By Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy
Across Europe, the places we call home are changing. People struggle to find housing they can afford. The consequences of climate change impact our daily lives. New technologies reshape how we live, work and learn. In moments like these, it is natural for people to ask: Will my neighbourhood still feel like home tomorrow? Will my children or grandchildren have a place where they feel safe?
These questions lie at the heart of the New European Bauhaus. This initiative was created to help people, communities and businesses design a future they can identify with: sustainable, inclusive and rooted in quality of life. What began as an idea five years ago has become a movement, with nearly 2,000 organisations and more than 700 projects across Europe and beyond, all driven by people who show that change can be something we shape together.
Across Europe, the imagination of citizens and innovative businesses is already building the future of our cities. In Luxembourg, construction debris becomes 3D-printed bricks for new buildings. In Spain, young female entrepreneurs turn orange peel into sustainable packagingmaterial. In Germany, students came together to co-design and build their home from sketch to the final nail with sustainable materials. And in Greece, a project is repurposing a 1955 mountain school to teach traditional restoration techniques.
These projects show the creativity already at work across Europe. And together, they show something important: Europe does not lack innovations. Now it is time to build on thosefoundations and move to a bigger scale. We have proposed to expand the New European Bauhaus as part of the Commission’s strategy on affordable housing. The ambition is simple: help these ideas travel further, scale up faster and reach the communities that need them most.
We want the New European Bauhaus movement to grow and focus on three priorities:strengthen sustainability, circularity and innovation in the places we build, renovate and repurpose. We will expand the existing toolbox to scale up, especially where the need for affordable and sustainable homes is the greatest and to adapt the space we live in to climate change. For example, we have to rethink and redesign urban infrastructure as extreme weather events increase. From snow storms, to floodings but also droughts as weather patterns drastically change. We have to adapt the way we live, including our future homes so that we reinforce the resilience of our neighbourhoods and communities across Europe.