Beautiful. Sustainable. Together. These are the words used to describe the New European Bauhaus (NEB), a creative initiative that connects the European Green Deal to our living spaces and experiences. NEB aims to bridge the worlds of art, culture and education with science and technology.
The EU-funded NEB-STAR project is one of the now six EU funded lighthouse projects across Europe. The project will demonstrate how Territorial Transformation Plans can be operationalised with NEB principles to accelerate the journey towards climate neutrality. The success of the project will depend on the ability of local partners to involve all citizens, particularly vulnerable groups.
Project manager in the municipality of Stavanger, Kristin Kverneland, emphasize the importance of dialogue and community engagement in the process:
─ Urban development and planning plays a pivotal role within economics and politics and is often subject to debate. Discussions and sharing of opinions are crucial assets in a society and we embrace such engagement, also as a necessary quality as we commence the green transition.
Twinning is winning
Stavanger, a first-generation NEB Lighthouse, will cooperate with twinning cities Prague (CZ) and Utrecht (NL) to provide experimentation, demonstration, insight, and guidance on NEB principles in urban transitions.
A total of 16 partners from Norway, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands are involved in the project.NEB-STAR will use two complementary testbeds in Stavanger:
Pedersgata: a mature urban neighborhood in the Storhaug district, with great commitment and ownership among the local population and local initiatives, where local solutions can be tested and scaled up. Pedersgata is highly diverse in terms of the built environment and facilities, with traditional wooden houses and high-rise buildings, second-hand shops, and a myriad of restaurants with and without Michelin stars.
Site 4016: A commercial transformation area in the Åsen district, with a forward-looking business cluster that wants to take the lead in the development of long-term life cycle way of thinking for the building sector.
The three-year project started in September 2022 and will deliver a detailed roadmap for the full-scale implementation of Stavanger’s territorial transformation plan.
