The future is sustainable, attractive and inclusive

This week, European sustainability professionals gather in Brussels, at international satellite events and online for the 2024 Festival of the New European Bauhaus. It is an open and free 5-day event “where imagination meets sustainability and inclusivity for a beautiful future”, as the organisers state.

In the spirit of the New European Bauhaus initiative, festival attendees will have the chance to “experience the innovative power of Europe in building a common future that is not only visually stunning but also mindful of our collective well-being”.

The New European Bauhaus is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative that connects the European Green Deal to our living spaces and experiences. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who launched the initiative in her 2020 State of the Union address to the European Parliament, has explained the role of the New European Bauhaus like this: “If the European Green Deal has a soul, then it is the New European Bauhaus which has led to an explosion of creativity across our Union.”

Just like heavyweight Danish and Danish-Icelandic architects and designers Bjarke Ingels and Olafur Eliasson helped to shape the initiative from the get-go, many Danish stakeholders have embraced the new Bauhaus’ ideas of combining sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion since the initiative’s birth.

Denmark’s largest business organisation, Danish Industry, is a driving force in the New European Bauhaus “lighthouse demonstrator” project called DESIRE (Designing the Irresistible Circular Society) that unites various players around experiments in creating sustainable, attractive and inclusive urban spaces which respect the limited resources of the planet. DESIRE representatives are very active and visible at the New European Bauhaus Festival, including Gehl, Dark Matter Labs, NXT and more.

For a tangible understanding of what the New European Bauhaus looks like in the built environment, we encourage you to browse our (still growing) collection of New European Bauhaus cases compiled in collaboration with Danish Industry.

Let’s build a sustainable, attractive and inclusive future – together.