New European Bauhaus starts taking roots in Spain

An event to present the new initiative took place in the capital Madrid

On 2 July, the Spanish Ministry of Transport and Mobility organized a conference in order to present the New European Bauhaus movement. It was meant as a platform to show how NEB is relevant and beneficial to the country and what local actors are already taking part in it. The event, which aimed to widen the NEB appeal and broadcast its core values, took place in the Casa del Lector at the Matadero Madrid Contemporary Creation Centre.

NEB’s pillar values and the Mediterranean lifestyle

The conference featured presentations by various high officials and representatives, among them José Luis Ábalos, the national Minister of Transport, who as the symbolic host, reminded the attendees that the Spanish Housing Rehabilitation and Urban Regeneration Programme is the second largest in the country’s Recovery Plan that was submitted to the Next Generation EU Fund.

Most of its 6.8 billion euros will be allocated to improving energy efficiency. It will contribute to producing a massive acceleratory change in the current rate of renovation of buildings, in the words of the Transport Minister.

The event was also attended by Marcos Ros, a Spanish Member of the European Parliament, whose task is to popularize the NEB initiative in his native country. His presence there was also very much underscored by the fact that he is the founder of the New European Bauhaus Friendship Group at the EU Parliament, which itself has the aim to promote the initiative among all political parties represented in the high-level institution.

Partners from all corners of Spain

The forum also had territorial representation from regions and cities of the country that are involved in the initiative. One of them is Barcelona, ​​the city that houses the Mies van der Rohe Foundation. Its president, Ana Ramos, took the opportunity to showcase the projects that are being carried out in the Catalonian capital, such as the project for safe schools, urban gardens or green roofs for buildings. 

Seville has also had its prominence with the attendance of its mayor, Juan Espadas, who indicated that the city had to turn its heritage into a hallmark and that rehabilitation projects are now being carried out to create spaces for cultural innovation that function as workshops.

Another territory was the Region of Extremadura, which, together with Portugal, presented a project that they claimed is consistent with the principles of the New Bauhaus. Eulalia Moreno, general director of urban planning and territorial planning of Extremadura, ensured that the towns in rural environments are already ‘fifteen-minute cities’, as such.

Moreno emphasized that this project views cities and towns as the neighbourhoods of a region. She added that urbanism ought to think about how to create a quality of life for residents rather than think only in technical terms, surface sizes or geographical locations.

The panel also had the representation of the Huesca art and nature centre, which was recently accepted as one of the partners of the New European Bauhaus, and the general directorate of ecological innovation in construction of the Valencian regional government.