Launch of Cross-KIC New European Bauhaus Call for Proposals in Citizen Engagement

The New European Bauhaus Initiative (NEB) is an environmental, social, and cultural initiative that complements the European Green Deal and combines aesthetic experience, sustainability, and inclusivity. For this Cross-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) NEB activity, EIT Urban Mobility will capitalise on existing citizen-centred engagement programmes aligned with the NEB mission.

The aim of this Cross-KIC NEB Call for Proposals is to work on activities where citizens and end-users are not only asked to identify relevant challenges of their city, but are also empowered to co-create potential solutions together in an ideation process.

The Cross-KIC group proposes to develop activities in cities and regional areas to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between people across Europe, and to create interdisciplinary projects addressing sustainability, quality of experience and inclusiveness. With this approach, some topics have been identified as Cross-KIC New European Bauhaus Challenges for this call:

Green transition through architectural, cultural, and historic sites

• Natural building materials and energy efficiency, including refurbishment of existing, historic buildings. (EIT Climate-KIC)
• Sustainable alternatives for hardscapes as urban spaces, naturalisation of degraded public areas, green areas, biodiversity, green and blue infrastructures, and urban furniture as assets promoting active mobility, improving citizen well-being, and mitigating heat island effects. (EIT Urban Mobility)
• Urban farming and regenerative agriculture to reduce emissions and foster the relationship between city and farmer. (EIT Food)

Towards circularity and urban resilience

• Enhancement of public realm, accessibility, and interconnection through active mobility modalities, to mitigate air pollution and improve physical and mental health. (EIT Urban Mobility)
• Circular economy through actions sticking to the principles of the food waste hierarchy and efficient reutilization of bio-products and bio waste, achieving emissions and waste reduction and fostering the second life of products. (Includes tech solutions on safe ‘clean packaging’, smart waste management system). (EIT Food)

Ensuring affordability and accessibility to all

• Energy communities to ensure comfort living at affordable prices through multi-disciplinary retrofitting teams. (EIT Climate-KIC)
• Universal mobility as a key enabler for social inclusion. Everyone should be able to move freely within cities regardless of gender, race, beliefs, or disability (barrier free access). (EIT Urban Mobility)

The Call aims to select one proposal for each of the above identified challenge areas, thus awarding seven projects in total. Each successful proposal will be awarded up to 15,000€. The KICs reserve the right to fund more than one proposal under a specific challenge when the number and/or quality of proposals received across the range of challenges do not meet the necessary criteria. Challenges are aimed to be holistic and cross-sectorial, however each challenge will be led by the KIC with the most relevant expertise as indicated in brackets above.

The Call for Proposals is open until 20 August 2021. For more details and how to submit a proposal see here.