaptive reuse of vacant religious buildings, low carbon design and co-designing climate resilient neighbourhoods. Similarly, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology opened a position for a PhD in artistic research dedicated to the NEB. The European Association of Creative Industries is currently working on a European Master of Arts that would incarnate the NEB principles. Their aim is to bring the NEB ideas to big fashion companies and work on green and digital innovation. The NEB is now a topic of interest in eCAADe (Education and Research in Computer-Aided Architectural Design in Europe), which is the main education and research community in Europe focused on the digital transformation of architecture. This year’s annual conference was hosted by KU Leuven in Gent and was dedicated to the topic of “Co-creating the future: inclusion in and through design” and it included a dedicated session on the NEB ³² . The NEB is also becoming an increasingly integral part of the architectural education agenda in Europe. This year’s annual conference of the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) under the title “Towards a New European Bauhaus” ³³ in Madrid was fully dedicated to the movement. Fighting climate change and addressing the sustainable development goals are now framing the academic debate regarding education and the profession. Also, the Bauhaus goes South NEB Lab project works on developing a NEB curriculum in the universities.

In spring 2022, the NEB Lab launched a call around the Transformation of Places of Learning. The call aims to promote new ways of living together without further damaging our environment, make small projects more visible as part of the New European Bauhaus initiative and to create a transnational network of like-minded project promoters and potential partners. This requires not only teaching the next generations to respect and protect biodiversity, but also being ready to unlearn harmful behaviours and change our own mind-sets. Our educational institutions play a major role in this respect. The call aims to connect initiatives making a difference in where and how people learn - from classrooms to streets, playgrounds, and libraries ³⁴ . The call was launched together with the Education for Climate Coalition in February 2022 and closed at the end of 2022 ³⁵ . It mobilised more than 190 participants coming from across and beyond the EU, including from Mexico, Türkiye and Ukraine. The projects are very diverse in scale and nature, from universities looking to involve students in the renovation of their campus to artists setting up workshops on climate education for children.

One of the projects submitted to the call, “The school for the refugees” is part of the „Otwieramy szkoły” Polish project (EN: We are opening the schools) – a series of social actions aimed at solving current educational problems through design ³⁶ . Their aim is to give Ukrainian refugee children back the sense of security and belonging. In October 2022, the school was visited by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, and was awarded at the exhibition of the Association of Polish Architects as a project that responds to crisis challenges, alongside solutions such as the Paper Partition System by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (also see NEB Lab on “Actions for Ukraine”).

6.Growing community of supporters and implementers

With a reach of several million people across the Union, the NEB has developed into a movement that still has a huge potential to grow. The role of this community has not only been to amplify messages around NEB, but also to transfer knowledge into the community and to develop solutions together. Local and international organisations across Europe, in fields such as culture, education, architecture, heritage, forestry, construction and housing, or fashion, among many others, come together to present their work and explore ways to combine efforts. A network of like-minded organisations from different fields, origins and sizes can move an agenda forward faster than separate entities alone.


600+	80+	19	99	27	100+

6.1Partners

Partners are non-profit organisations and include NGOs, foundations, and education and research entities such as universities and schools for higher education. From the start, Partners have been acting as sounding boards and ambassadors for the initiative. They have been privileged actors in the co-creation process of the NEB. Over time, they have been invited to contribute to the shaping of important tools of the initiative, such as the NEB Lab where Partners are leading on several NEB projects with different thematic priorities. They have also been involved in designing the NEB Compass (see Annex) and in important events like the NEB Festival.

Partner organisations come from all Member States and reach millions of people. Several entities from non-EU countries, such as Ukraine, the United States and Türkiye also joined the network. Some of the Partners represent big networks, others are grassroots initiatives. Since the publication of the Communication on the New European Bauhaus in September 2021, the number of Partners has more than doubled.

Number of NEB Partners ³⁷

In countries like Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Italy, the network of NEB partner organisations has expanded more quickly than in other regions of Europe. Many Partners based in Belgium are European networks.

The NEB sees it as one of its important tasks to increase presence in regions and countries, including rural areas ³⁸ , where we see only little NEB Partner activity thus far. Having fewer Partners does not automatically mean less NEB activity. There are also Member States where NEB is very popular, but we only have a few partner organisations, like Estonia.

27. Countries of origin of NEB Partners (09/10/2022)

The NEB has not only created its own movement, but also inspired others to work together around the NEB values. For example, the European wood-based sector has launched Wood4Bauhaus ³⁹ , an open platform to reach out to the construction industry and all involved stakeholders. The recently founded European Fashion Alliance ⁴⁰ is another example of a cross-national initiative that took its inspiration from the NEB. During a two-day fashion summit in Germany in March 2022, NEB Partner Fashion Council Germany brought together the leading European fashion organisations to form a coalition of change for the future of European fashion with a focus on sustainability and creativity. 25 European fashion organisations joined the alliance with the aim of fostering a thriving, sustainable and inclusive European fashion ecosystem.

NEB Partners are effecting tangible transformations on the ground in more local settings, too. The Centre of Engineering and Development launched the NEBbyAYR movement ⁴¹ in the city of Matosinhos (Portugal). The Centre is involving the young generations in the early conception to the design, prototyping and deployment of innovative urban solutions, and won the 2021 NEB prize.

In Spain, the Galician Health Service uses the NEB narrative and their status of official NEB Partner to become a leader of a region-wide project that envisions the health sector as a driving force for cultural and social transformation based on sustainability. In France, the Unisson(s) movement ⁴² aims to set in motion a new interdisciplinary architectural current in the spirit of NEB with the aim to spark a collective desire to change practices towards a Low-Carbon and Organic Architecture. Several Dutch NEB Partners, together with Ukrainian designers in the Netherlands, have initiated a spatial design network for the rebuilding of Ukraine ⁴³ . The network focuses on capacity building, in the form of job matching for Ukrainians, lectures, conferences, meet-ups and studio visits.

6.2 Friends

Once the basis of the community was established, it became very clear, that the NEB would benefit from involving more actively also business and public authorities, namely in the regions and cities. Therefore, in spring 2022, a new permanent call was opened for Friends of the New European Bauhaus. Over 80 Friends have joined the network since then. In the community, Friends play vital roles. They can offer themselves as hosts or sponsors for NEB projects: they either finance or welcome projects in their city or region and help the projects with implementation.

The design collective Arup, for instance, has offered assistance to NEB Partner Concomitentes for work on a project on artistic and cultural practices focused on sustainability and citizen participation. Drees&Sommers, a major player in the real estate sector, launched the “Re-Building Europe” initiative that involves a large business community. In a series of workshops, a mix of corporates, investors, property companies, architects, engineers, municipalities and residents explore solutions that position Europe as leader and innovator in the fields of sustainability, digitisation and preparedness.

Friends also take initiative to gather and activate the local communities of stakeholders, for instance through breakfast meetings, such as those organised by Finnish NEB Friend Maptionnaire to create a platform for Finnish NEB stakeholders to exchange on practices of community engagement ⁴⁴ .

NEB has the ambition to generate tangible change on the ground and much of this change is happening in local and regional settings. Therefore, rural areas, cities and regions play a central role when it comes to making the NEB more accessible and involving citizens in the transformation process. Some of the public entities that joined the NEB Community as Friends include the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, project coordinator of the NEB of the Mountains NEB Lab project as well as the Hauts-de-France Region, implementing the European Urban Initiative (EUI) ⁴⁵ under Cohesion Policy. More regions and local public actors becoming Friends is crucial for the dissemination of local NEB projects across Europe and thriving local NEB communities.

The geographical spread of Friends is similar to that of Partners. Half of all Friends are based in four Member States (Germany, Spain, France and Italy). Many Friends are active in architecture, design and urban development. Diversifying the geographical spread of Friends and enlarging the community to include more entities at the local and regional level as well as those engaged with youth, inclusion, arts and culture is a challenge to tackle in the near future. The NEB will also develop formats for more active exchange and networking among the community members.

6.3High-level Roundtable

Since its conception and all the way through to the delivery phase, the initiative has strongly benefitted from the input of the 19 members of the high-level roundtable (HLRT) whose objective is to advance the initiative beyond the reach of EU policy instruments ⁴⁶ . Their diverse cultural and geographical pathways from Europe, Asia and Africa add valuable perspectives to the NEB. The Members fulfil diverse roles and tasks: as a group, they contributed with a report to the co-creation phase of the NEB and played also an important role in the drafting of the Communication on the New European Bauhaus of September 2021. They act as sounding board for the Commission President and the Commissioners to test ideas and move the initiative forward.

As individuals, the Members act as NEB Ambassadors in their countries and communities and participate in NEB activities and events such as the 2022 NEB Festival, with many members actively involved as speakers or in the organisation of side events. HLRT Members also participate actively in NEB Lab projects. More recently, they started to launch their own working groups within the NEB community. For example, Pia Maier Schriever develops the beauty aspect of the NEB further with a group of experts from different backgrounds.

High Level Roundtable Members with President Ursula von der Leyen, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Commissioner Elisa Ferreira. © European Union 2021

6.4 National Contact Points

With the objective to further connect and coordinate efforts at national level around the initiative, all Member States nominated NEB national contacts points (NCPs). The NCPs collect information on relevant developments on the national territory and participate in an EU wide informal network for exchange of information and experience. They are crucial to disseminate information about the NEB in the Member States.

Different types of entities were entrusted with this new role – from national innovation agencies and national centres for architecture to Ministries for Culture and Sports, Ministries for Environment and Energy and a Ministry of the Interior. This institutional diversity reflects well the transdisciplinary, trans-sectoral dimensions of the initiative and enriches the exchanges across the network. The NCPs meet regularly online and once under each Presidency in the respective Member State. After a first successful meeting in Paris, the next meeting will take place in Malmö under the Swedish Presidency in June 2023. The Swedish Presidency will also include a NEB event at the country’s largest policy event for culture “People and culture”. Under the Czech Presidency, a number of NEB events took place including two events in Brno.

NEB National Contact Points. © European Union 2021

7.The NEB Lab

The NEB Lab is the “think and do tank” of the initiative, to co-create, prototype and test the tools, solutions and policy actions that will facilitate the desired transformations on the ground.

NEB Lab projects are proposed and led either by the Commission or by consortia of different members of the NEB Community ⁴⁷ . Project partnerships need to combine a variety of disciplines, relevant competencies and need to include participants from different EU Member States. The projects are expected to initiate a change process and should also inform policymaking with their outcomes, offer open-source learning opportunities for NEB Community members and be able to be tested and replicated in different contexts.

The Lab is not directly providing funding but supports the maturing of the projects and facilitates the connections with potentially interested parties (Commission services, regional or local authorities, businesses, experts, etc.).

As of November 2022, the NEB Lab materialises in five Commission-led and three Community-led projects.

NEB Lab projects. © European Union 2022

7.1Commission-led projects

The Commission-led projects have been decided on the basis of the outcome of the co-creation phase. Funding, regulation, skills/education and labelling had been identified by the community as important enablers for the transformation of the built environment and for the implementation of NEB projects.

Among the Commission-led projects, this chapter focuses on three initiatives that have produced outputs already in 2022: the Labelling Strategy - a project for the development of tools to characterise and recognise the elements which make specific initiatives “NEB”, a project on Innovative Funding Solutions, and a project to help face the emergency situation in Ukraine ⁴⁸ . The project on Ukraine was added to the Lab after the start of the Russian aggression and expresses the readiness of the NEB community to support Ukraine.

The Labelling Strategy was developed to clarify the general criteria for selecting and evaluating NEB projects and initiatives ⁴⁹ . This labelling strategy is carried out in the framework of the Preparatory Action on the NEB Knowledge Management Platform of the European Parliament. The Labelling Strategy has two levels: first, the NEB Compass, a framework document that gives clearer definitions of the three NEB values and the NEB principles that can be used for projects from different sectors(); second, detailed criteria for specific groups of projects e.g. the built environment or textiles.

The New European Bauhaus Compass ⁵⁰ is published as an annex to this report. It defines the ambition levels for initiatives that are at the start of their project and provides a tangible, genuinely participatory and transdisciplinary guidance framework for decision-makers wishing to apply the philosophy of the NEB in their territory. The Compass takes into account not only the recent literature on each of the values and principles of the NEB, but also their use in other EU programmes, publications and commitments such as the Open Methods of Coordination (OMC) Report “Towards a shared culture of architecture: Investing in a high-quality living environment for everyone” ⁵¹ , the Davos Declaration, or the many pillars of the European Green Pact, notably the Renovation Wave. The definitions are complemented by examples, guiding principles, and assessment tools. The NEB Compass also aims to facilitate the development of public policies and financing initiatives related to NEB, both at EU level and in the Member States.

Based on the Compass, more specific evaluation frameworks will be developed in the next years. First, criteria for buildings and built environment will be developed that will take into account the three dimensions of the NEB: sustainability, beauty and inclusion. As a second step, our work will focus on the textiles sector. These NEB labels will be developed closely interlinked with existing frameworks like LEVELs or the sustainable textile label. First results should be delivered before the end of the current Commission mandate.

The year 2022 saw the completion of a first phase of the NEB Lab project Innovative Funding Solutions. The aim of this project is to financially support smaller beneficiaries in Europe that struggle to access the standard, often complex, channels of EU funding through EU calls and programmes. In 2023, a pilot labelled the NEB Funding Solutions Hub will be developed encompassing both philanthropy and crowd funding. The Hub would act as a one-stop-shop for both philanthropists and project promotors bringing greater efficiencies and focus to the sector.

After the Russian aggression, the NEB Lab project Actions for Ukraine has been developed. As part of an ecosystem of European programmes dedicated to helping Ukraine, the role of the NEB has first been to connect different ongoing initiatives, using once again the strength and collective intelligence of its network. Under the NEB Lab and in cooperation with Ukrainian Partners, the project was developed with three priority axes: housing emergency, circular housing, and capacity-building webinars.

As a first pilot action, HLRT members Shigeru Ban (Japan), Hubert Trammer (Poland) and Mária Beňačková Rišková (Slovakia) together with NEB Partners have implemented the www.archdaily.com/980533">‘Paper Partition System’ , a simple yet efficient solution to increase personal privacy in accommodation centres (e.g. public buildings or sports centres) that temporarily host people seeking shelter.

As a next step, the NEB Lab on Ukraine will continue with building capacity within local municipalities together with its stakeholders. The first expert assessments on the most pressing priorities to be addressed have shown that there is a demand for exchanging and adapting knowledge and expertise e.g. for sustainable reconstruction, energy efficiency, but also participatory processes and urban planning. In spring 2023, a series of webinars will be launched for municipalities in Ukraine on different aspects of reconstruction.

Next to the Commission-led projects, three NEB Lab projects are led by the NEB Community. In these projects, members of the NEB Community self-organise to achieve change in specific places or contexts.

7.2 Community-led projects

·NEB goes South ⁵² , a project initiated by six architecture schools in Southern Europe (Porto, Valencia, Toulouse, Bologna, Zagreb, Athens). The initiative is debating the specific problems and responses that Southern European regions face concerning the environmental and societal crises and inspires curriculum changes that can promote a new professional culture fostering a more sustainable built environment in line with the NEB values.

·The Nordic carbon neutral Bauhaus ⁵³ aims at unleashing the power of creativity than can help imagining what built environment and cities of the future will be. It is initiated by the governments of five Nordic countries (Denmark – and the autonomous region of the Faroe Islands, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and Norway). In November 2022, Estonia joined the Nordic Bauhaus.

·The New European Bauhaus of the mountains ⁵⁴ project aims at implementing NEB at the regional level, with a special focus on South Tyrol. The project is driving the transformation of places, public spaces and buildings in the mountains.

Additional projects initiated by the NEB Community will enter the NEB Lab in early 2023. The participation of entities from Member States that are, up to this point, underrepresented in the NEB Lab project is encouraged.

8. The New European Bauhaus Prizes 2021 and 2022

The NEB Prizes are a special way of supporting initiatives on the ground. They were created to recognize and celebrate existing achievements and support the younger generations to further develop emerging concepts and ideas. They give visibility to examples and concepts illustrating that beautiful, sustainable, inclusive places exist in our territories, our communities and in our practices, paving the way to the future.


The Rivers of Sofia © European Union 2022	The Blue Economy Happy School Skabrnja, Croatia © European Union 2022

The two editions of the NEB prizes in 2021 and 2022 (more than 3 000 applications received in total) are among the most visible and tangible aspects of the initiative so far ⁵⁵ . The NEB Prizes showcase projects and ideas aligned with the NEB principles and with an impact in local communities in regions across the EU, including in rural areas. The two NEB Prizes editions awarded a total of 38 winners with a combined monetary prize amount of EUR 795 000. Both editions awarded prizes for completed projects, NEB Awards, as well as for concepts and ideas by young talents aged 30 or less, New European Bauhaus Rising Stars. In 2022, the concept of the Prizes was aligned with the main thematic axes emerging from the NEB design phase as defined in the NEB Communication - Reconnecting with nature; Regaining a sense of belonging; Prioritising the places and people that need it the most; The need for long-term, life-cycle thinking in the industrial ecosystem. It also encouraged balanced geographical representation among prize winners. In 2022, one of the public vote winners was a project from Cyprus, an indication that NEB is progressively widening its outreach and public recognition to smaller Member States

For many finalists and winners of the Prizes, the award meant an encouragement for further action in line with the NEB values. An outstanding example is the “Bauhaus in Residence Vienna 2023 Programme” offered by Austrian NEB-Award winning team of 2022 (Gleis 21, einszueins architektur & Schwarzatal) to the 52 finalists of the 2022 NEB Prizes. During this programme, four finalists of the 2022 edition of the NEB Prizes will be invited to work on the topic “beautiful sustainable together” for one month in Vienna. Greek Odyssea Academy, who won a prize in 2022 for their project promoting professional integration of vulnerable groups of people are also planning to invite and host other NEB Prize winners in Greece.

One of the winning projects in 2021, the Spanish NEST project awarded in the category “Solutions for the co-evolution of built environment and nature” has subsequently also been selected for the start-ups accelerator of the EIT. This shows the beginning of a NEB funnel approach from ideas to business and from start-up ventures to growth at scale, building synergies with EU instruments.

Many of the beneficiaries of the first two rounds of NEB Prizes confirmed the positive and lasting effect the award had on their projects. They highlighted the benefits of being part of a community sharing the same values and the impetus the NEB Prizes and the related funding gave to their projects leading to first visible transformations on the ground. Above all, NEB Prize winners are pioneers setting an example that high-quality, sustainable and inclusive solutions are possible and inspiring many others to follow suit.

Commissioners Mariya Gabriel, Elisa Ferreira and finalists of the 2022 Prizes at the award ceremony in June 2022, which formed part of the NEB Festival. © European Union 2022

As the NEB initiative transforms our living environment and approach to doing things, the NEB Prizes adapt to reflect this transformation. The 2023 NEB Prizes edition will, for the first time, expand its geographical scope to include projects implemented in the Western Balkans in addition to the EU, in line with one of the long-term objectives of the NEB to start a global conversation, to work together and learn from each other in providing local solutions to global challenges. Moreover, in the European Year of Skills, next to established projects by “New European Bauhaus Champions” and outstanding ideas by “New European Bauhaus Rising Stars”, an additional strand for “New European Bauhaus Education Champions” will be devoted to initiatives focusing on education and learning ⁵⁶ . The competition will award a total of EUR 345 000 to 15 laureates in these three strands to help them further develop and promote their projects and concepts. The winners will be announced at an official ceremony hosted by the European Commission in June 2023.

9. Communication, public engagement, events

9.1 Communication and public engagement

The NEB calls for collective multi-level action and citizen participation in building a more beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive future. Since its launch, communication has been central to the initiative's efforts to encourage public engagement and involvement.

In 2022, communication actions around the NEB aimed to:

1.Raise awareness about the initiative and inspire people through storytelling by showcasing local examples of positive change ⁵⁷ .

2.Connect with professionals in relevant fields interested in joining the initiative's growing community.

28. 3.Share helpful content and information on getting project support through the available funding opportunities.

Throughout the year, key messages were spread to relevant actors, community members, and citizens through the press ⁵⁸ , digital media (website ⁵⁹ , newsletters, ⁶⁰ Instagram ⁶¹ ), and events ⁶² (face-to-face and online).

The 2022 NEB Prizes (January-July) and the NEB Festival (February-June) were the two most significant and most impactful campaigns launched by the initiative in 2022. Each of the campaigns were multi-channel and multilingual.

Among the year's highlights were the NEB Lab launch and the Community's expansion ⁶³ to include companies and public authorities in April. The reveal of the NEB-inspired international architectural contest's winner ⁶⁴ for a new building to house 400 researchers at the Commission's Joint Research Centre in Seville also attracted a lot of attention. Finally, announcements related to funding opportunities and the results of NEB calls generated high engagement throughout the year. Examples of that were the open calls to support citizens, cities, and towns ⁶⁵ in March, the lighthouse demonstrators ⁶⁶ in May, the sixty CrAFT cities ⁶⁷ in September, and the NEB UIA open call for innovative projects in cities ⁶⁸ in October.

9.2 NEB events

Over the past year, events organised by and for the NEB Community provided numerous occasions to exchange ideas, stimulate discussion on NEB topics and explore opportunities for future cooperation. NEB events can also provide visibility to the initiative for people who do not know it yet, showcase ongoing work and connect different fields and communities together. To the Commission’s knowledge, more than 120 NEB decentralised/independent events were organised between November 2021 and November 2022, many of them with a focus on sharing good practices between Community members, across borders and disciplines ⁶⁹ . Commission Representations in the Member States also organised NEB events, partnering with local and national stakeholders and organisations.

29. 9.2.1 New European Bauhaus Festival 2022

The first Festival of the New European Bauhaus (9-12 June 2022) was the biggest event for the NEB Community since the launch of the initiative and brought together over 200 000 people on- and offline in Brussels and in the Member States ⁷⁰ . The main goal of the Festival was to communicate, celebrate and discuss in a physical setting good practices that make our living spaces and daily experiences more beautiful, sustainable and inclusive. The event was designed around three main pillars: a FAIR (exhibition of NEB initiatives), a FEST (cultural programme), and a FORUM (discussions on NEB-related topics).

President Ursula von der Leyen officially opened the Festival from Rome, while Commissioners Mariya Gabriel and Elisa Ferreira engaged in Brussels with participants and closed the event at the award ceremony of the NEB Prizes 2022.

The Festival inauguration and the NEB Prize presentation, attracted over 2 000 attendees (in presence and online) alone. Overall, over 100 speakers and artists took the stage and about 200 000 individuals followed the many events and sessions.

The Festival proved to be an excellent opportunity to network, exchange and celebrate – from science to art, from design to politics, from architecture to technology. One outstanding example for the investment of the community was the launch of the European State Architect Network which was kicked-off at the Festival as the result of networking between four different state architects from Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Flemish Region of Belgium and two city architects from Brussels and Groningen ⁷¹ .

30. New topics were also put on the agenda, such as the dire situation in Ukraine. The NEB team organised a series of meetings with the Ukrainian NEB Community present at the Festival.

New European Bauhaus Festival © European Union 2022

Besides the direct exchanges in Brussels, another important part of the Festival were the more than 200 side events that took place all over Europe. Some attracted more than 1 000 participants, but there were also smaller ones with direct impact in the communities.

Some of the side events constituted small festivals in themselves. Organised by the World Human Forum, a Greek NEB Festival took place at the Ellinikon in the Athenian riviera, the largest urban redevelopment project in Europe. Under the theme “ECO-building the Future" the event brought together high-level policy makers as well as prominent international speakers from the fields of ecology, urban development, tourism, regenerative urban development and sustainability. Several thematic sessions presented new or innovative examples around the three core values of NEB: Beautiful, Sustainable, Together.

© World Human Forum 2022

Another side event on “The Culture of Transformation” taking place in Dessau, Germany, one of the sites of the historic Bauhaus, explored how cultural events can strengthen structural change ⁷² . The event focussed on the concrete example of the town of Zeitz, a town in a rural area close to Dessau which has undergone major economic and social changes after the Berlin wall came down and is facing new challenges due to the planned coal phase out.

During the NEB Festival, the Commission organised also a side event under the Intelligent Cities Challenge initiative (ICC) ⁷³ , which contributes to the goals of the NEB with creative solutions that bring circularity to local communities across 136 cities. Five ICC cities presented their initiatives at a session devoted to ‘Developing Circular and Sharing Economy Practices in Cities ⁷⁴ .’ The NEB Festival was yet another occasion for cities representatives to come together and collaborate in creating scalable and sustainable solutions.

The next NEB Festival is planned to take place in April 2024.

31. 9.2.2 Other NEB related events by the European Commission

NEB seeks to be mainstreamed across different EU policies. The initiative was therefore also prominently featured in several other events and conferences organised by the Commission:

·the first bigger occasion for the NEB Community to meet after the publication of the Communication was the LIFE in the New European Bauhaus event. The 3-day conference showcased exemplary projects financed through the LIFE and Horizon 2020 programmes, implemented in a NEB spirit and providing first examples of NEB in action. A further objective was to provide ideas for how future projects could implement NEB principles.

·the European Week of Regions and Cities (October 2021), focusing on the Commission Communication on the New European Bauhaus and on community engagement;

·the policy conference at EU Sustainable Energy Week (October 2021), focusing on the Communication on the New European Bauhaus and on community engagement;

·the workshop on “New European Bauhaus: collaboration, community and culture for innovation” at the R&I Days (September 2022);

·the workshops at the European Week of Regions and Cities (October 2022) on the role of regions and cities in the NEB, the first call for Innovative Actions under the European Urban Initiative and the NEB and Green Deal in our regions and cities;

·the Europeana initiative, empowering cultural heritage institutions in their digital transformation, featured ⁷⁵ the NEB in several blog posts, exhibitions and galleries;

·Commission Representations in the Member states organised events all over Europe, collaborating with local and national entities, for example the conference „Green Challenges in Spatial Practice“ organised by the European Commission Representation in Estonia together with the Estonian Association of Architects. In the spirit of New European Bauhaus, the conference in Tallinn explored how to plan and design cities, buildings and public space in sustainable and inclusive ways. The European Commission Representations in Austria and Czechia organised a high-level cross-border event in the Bauhaus Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czechia, to promote the NEB initiative, entitled “The New European Bauhaus: beauty, sustainability and cultural heritage through the prism of Villa Tugendhat”. The event featured a discussion between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, Czech MEP Martina Dlabajová, Czech Deputy Minister for Culture Vlastislav Ouroda and the Conservator-Restorer Ivo Hammer with politicians and officials from architecture, urban design, building and cultural sectors.

LIFE in the New European Bauhaus event © European Union 2021

32. 9.2.3 NEB related events outside Europe