WIREDGOV

Opening remarks by Commissioner Ferreira at the joint press conference with Commissioner Gabriel on the launch of the New European Bauhaus (18 January 2021).

"Check against delivery"

It is my pleasure to be here with Commissioner Gabriel

To launch the first phase of the New European Bauhaus. This is a unique opportunity to be the design masters, and shape the how, the where, and the way we live.

With a difficult year behind us, a year that so many spent locked at home, this will be an impetus to improve where and how we live, to start the process of building back better.

Like in the original Bauhaus movement, affordability and accessibility, together with functional, aesthetically pleasing public spaces and housing are crucial elements. Today, more than ever, another important element is sustainability.

The New European Bauhaus is therefore about translating these core principles – sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion – closer to people and into our every day life. From our private space, in our homes, to the public life, in our common spaces.

The inclusion part is particularly relevant here: we need to make sure that sustainability with style is not the privilege of a few but an opportunity for the many. Over time, the New European Bauhaus should be relevant for all regions and territories.

Clearly, cohesion policy is a natural partner of the New European Bauhaus. With its strong place-based focus, Cohesion provides a well-established framework for sustainable urban development and experimentation at local level.

What we want is to use this experience and contribute to implementing the best ideas that will emerge from the New Bauhaus design phase and the emerging European Bauhaus community.

In a way, it is very unusual for the Commission to launch an initiative and harvest ideas without a pre-defined blueprint. But this is precisely the point!

We want to think differently we want genuine creativity and co-creation. This is why we will be launching these awards to encourage innovative thinking.

When the ideas come-in and the challenges are better identified we will need to work across sectors and policies to translate them into concrete actions. We are therefore exploring how our tools could be mobilised to launch relatively quickly a first set of concrete actions.

What could those be? We would like to start with pilot projects – transformation projects in a specific place – a territory, a neighbourhood, in at least five different places across the EU. We would provide tailored technical assistance to local stakeholders to develop their ideas, concepts and transformative projects.

But we also need a strong multidisciplinary approach. In parallel to the place-based pilot projects, we are willing to support projects and thinking that identify solutions for the challenges to be addressed (accessibility, sustainability), through other instruments such as LIFE programme, and under Commissioner Gabriel, Horizon Europe, European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Technology. Under all of these, it would be possible to develop prototype projects to inspire the New Bauhaus movement.

This incubation phase would then be followed by a dissemination phase where, through our traditional instruments, we could support the spread of the successful examples.

To use the metaphor of the tree, we need to plant the seeds, take care of the emerging sprouts, and harvest the fruits. And, as in nature, the cycle repeats itself.  The Commission will have to think about itself as a gardener in a fertile ecosystem, helping the organic growth of a transformational project.

I am confident that we can mobilise the necessary resources to make this ambitious journey possible, from design to delivery and diffusion across the EU and beyond.

But for this we need your input and ideas! Do use the new website to contribute. Become partners of the New European Bauhaus. Stakeholder involvement from all walks of life is crucial for the success of this initiative.

This is why we will be establishing a high-level roundtable composed of 12 to 15 individuals, selected from various backgrounds and fields of expertise to exchange views across various areas (creativity, technology, urbanism, social dimensions) that may inform the New European Bauhaus initiative.

This is a new beginning, an exciting start. Can't wait for the inputs that will be coming. So stay tuned. More will come in the following months as the conversation develops. Make sure you are part of the discussion!