New European Bauhaus’ Post

Small is beautiful... The New European Bauhaus boost for small municipalities is open! With the support of the European Parliament, the European Commission is launching a special initiative to empower small municipalities by awarding 20 prizes.  The NEB boost to small municipalities aims to provide support to small players that want to develop projects that are inclusive, sustainable and beautiful by helping them to overcome early barriers. These prizes will not only highlight the outstanding potential of the projects but will also bring visibility and provide recognition to the small municipalities behind them.  In this section, you can find an overview of the main elements of this initiative. What is a small municipality? Municipalities either in rural settings or with a population below 20.000 inhabitants will be the target of these awards. Applications for this award are now open! You can apply from 14 January 2025 to 14 February 2025. Learn more about the upcoming edition below.

Our mission is to be a catalyst for education, research, innovation and transformation through the creation of a global destination that recognizes stewardship of the land as the cornerstone of an inspired community. 🌱 To learn more about our mission and guiding principles, visit our design guidelines: https://bit.ly/46AKReF How have you seen our state growing in these areas recently? Let us know in the comments.👇

The European Hub is a platform for Europe's civil society to unite, share ideas, events, resources, and find funding. These are all things that a currently shrinking civil society space needs to be able to boost its impact. Establishing the European Hub responded to this need, yet it remains a project under development. While the platform is still developing, your input is essential for shaping its future direction. Share your thoughts through our brief survey: https://buff.ly/4f5hPbF

📣 Learn more about the Urban Agenda for the EU and their Thematic Partnerships in this new video. The Call for new Thematic Partnerships open next week, stay tuned for more details!

This week, the 3rd ICLEI Brasil National Meeting took place in Belém, PA, where I had the pleasure of representing Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in the discussion on the role of local and regional governments. During the session, I highlighted the challenges we face in advancing the multi-level governance agenda for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. In the 90s, Brazilian cities innovated and influenced national policies, which evolved significantly during the institutionalization of the urban policies by the Ministry of Cities (Ministério das Cidades). Today, we have a strong ecosystem of urban financing at the federal level, inspired by these innovative models. The budget for the PAC, for example, has grown from 1 billion reais at the beginning of the Ministry to 625 billion currently, with an important framework of urban programs. It is important to note that this experience positively influenced the process of the NAU, and from this perspective, we have three paths of opportunities: 1. Strengthening local leadership through structured master plans, with consensus on a common vision for the territory and mechanisms for leveraging land-based financing; 2. Investing in institutions, strengthening  the Ministry of Cities and the  participatory governance model with the cities conferences and the National Council of Cities ; 3. Advancing knowledge exchange and associativism, leveraging the NUA and influencing public policy. I would like to thank ICLEI Brasil for the invitation and the opportunity to share this relevant discussion with Vanessa Grazziotin, yunus Arikan, Stephanie Horel, Luciana Cardoso, Edmilson Rodrigues, Rodrigo Perpétuo, and Minister Jader Barbalho Filho. Picture: Dinei Souza

Our EPIC Research Centre and Northumbria Urban Futures workshop on Innovation and Urban Dynamics on Friday was full of interesting findings, thought provoking discussions and new questions. With apologies for multiple posts, I will try to capture some of these insights in four parts. (This is part four). The panel discussion opened up innovation and urban dynamics in multiple axes. Firstly, with references to social innovation, Simin Davoudi questioned who innovations are for. Following on this theme, Louise Kempton emphasised the need for embedding university linked science districts in the local fabric. She argued that rather than shiny but locally irrelevant structures, they should offer accessible opportunities and become part of place-identities. John Shutt pointed out to the challenges of building such local connections through policy and planning initiatives, and called for further emphasis on knowledge and methods for inclusive place-based policies. Furthermore, through examples of inequalities in transport infrastructures, the panel and the audience touched upon deeper ontological issues related to urban agglomeration. We explored the elusive distinction between 'real' and 'socially constructed' by discusing to what extent agglomeration is real (due to proximity effects) versus socially and politically constructed (due to investment and branding).

Our EPIC Research Centre and Northumbria Urban Futures workshop on Innovation and Urban Dynamics on Friday was full of interesting findings, thought provoking discussions and new questions. With apologies for multiple posts, I will try to capture some of these insights in four parts. (This is part two). The second keynote speech was by James Evans. James addressed the ‘innovation gap’ in the EU’s approach to sustainable cities. This approach aimed to make European cities more sustainable while also increasing the competitiveness of the European economy. This one-big-stone-two-big-birds strategy depended on fast diffusion of innovative smart city solutions and fell short of delivering two birds impact. James underlines the importance of organisational learning and institutional change in such large scale, experimental urban projects. Hence, James’s work indicates a 'learning gap', rather than an 'innovation gap' in sustainability of European cities. His talk initiated a rich discussion on infrastructure, power and inequalities, as well as the following interdisciplinary reflection on the EU’s smart city initiative. Accordingly, the EU overlooked some of the most fundamental insights of diffusion of innovations literature – that diffusion is a slow process, and adoption of technology most often involves its adaptation.

20 Years of Grantmaking🔸🔹Flashback to 2014 when nearly $700,000 was granted to twenty-two projects and programs. The Arctic Design Initiative received $28,000 to develop courses, a design studio, student research positions, and host a symposium focused on Arctic research. ➡️ Now, the Arctic Design Group continues to conduct research in the Arctic, as well as host and participate in a multitude of events to engage in Arctic issues. 🔗 For more information about their work, visit https://lnkd.in/eWxDxJWD.

Check out our new paper in Energy Policy on how to overcome the Landlord-tenant dilemma! Congratulations to Christoph Domenig for his fantastic lead in this research work and to all the co-authors, Fabian Scheller, Russell McKenna, Philipp Andreas Gunkel, Marta Lopes, Jake Barnes and Julian Hermann! 🔍 Our analysis shows that collective-self consumption can create positive economic benefits for both landlords and tenants across large parts of the European multi-family building stock. However, for decarbonizing heating we find that split incentives between landlords and tenants remain intact and require country-specific support measures to be addressed effectively.

📅 Tomorrow will take place the 4th Meeting of the UfM Working Group on Affordable and Sustainable Housing in Barcelona, Spain. Across the region, housing construction is not keeping up with demand due to fragile supply chains, rising material costs, and a shortage of skilled labor. These challenges make it difficult to produce affordable housing and refurbish buildings to meet climate targets. The working group will evaluate progress on housing policies in each Member State, identify challenges, and set standards to advance concrete policies. 🔗 More info: https://lnkd.in/d64sskW4