From a playful floodplain in a Slovenian valley to a cultural campus reborn in the heart of Frankfurt, the 2025 Enhance NEB cohort proves that sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful transformation doesn’t have to wait for the future – it’s already happening, right where people live, grow, gather, and eat.
Enhance NEB scales up the most promising Connect NEB and Co-create NEB projects – either increasing their impact or piloting the methodology in a new location.
This year’s cohort brings together four diverse initiatives from across Europe that turn local challenges into opportunities for civic creativity, ecological care, and social connection. Let’s meet them:
Cultural Campus
Frankfurt, Germany This milestone in the transformation of Frankfurt’s former university campus activates the vacant Art Library as a civic lab for cultural exchange, shared resources, and community ownership. From co-working and concerts to solidarity kitchens, the project shows how city-making can be collaborative and inclusive.
Gdynia, Poland This project strengthens food system resilience by connecting local producers, improving plant-based knowledge, and empowering Food Knowledge Ambassadors. Rooted in community foresight and biodiversity education, FURKAN turns urban food into a shared responsibility.
Liepaja, Latvia Through restoration workshops, co-creation sessions, and community storytelling, this initiative helps residents reconnect with their surroundings and shape shared spaces with care. The project mixes heritage skills, participatory design, and local learning to strengthen both physical places and social ties.
Protect + Play Public Spaces
Žerjav, Slovenia A small former mining town reimagines its flood-prone public spaces as playful, safe, and inclusive areas—co-designed with residents to combine resilience and joy. This hands-on project by Prostorož brings experts and citizens together to build both immediate infrastructure and long-term strategies for healthier public spaces.
Through Enhance NEB, these initiatives receive financial support and tailored mentoring to turn innovative ideas into actionable change. Together, they show how the New European Bauhaus can inspire tangible transformation at the neighbourhood level where beauty meets utility, and inclusion drives innovation.
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