The New European Bauhaus at the local and regional level

Contracting Party: The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) (under the Framework Contract No. CDR/2021/C3/1/SEDEC/LOT2/1)

Period: 2022-2023

URL: The New European Bauhaus at the local and regional level

Description:

On 15 September 2021, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) received a Communication from the European Commission on the “New European Bauhaus. Beautiful, Sustainable, Together” (NEB). Its objective was to introduce the NEB as an initiative enhancing sustainable innovation, technology, economy, and environmental transition through a participatory approach. Therefore, by involving people from different professions and backgrounds, the goal is to create a movement that expresses the EU’s ambition to create beautiful, sustainable and inclusive places, products and ways of living. In doing so, the NEB will create the space to explore and test policy, funding and other solutions to design and build a better life for all. 

Against this backdrop, cities and regions play a key role in designing, implementing and disseminating the NEB. As they have clear responsibilities for sustainable local and regional policies, they are responsible for large stocks of public spaces and buildings and play an important regulatory and funding role in their renovation and regeneration processes. Therefore, their participation in the NEB is fundamental, to make the initiative more accessible and comprehensive of members of the public in the transformation process on the ground. 

Based on the abovementioned, this study is centred around the very recent developments related to the NEB at local and regional level, which occurred after the launch of the NEB in September 2021.

Through informed objective evidence, this study is structured in four parts.

In Part 1, the NEB integration at the local and regional level is analysed. After explaining the main key transformation actions of local and regional authorities (LRAs) in the context of the NEB, the ongoing and scheduled projects involving the LRAs, thanks to the financial support of EU funds and programmes, are mapped and critically assessed.

Part 2 is focused on analysing the role of the LRAs in engaging communities and developing partnerships and cross-border cooperation in the NEB. A set of tools, initiatives and methods is therefore provided, to understand how the participatory approach ascribed to the NEB can be exploited at best for further cooperation, replicability and dissemination purposes.  

In Part 3, six case studies implementing the NEB through different funding programmes opportunities and intervention areas at local and regional level are described. They provide a better understanding of the ongoing NEB projects and a deep analysis of the role of LRAs in delivering them.

Finally, Part 4 is divided in two subsections. The first one proposes foresight considerations, to explore possible implementations of the NEB at local and regional level that can uptake it at best. Two scenarios are provided, in the framework of the current technological advancements, to best address policymakers in implementing strategies to satisfy NEB place-based policy actions in the future. The second part presents concrete recommendations to LRAs, Member States and the European Union regarding the implementation of the NEB.