Bauhaus Briefing - Edition 1
Sent on 16 November 2021
Hello and welcome to the first edition of Bauhaus Briefing – a daily bitesize overview of happenings at the three-day Beautiful, sustainable, together: LIFE in the New European Bauhaus conference.
The first day’s theme was behavioural change, and below are the highlights:
European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius opened proceedings by highlighting relevant EU policies and strategies supporting the implementation of the New European Bauhaus. He added that the EU has earmarked €13 million in LIFE funding for upcoming New European Bauhaus projects.
‘The New European Bauhaus has the potential to make the Green Deal a cultural, positive and human-centred experience. It will help us to see, feel, and experience the impact of the green transformation. And it means quality of life, sustainability, inclusiveness, more circularity, and affordability,’ he said.
The Commission’s Deputy Director-General of Climate Action, Clara de la Torre, then explained how policies like the EU Climate Pact and the Fit for 55 package link to the conference’s three themes of behavioural change, urban transformation and nature-based solutions.
Speakers from several projects shared their approaches that have led to behavioural change. These include a project that saw residents imagining the cities of their dreams and another that revamped a basketball court to encourage young people to avoid a life of drug dealing and violence.
We also heard about innovative approaches to incentivising behavioural change. The importance of education and peer-to-peer engagement was deemed crucial. Providing clear information, creating a narrative, fostering group trust and managing collective emotions were also considered essential.
And we learned how to effectively monitor and measure behavioural change from a number of successful projects. These include MILE21-LIFE – a project that allows consumers to compare actual fuel consumption and emissions for a wide range of car models. We also heard from Horizon 2020 project PEAKapp that triggered lasting energy savings through behavioural change.
Finally, Angelo Salsi, CINEA Head of Department and Christian Strasser, CINEA Head of Unit, spoke about the synergies between the Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus. They also explained how the New European Bauhaus fits into the LIFE programme’s Calls for proposals.
Coming up today
The theme for today is urban transformation. Check out the programme here.
First up is European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, who will update on several New European Bauhaus Communication actions.
You will also find out how the New European Bauhaus relates to:
- Energy performance in buildings
- Circular economy
- Sustainable cities and districts
Don’t forget that you can watch all the sessions live here.
Stay tuned for another update tomorrow morning around the same time.
