Session

As European cities advance toward climate neutrality, it is essential that the transition is not only sustainable but also attractive, inclusive, and rooted in local quality of life. The New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative, launched by the European Commission, seeks to intertwine sustainability, aesthetics, and social inclusion, providing a cultural and creative dimension to the European Green Deal. This session explores how NEB principles can be operationalized in urban transformation processes, with a particular focus on supporting practitioners and local governments in aligning projects with NEB values. The New European Bauhaus Self-Assessment Handbook (JRC139118) offers a structured methodology to evaluate projects across three dimensions - sustainability, beauty, and inclusiveness - at multiple spatial scales (building, neighbourhood, and urban). Through a hierarchy of indicators and key performance indicators, and an accompanying online tool, the handbook encourages continuous improvement, stakeholder dialogue, and shared learning across the project lifecycle. The session will address two central questions: (1) How can cities and project promoters leverage NEB principles to create more desirable, resilient, and inclusive living environments, while ensuring measurable progress across complex and context-dependent sustainability targets? (2) How can the NEB self-assessment process be made both feasible for practitioners, who often face time and resource constraints, and easy to scale and evaluate at the city level, without losing the richness and balance across sustainability, beauty, and inclusiveness? Connecting directly to SSPCR 2025’s thematic tracks on sustainable transitions, community resilience, and governance innovation, the session invites contributions that critically examine the application of NEB principles through practical examples, discuss the operational challenges of multi-dimensional project evaluation, and propose solutions to streamline the self-assessment process without oversimplifying it. Ultimately, the session seeks to encourage a shift where sustainability becomes an opportunity to enhance the beauty, accessibility, and social vibrancy of European urban spaces, making the transition not just necessary, but truly desirable for all.