Europe taps into its artistic legacy to push forward the Green Deal

All of this comes together in the New European Bauhaus initiative launched today

Today, 18 January, the newest grand-scale European Commission initiative was launched at a press conference. We are talking about the New European Bauhaus, which was declared as the continental “renovation wave” in the words of President Ursula von der Leyen back in September 2020 with the aim of giving style, substance and practicality to the Green Deal, which for many people perhaps remains something of an abstract concept.

More concretely, today saw the unveiling of the first phase of the initiative – the so-called design phase. It will last well into the summer, and its purpose is to gather all the relevant and interested stakeholders to come together, communicate, share experiences and brainstorm ideas. The main message of the Commission is to show that sustainability and circular economy do not only need scientists and engineers but also artists, designers, architects and people from the cultural sector, as well.

If climate neutrality is the main goal, why not also achieve it in style?

The officials in Brussels would like to see this new project as a one that would break boundaries and for which the main actors should be free to think outside of the established boxes. The boundaries in question are those between spheres that rarely get to overlap.

“With the New European Bauhaus our ambition is to develop an innovative framework to support, facilitate and accelerate the green transformation by combining sustainability and aesthetics. By being a bridge between the world of art and culture on one side and the world of science and technology on the other, we will make sure to involve society as a whole: our artists, our students, our architects, our engineers, our academia, our innovators. It will kick-off a systemic change,” stressed Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation and Research in her opening speech today.

The design phase aims to become a multi-lateral collaborative process where interested organizations can apply to become ‘Partners of the New European Bauhaus’ by pitching proposals about the future of the initiative on the new website dedicated to it.

In order to spread awareness, the officials have scheduled for the initiative to gradually gather momentum. In the following months, award prizes will be established for outstanding examples that integrate the values of the New European Bauhaus.

This will be followed in the autumn by the launch of the ‘delivery’ phase, which will see the implementation of five projects in various EU countries. Following that, the ‘dissemination’ phase will use these projects as inspiration for a multitude of subsequent projects to follow.