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 generate evidence-based strategies that harness cultural participation to strengthen the social fabric, enhance civic engagement, and support inclusive green transitions 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:

• Better evidence is made available to public authorities and not-for-profit organisations of the conditions under which cultural participation may reinforce the social fabric and civic engagement in neighbourhoods and contribute to the green transition in neighbourhoods.
• Improved understanding of the role of cultural and creative sectors in contributing to participatory decision-making processes, community engagement strategies and activities for the green transition in neighbourhoods.
• Improved methods and strategies to increase neighbourhood inhabitants’ sense of belonging as well as their collective engagement and ownership (and that of other stakeholders) in the green transition of neighbourhoods.

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Scope

Social connections and cultural participation are core features of individual well-being. Evidence shows a strong association between participation in cultural activities and civic behaviour (such as voting and volunteering), empathy, tolerance, security and social cohesion^[2]. Conversely, low interpersonal trust, heightened risk-taking, and disengaged civic attitudes are correlated with an increased sense of loneliness – the lack of meaningful social interactions. Cultural organisations and artistic practices with a social purpose or dimension can help to better connect people, strengthen social fabric, and overcome social boundaries.

This topic aims to study the interplay between cultural participation, social connections and civic engagement. The resulting insights can be used to foster and maintain the social fabric of neighbourhoods and support their green transition while addressing other challenges such as the decline in social connections.

Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

• Study the conditions under which cultural participation may reinforce the social fabric and civic engagement in neighbourhoods and contribute to the green transition:
  • Review existing evidence and collect relevant data in a systematic, comparable way (at least in relation to some territories or dimensions) and identifying trends, gaps and correlations.
  • Explore the wider benefits of cultural participation for individuals and communities (including those feeling left behind, all risk groups vulnerable and/or marginalised, etc.). Where possible, establish correlations, causal links, detailed descriptions, etc., depending on the proposed methodology.
  • Provide a comprehensive analysis of relevant variables, such as socio-demographic characteristics, context-specific aspects, the presence (or absence) of meeting spaces / social infrastructure, digital literacy, local innovation capacity, polarisation, wellbeing and mental health, safety and crime, loneliness, etc.
• Propose at least three methods or strategies to foster and maintain the social fabric of neighbourhoods and support their green transition. These strategies, approaches or methodologies have to be guided by evidence. They are demonstrated and monitored in at least three neighbourhoods in different Member States or Associated Countries to analyse their effectiveness and their potential for sustained effects in time, in particular as regards community and civic engagement (in particular of the most marginalised and underrepresented).
• Based on the research evidence, propose recommendations for public authorities and not-for-profit organisations on how to facilitate cultural participation, including the skills, competencies and partnerships needed for their implementation.

Proposals are expected to follow a participatory and transdisciplinary approach^[6] through the integration of different actors (such as public authorities, local actors from the targeted neighbourhoods, civil society, private owners, cultural operators, etc.) and disciplines.

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 9.00 million.