Innovative climate projects as part of the New European Bauhaus initiative

In the news

Jul 20, 2022

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has announced funding for 18 projects aimed at engaging citizens in solutions that transform our inhabited spaces as part of the EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiative. EIT Climate-KIC will work directly with six of these winners, who will receive funding as well as tailored support to address local challenges with local solutions in a sustainable and inclusive way.

In line with the mission and vision of the New European Bauhaus to build beautiful, sustainable experiences together, the EIT community supports the development of innovative and collaborative models of local initiatives that increase citizen engagement and involve communities in the design of sustainable public spaces that have a lasting impact on the challenges faced at the local level.

Selected teams work on challenging issues and with diverse communities, ranging from supporting refugees to integrate into communities through art, co-developing projects to transform urban spaces, or deepening the power of spaces. ports through citizen workshops. Each winner received between €15,000 and €45,000 to support the testing and scaling up of their project, bringing local solutions to local problems.

Natalia Vera, city councilor and project manager, EIT Climate-KIC: “We are delighted to support inspiring and diverse projects that exemplify the values ​​and principles of a European New Bauhaus future, namely inclusiveness, beauty and sustainability. Each initiative works on a unique way to encourage more climate-friendly habits, empower citizens to implement new solutions to local problems, and create sustainable practices that can transform cities and communities.

The six winners that the EIT Climate-KIC will support are:

Porto Think Tank (Portugal)

• This initiative will aim to transform the 24 Lavadouros (washhouses) across Porto from architectural artefacts, historically linked to women, consulting with local communities and understanding how washhouses can be transformed through sustainable means to be useful again.

Imagine Your City: Using Urban Co-Design and NEB Principles to Make Communities Stronger (Slovakia)

• This project will bring together local Kosice citizens and Ukrainian refugees living in Kosice to co-create specific sustainable interventions that will improve the area around the temporary refugee shelter. The project will aim to share a prototype of scalable solutions that not only solve current problems, but can be useful for future challenges due to the climate crisis.

CONNECT, Community for Timisoara (Romania)

• Working across Timisoara, this project will aim to integrate Ukrainian refugees, especially women, into the community by raising awareness of the role foreigners have played in the development of the city. This will be explored through gatherings that take an artistic and social lens, using sustainable materials to connect art to history and to create connections between communities.

Harbor Highlight Actions: reconnect citizens with the beauty of the river (France)

• Harbor will use summer workshops and learning explorations on the river to design and animate neighborhoods of shipyards, mixing art and innovation and exploring the common heritage of the Seine in Paris. The project will prioritize vulnerable communities, such as the young and the elderly, as well as connecting citizens directly to professionals and decision makers.

ASD-Public (Spain)

• Activating spaces with neurodiverse audiences (ASD audiences) will aim to explore nature-based solutions to improve play spaces for neurodivergent people, autistic children and their families. The project will pilot co-creation with the ASD community to understand how spaces can be modified to create a better overall multi-sensory experience for that community.

Adáma: community solidarity for a sustainable future (Greece)

• Help understand local Elusis issues through participatory methods and co-design them with sustainable solutions.

Nektarios Tavernarakis, Chairman of the EIT Governing Board, said: “In order to tackle the environmental and societal challenges facing Europe, we need solutions that reflect the diversity of voices within our communities. We need to engage citizens at the local level and co-create solutions that work. The initiatives awarded under this project each bring a unique approach to problem-solving with community members – demonstrating the true power of the new European Bauhaus at work.”

The projects were selected from more than 100 proposals that applied to two different programs launched by the EIT community: New European Bauhaus Civic Engagement Program aimed at identifying and co-creating community solutions with citizens, and New co-creation of European Bauhaus public spaces aimed at solving challenges and rethinking public spaces in cities, peri-urban and rural areas.

For more information on the full list of recipients, please see NEB recipient profiles.