Funding programme

The New European Bauhaus Initiative brings citizens, experts, businesses, and institutions together to reimagine sustainable living in Europe and beyond.

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Call overview

This call aims to foster the development and demonstration of innovative street furniture that enhances the functionality, inclusiveness, and sustainability of common public spaces in European neighbourhoods.

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Background

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) was launched in 2021, striving to translate the European Green Deal into tangible change on the ground. This policy and funding initiative was further strengthened in the political guidelines for the European Commission 2024-2029 under the goal Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model.

The political guidelines highlight that the NEB can bring sustainability together with inclusion and affordability, and creativity with innovation. Challenges like the housing crisis or the green transformation are addressed by putting people’s needs first, with the goal to improve their lives. The NEB also contributes to creating lead markets for the Clean Industrial Deal by considering embodied greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, the NEB fosters the development of innovative solutions in the built environment and beyond.

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Expected Outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Improved integration of public authorities (for compliance with regulations, strategies, etc.), social actors as well as the arts, especially cultural and creative sectors and industries (including local crafters and manufacturers), into the design and development of innovative street furniture.
• Better evidence on the uses of street furniture and the role of the co-creation in the design of street furniture informs procurement processes to improve quality of experience, safety, security, sustainability, resilience to the impact of climate change and inclusiveness in neighbourhoods through street furniture.

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Scope

Infrastructural decay, unequal access to essential public amenities (e.g., seating elements, facilities for people with disabilities such as ramps and lifts, etc.) and safety concerns (e.g., related to insufficient lighting or hazardous spatial conditions) represent just some of the challenges that especially older and poorer European neighbourhoods face.

The design of street furniture in neighbourhoods can have a positive impact on people's lives by enhancing comfort, safety, well-being, health, and accessibility. It can also foster social interaction, cohesion, a sense of belonging, cultural identity and community, respect for common spaces, etc.

Furthermore, the attention to aesthetic values in the design of street furniture can contribute to local economies by attracting new visitors (e.g. developing creative tourism) and supporting local businesses, cultural and creative sectors and industries, and social economy entities and enterprises.

More prototyping and demonstration are essential to speed up the integration of innovative street furniture, that offer more attractive, sustainable, and inclusive design solutions for common spaces, following the values and principles of the New European Bauhaus^[8].

Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

• Develop and demonstrate innovative designs for sets of street furniture which:
  • Contribute to a functional common space throughout the year that includes relevant features such as resilience to vandalism and weather, protection from the effects of climate change, consideration of local specificities (such as coastal areas), and low maintenance cost.
  • Improve the environmental performance of street furniture and, where relevant, integrate nature-based solutions^[4], and sustainable, secondary (bio-based), recycled or upcycled materials as well as a digital dimension.
  • Strengthen the aesthetic and cultural integrity of the history of the common space and the neighbourhoods.
  • Meet the needs of different population groups throughout time (through modular and adaptive designs, and considering age, gender, mobility, etc.) by improving comfort, safety, accessibility, social interaction and well-being.
• Apply participatory methods while co-designing and prototyping innovative street furniture.
• Based on the research insights, produce recommendations to inform procurement processes for street furniture.

To achieve this, project consortia may provide financial support to SMEs, education or research institutions, and other relevant actors (such as not-for profit entities) in the form of Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP). Given the type of action and its level of ambition, the amount to be granted to each third party may be a maximum of EUR 100 000 to allow for the prototyping and demonstration of the innovative designs.

Proposals are expected to follow a participatory and transdisciplinary approach through the integration of different actors (such as public authorities, local actors from the targeted neighbourhoods, civil society, actors from the cultural and creative sectors) and disciplines (such as architecture or design, arts and crafts, (civil) engineering, health).

This topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities^[1] (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Proposals are expected to dedicate at least 0.2% of their total budget to share their intermediate and final results and findings with the Coordination and Support Action 'New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact' (HORIZON-MISS-2024-NEB-01-03).

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Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• countries associated to Horizon Europe;
• low- and middle-income countries.

See specifics in the General Annexes document, page 9.

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Consortium composition

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

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Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 10.40 million.

Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties and can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 100 000 to allow for the prototyping and demonstration of the innovative designs.