In a recording presented on 22 April 2021 at the opening of the conference introducing the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative, Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission – pointed to the following inspirations drawn from the original [Bauhaus]: an attempt to respond to changes brought on by industrialisation by designing functional, financially accessible and beautiful objects, the use of new materials and interdisciplinarity   ^1  1   Speech by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the opening of the Conference on the New European Bauhaus, europa.eu/new-european-bauhaus/co-design/conference_en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. The triad accompanying the new initiative (beautiful, sustainable, together) can therefore be understood as a variation on the characteristics of the achievements of pre-war modernism in the context of the development of modern metropolitan culture.

The NEB is not, at least not yet, a design school or a design research institute, but an open competition and a wide-ranging initiative to promote a change in approaches to design   ^2  2   New European Bauhaus website, europa.eu/new-european-bauhaus/index_pl, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. Announced at the end of 2020   ^3  3   Speech by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the State of the Union, 16 September 2020, state-of-the-union.ec.europa.eu/state-union-2020_en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎, with the first programme statements published at the beginning of 2021   ^4  4  New European Bauhaus: Commission launches design phase, press release of 18.01.2021, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/pl/ip_21_111, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎, the NEB is a part of the European Green Deal (EGD), the EU’s strategy to transform the economy towards climate neutrality, reduce negative environmental impacts and improve the situation of ecosystems   ^5  5   European Green Deal website, commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎.

 The EGD is the European Union’s response to the climate catastrophe and a tool for achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement   ^6  6   Information about the Paris Agreement, unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎ reflected in the European Climate Law, which calls for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 (in relation to the 1991 levels) and achieving zero emissions by 2050. At the same time, a number of regulations developed as part of the EGD are to serve the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that defines goals for the sustainable development of the economy, so that the largest possible part of the global population could benefit from the development of civilization   ^7  7   Information about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and detailed targets available in English, sdgs.un.org/2030agenda, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. Thus, in addition to environmental issues, some of the new EU legislation also takes into account social issues.

The triad characterising the NEB (beautiful, sustainable, together) succinctly combines the issues of sustainable economy with pro-community attitudes. The programme statements, in addition to “inclusivity” also refers to “accessibility” – both in economic and ergonomic terms – and thus  proposes taking into account the needs of the aging society and people with disabilities or with alternative motor and sensory abilities   ^8  8   Programme and information, new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/about/about-initiative_en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. In this context, “beauty” ceases to be a category denoting purely aesthetic pleasure, but – following ancient philosophers – acquires an ethical dimension, perhaps announcing the intensification of processes of adjusting the existing beauty canons and open up to new aesthetics, in which value will result from taking social and environmental issues into account.

The first promise

The reference to the legendary school does not come, as you might think, from the recently celebrated centenary of the establishment of Bauhaus, nor should it be explained by von der Leyen’s origins, as some have attempted. Neither is this international creative cluster a manifestation of national sentiments. Rather, it seems that bringing together talent from various parts of Europe and the world, as well as the subsequent global impact, could suggest an international subtext of the EU initiative   ^9  9   In the context of the centenary of the school, a research project on the global impact of the Bauhaus was conducted. Articles related to the project have been collected at http://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/, accessed 28 March 2023. The project was accompanied by a number of exhibitions, including: “bauhaus imaginista”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (15.03–10.06.2019) and the publication Bauhaus Imaginista. A School in the World, ed. M. von Osten, G. Watson, Thames & Hudson, London 2019.  ↩︎.

The Bauhaus, established at a time of economic crisis resulting from WWI and the obligations imposed by peace treaties, widespread shortages and the constitution of a new political entity, promised to introduce solutions fitting for a mass society of the industrial era into everyday life. Emphasising the political mission of the institution during his time as headmasters, Hannes Meyer wrote: “[…] the ultimate aim of all bauhaus [sic!] work is to bring together all the life forces our society a harmonious structure.”  ^10  10   H. Meyer, Bauhaus und Gesellschaft [Bauhaus and Society], “Bauhaus”, No. 1, 1929, p. 2, reprinted: bauhaus journal 1926–1931. facsimile edition. With commentary and English translation, Lars Müller Publishers, Zürich 2019, p. 64.  ↩︎

 Although the Bauhaus promised to increase the availability of products manufactured on an industrial scale, it provided – above all – artisanal luxury objects   ^11  11   Schuldenfrei, The Irreproducibility of the Bauhaus Object, [in:] Bauhaus Construct. Fashioning Identity, Discourse and Modernism, ed. J. Saletnik, R. Schuldenfrei, Routledge, New York 2009, pp. 37-60.  ↩︎. The housing developments in Dessau were probably the closest to the ideals of Bauhaus – thanks to the prefabrication method, they attempted to implement modernist ideals of improving the living conditions of city dwellers.

The Second Promise

Regardless of the intentions of EU politicians, yet another reference comes to mind. In history of art, the term “New Bauhaus” refers to the institution that László Moholy-Nagy attempted to establish after emigrating to the United States   ^12  12   A. Rejniak-Majewska, Bauhaus w Chicago. Międzynarodowy modernizm i amerykańskie strategie przekładu, [in:] Migracje modernizmu. Nowoczesność i uchodźcy, ed. T. Majewski, A. Rejniak-Majewska, W. Marzec, Narodowe Centrum Kultury, Warszawa, Łódzkie Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw “Topografie”, Łódź 2014, pp. 289-317.  ↩︎. Like many other figures associated with the Bauhaus, following the triumph of Nazism in Germany and the closure of his school, he tried to rebuild his life overseas. However, the NEB is rather associated with another institution in which both the Bauhaus alumnus Max Bill and Americans were involved, namely the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (the Ulm School of Design). It was created as part of an economic aid programme to promote democracy in the western occupation zones in the context of the Cold War, and simultaneously serve as a monument to anti-Nazi attitudes   ^13  13   The genesis of the Ulm school as a monument to the Scholl siblings, active in the anti-Nazi White Rose organisation, and the wider context of American initiatives during the occupation are discussed by René Spitz in: R. Spitz, HfG Ulm. The view behind the foreground. The political history of the Ulm School of Design (1953-1968), Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart, London 2002.  ↩︎.

There have been frequent references to the Bauhaus in the history of Ulm, but Tomás Maldonado, one of the school’s headmasters, most aptly pointed out its affinities by explaining that the Bauhaus was trying to “lay open a humanistic perspective of technical civilization, i.e. to regard the human environment as a ‘concrete field of design activity’   ^14  14   T. Maldonado, Ist das Bauhaus aktuell/Is the Bauhaus Relevant Today?, “Ulm. Journal of the Hochschule für Gestaltung’, No. 8/9/1963, p. 6.  ↩︎. The school in Ulm, through its strong associations with the post-war modern industry corporations (Braun and consumer electronics, Lufthansa and modern passenger transport), seemed to fit well into the Cold War economic order, promoting individual consumption and the budding importance of managerial and technical staff within employment structures. What is more, the inclusion of information theory, cybernetics, game theory, and systems theory strengthened the combination of modern technology and modern (timeless?) design as politically neutral and far removed from tensions of the Cold War period, despite the political declarations of some lecturers   ^15  15   P. Betts, The Authority of Everyday Objects. A Cultural History of West German Industrial Design, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles 2004, pp. 139-177.  ↩︎. The clash with political and financial reality and, paradoxically, not keeping up with technological changes, contributed to the demise of the school and its plans to educate the “democratic elites” were never fully achieved.

The political link between HfG Ulm and the NEB is particularly evident in the context of the pandemic and NextGenerationEU – the post-Covid plan to rebuild the EU economy. This is not, however, about politics understood in the context of “money for the rule of law” debate   ^16  16   The release of funds under the recovery fund has been made conditional on the implementation of defined reforms, which in the case of Poland and Hungary concerned, among others, strengthening the rule of law.  ↩︎ or aimed at short-term political benefits. The many comparisons between the 1950s and today result not only from the frequent comparisons between the EU investment plan and the Marshall Plan. The latter not only helped rebuild following post-war destruction, but also laid the foundations for a common economic area and future European integration. It also calmed the public mood and weakened communist influence by increasing employment and the availability of consumer goods (and through the activities of the CIA). Some critics point out that democracy and civil rights and freedoms have been confused with consumerism and the right to choose from a wide range of commercially available goods (products)   ^17  17   Ben Steil writes about the political history of the Marshall Plan in B. Steil, Marshall Plan. Dawn of the Cold War, Oxford University Press, 2018 The book also discusses the economic significance of the Marshall Plan for European economies.  ↩︎.

The Third Promise

The NEB has been officially designated as part of the Renovation Wave   ^18  18   Information about the Renovation Wave, energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/renovation-wave_en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎, an investment programme aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in construction   ^19  19   Buildings account for 40% of the EU’s energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions from energy. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A wave of renovations for Europe – greening buildings, creating jobs, improving the quality of life, 14 October 2020,  eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/PL/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0662&from=EN, accessed   28 March 2023.  ↩︎. However, despite the fact that in the context of the Renovation Wave there is talk of a just transition and the fight against energy poverty, it is difficult to find the basis for all such expectations towards the NEB that appear in the programme outline. It seems that architecture, as in the first Bauhaus, has become merely a pretext for redesigning the world. The NEB is an expression of the awareness that climate catastrophes require changing not only the economic model, but also our lifestyles.

These hopes echo the modernist beliefs in the possibility of shaping people’s attitudes and characters through the appropriate shaping of the environment. The appeal to all kinds of designers suggests that our entire life and actions must be reinvented, because the scale of imminent changes is comparable (although of course they will be much more powerful) with the emergence of modern urban culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. There are also overtones of the tragic outcomes of WWII and the prospect of nuclear annihilation at the times of the Cold War bipolar balance of power. Therefore, the open nature of the NEB, encouraging local experiments and sharing their results, as well as the programme’s vague framework are to provide the broadest possible overview of new solutions and attitudes that could encourage and accelerate the desired changes.

Unlike the Marshall Plan, the NEB seems to have a less defined political goal (or perhaps has too many). The very formula used, i.e. the open call for sharing ideas, as in the case of The Conference on the Future of Europe   ^20  20   Information on the conference on the future of Europe initiative, futureu.europa.eu/en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎,  seems to be an answer to voices addressing the democratic deficits in the political model of the European Union. A model known as co-design, reminiscent of participatory activities, allows everyone to engage, whether by submitting an idea or project or by voting. During the conference inaugurating this initiative, commissioners Mariya Gabriel and Elisa Ferreira pointed to the need for local government units to be involved in experimenting and inventing new solutions that could be linked with direct access to EU funds   ^21  21   Recording available on https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/conversations-on-the-new-european-bauhaus-21-04-23, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎.  Such suggestions can be read in the context of actions aimed at the weakening of national structures and increasing the political importance of local communities, echoing the idea of the Union of Regions – occasionally practiced against the national policies of EU states. In turn, the post-Covid reconstruction programme resembles the American New Deal, a large public investment programme used to fight against the consequences of the 1929 financial crisis. This crisis was one of the reasons for the Nazis coming to power in Germany and the closure of the Bauhaus. Using this analogy, it can be presumed that, by financing the post-Covid reconstruction, the EU is trying to prevent the radicalisation of sentiments and the enabling of right-wing populists (e.g. “money for the rule of law”). On the other hand, the financing of this idea led to the first-ever joint indebtedness of the members of the European Union through the issue of EU bonds, i.e. an idea that had previously been rejected (when southern European countries were struggling with the effects of the financial crisis of 2008) has now been implemented. This seemingly inconspicuous step means a change in the way the EU functions. To date, it was financed by contributions from member states. Now, the EU will have to introduce a new instrument, perhaps a common fiscal policy   ^22  22   In the context of the EU GD, there are repeated ideas of creating sources of the European Union’s own sources of funds, e.g. revenues from CBAM or the sale of emission allowances.  ↩︎, to repay liabilities from these bonds. Thus, the NEB can be seen as one of the lenses through which the problems of EU policy and the climate catastrophe converge.

Designing frames

As an official part of the Renovation Wave, the NEB will certainly provide the core visual layer of green transformation. First of all, it will find an expression in architecture, both new and old. Currently, 75% of existing buildings in the EU do not meet new energy efficiency requirements   ^23  23   Statement from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A wave of renovations…, op. cit., accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎.  The proposed regulations are meant to ensure the doubling of the pace of energy modernisation of buildings. What is more, the EC has proposed that three per cent of public buildings (schools, hospitals, offices, etc.) should be modernised each year   ^24  24   Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency, 14 July 2021, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021PC0558, p. 82,  accessed 28 March 2023. In accordance with the press release of the European Commission, this postulate was maintained during the legislative negotiations. Press release ” European Green Deal: EU agrees stronger rules to boost energy efficiency”, 1003.2023; ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_23_1581, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎.  It can be expected that these activities will not be limited to installing power generating technology (e.g. photovoltaic panels) or replacing windows with triple-glazing, but will also involve renovation work that will affect the appearance of the building, as in the work of Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, the winners of the Pritzker Architectural Prize, whom von der Leyen referred to in her speech at the inauguration of the NEB (mentioned above).

The NEB cannot be examined in isolation from other EU initiatives. Regulation 2020/852 on environmental taxonomy   ^25  25   Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment, amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32020R0852, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎ establishes a legal framework for the financial sector enabling the identification of economic activities that can have a significant positive impact on one of the six particular environmental objectives: climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, the transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention and control, and the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. At the time of writing this article, these regulations are only partially shaped   ^26  26   A delegated regulation on taxonomic reporting by entrepreneurs and provisions with technical qualification criteria for the first two environmental objectives were adopted. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178 of 6 July 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the content and presentation of information to be disclosed by undertakings subject to Articles 19a or 29a of Directive 2013/34/EU concerning environmentally sustainable economic activities, and specifying the methodology to comply with that disclosure obligation, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32021R2178, accessed 28 March 2023; and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation and for determining whether that economic activity causes no significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32021R2139, accessed 28 March 2023. The first draft legislation for the remaining four environmental objectives is expected to be published by mid 2023.  ↩︎, but we can assume that this taxonomy will be used as a criterion in public procurement or in the process of granting bank loans, so its impact on the environment may turn out to be quite significant.

The key elements of this taxonomy are the technical screening criteria, which will verify whether a given activity contributes substantially to environmental objectives and the criteria for do not significant harm meant to ensure that the achievement of one objective is not at the expense of others.

A separate catalogue of economic activities that can substantially contribute to a given objective is defined for each environmental objective. One such economic activity is construction and real estate activities. And so, if we take into account the implementation of the objective of climate change mitigation, then in order to consider the construction of a new building, the building has to be at least 10% more energy-efficient than required by regulations for nearly zero-energy building; water installations must not exceed a certain water flows; the design of the building supports using the building and its elements as part of the circular economy; and at least 70% of non-hazardous waste from the construction phase must be recovered, reused, or recycled   ^27  27   Point 7.1. Annex I Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation and for determining whether that economic activity causes no significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32021R2139, accessed 28 March 2023  ↩︎. As legislation related to the EGD develops, we may expect references to urban agriculture and horticulture, fauna protection, etc.   ^28  28   For example, as part of the legislative proposals on the protection of the natural environment and biodiversity, an obligation to ensure a net increase in green areas integrated with construction and infrastructure (such as green roofs, etc.) was proposed. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nature restoration, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022PC0304, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎ What is more, the possible introduction of regulations on social taxonomy may lead to the introduction of new elements that will affect the design process and its outcomes   ^29  29   The European Commission has commissioned work to develop a social taxonomy to complement environmental taxonomy in defining sustainable economic activities. After the publication of the final report of the Platform on Sustainable Finance, work on the social taxonomy was suspended. See: Platform on Sustainable Finance, Final Report on Socialm Taxonomy, February 2022’s draft report on a social taxonomy, 12.07.2021, https://finance.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-08/220228-sustainable-finance-platform-finance-report-social-taxonomy_en.pdf, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. 

 There may also be various minor regulations concerning, for example, the availability of products and services   ^30  30   Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on accessibility requirements for products and services: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎ stipulated by further requirements related to construction and its social contexts.

Designing environmental impacts, new behaviours, and business models

Designers working on services or objects will be particularly interested in the fourth environmental goal, i.e. the transition to a circular economy. The EC has indicated that up to 80% of the environmental impact of an object can be determined at the design stage   ^31  31   European Commission, “A new Circular Economy Action Plan”, 2020, ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/circular-economy/new_circular_economy_action_plan.pdf, p. 6, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. Hence the expectation that products will be designed to increase their durability, enable their repair and replacement of parts, including improving them by adding newer or more advanced elements. The use of materials and energy at every stage should be well-thought-out – from packaging and transport to use. What is more, the proportion of renewable materials of natural origin used in production should be increased   ^32  32   Ibid. On 30th March 30 2022, the European Commission, in the legislative package on the circular economy, proposed new regulation on ecodesign, which relates, among others, to the share of recycled content in the material, durability, repairability or energy efficiency. “Green Deal: New proposals to make sustainable products the norm and boost Europe’s resource independence”, press release of 30.03.2022, ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_2013, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. 

The European Commission makes it clear that using disposable or single-use items is to become a thing of the past. To a greater extent, the price of a product is to take into account the environmental cost of its production and usage. Increasing the durability of items will mean the need to provide spare parts or materials for repair and the propagation of particular skills   ^33  33   The European Commission has proposed a draft directive on common rules to promote repair of goods. Proposal of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules promoting the repair of goods and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394, Directives (EU) 2019/771 and (EU) 2020/1828; commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-03/COM_2023_155_1_EN_ACT_part1_v6.pdf, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎.

It seems, therefore, that there will be an attempt to reconcile the past with the future within the NEB. Old techniques of building and manufacturing objects and materials will be popularised; the scope of research on historical technologies and materials, lifestyles, and the use of ecosystems will be expanded; fragments of the natural environment will be restored, attempts will be made to eliminate the results and traces of human activity. On the other hand, scientific research on new materials (especially those of biological origin), energy sources and the reversal of the effects of human activity will be accelerated. In a short period of time, technological progress can radically transform reality. The proposed EU ban on the registration of new cars with combustion engines from 2035 will lead to the gradual replacement of cars and trucks with combustion engines by vehicles running on electric, hydrogen or other fuels that may be invented or distributed by then. This, in turn, will affect the way cars are used, but also the entire infrastructure associated with them – from refineries, through transmission networks, petrol fuel or charging stations, to parking lots. If the efforts to create an energy generator based on nuclear fusion are successful (estimated for the 2030s), this would not only change the structure of energy-generating sources and transmission networks, but perhaps also popularise more energy-demanding devices and allow for a wider use of energy-intensive production technologies, enabling the popularisation of new materials.

All these transformations will take place between two opposing models: distributed and central. For example, the expansion of energetics is currently moving towards the generation of energy from distributed, renewable sources and its local storage, as opposed to transmission in the general grid. The introduction of fusion reactors may contribute to the re-centralisation of the energy system. The same could apply, for example, to furniture. A centrally managed network of repair, improvement, or replacement of elements organised by the manufacturer may be created, but it is also possible to design a completely distributed system of individual repair and design workshops and fab labs with 3D printers enabling any kind of reconfiguration and/or enhancement of furniture.

This approach can also be translated into business or political-social models. At some point, local experiments may be propagated as favoured models. In addition to the sale of furniture, there may be a parallel “furniture-as-a-service” system, in which furniture will be temporarily rented for a fee, or perhaps some other subscription system of use, supplemented by cooperatives, rentals or swap-shops offering household appliances.

From cybernetics to quantum computing

The development of digital technologies may accelerate the dynamics of these processes. In addition to the EU Green Deal, the European Union is promoting a new digital strategy that is expected to receive a share of at least 20% of funds from NextGenerationEU. Universal authorisation, authentication and data processing based on blockchain will further tighten the circulation of materials in the economy, and will also make it difficult to fabricate information about their origin or composition. Increasing computing power with quantum computers will enable much more complex modelling. The distribution of open data, including data of private entities   ^34  34   Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data (Data Act), eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0068, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎, will affect the design process, for example, through additional possibilities of modelling user behaviour or analysing the behaviour of materials (both individually and centrally). The Internet of Things, combined with 6G technology, will reduce human involvement in device-to-device interaction. What is more, removing humans from driving/piloting vehicles such as ships, trucks, trains and drones will further influence design. It will not be necessary to guarantee human access to new objects, devices, vehicles or installations – instead, the needs of maintenance drones or other robots will have to be taken into account.

Gradually, the development of IT technologies will need to consider environmental consequences, such as the amounts of energy consumed by processors, data centres and server rooms, as well as mining for minerals and recycling. An interesting solution will be the introduction of biological material for data storage or other parts of the data processing and storage. This will also affect the design and use of buildings and objects, as well as entire ecosystems.

Escaping the 1960s

It may seem that we have seen it all before and that the NEB is just another version of a “return to the 1960s”. Anti-consumerism, the birth of ecology, the rejection of capitalism, new computer technologies, metabolism   ^35  35   A trend initiated in 1960 in Tokyo, bringing together designers, architects, and academics associated with Kenzo Tange, including Masato Otaka, Kiyonori Kikutake, Noboru Kawazoe, Fumihiko Maki, Kisho Kurokawa and Kenji Ekuan. The publication Metabolism in Architecture, proposed fusing ideas about architectural megastructures with those of organic biological growth  ↩︎, plug-in, do-it-yourself, architecture without architects, self-sufficient communes, second-hand clothing, etc. – many of these ideas are certainly becoming increasingly relevant today again. During that period, some reflections and ideas resulted from the atrocities of WWII, and some reacted to the partially imagined Cold War fears and the consequences of many local “economic miracles.” For example, Kiyonori Kikutake’s design of the reconstruction of Tokyo’s Koto district, which was supposed to prepare the area for the effects of floods and tsunamis, could also serve as a system of dams that would limit losses in the event of armed conflict   ^36  36   During WWII bombardments of Tokyo, the fire consumed most of the city without major obstacles.  ↩︎.  In turn, the neutral frame or platform for all the solutions proposed by Archigram in the Plug-in City projects (Peter Cook), Yona Friedman in Ville Spatiale, Kenzo Tange in the project for Tokyo Bay or Oskar Hansen in the concretisation of the Continuous Linear System for the Western Belt (Lubin and the surrounding area), can be analysed in terms of the democratisation of planning and design decisions, more flexible architectural solutions as well as free market choices.

Rayner Banham’s focus on infrastructure – postulated and later expressed in the capitalist model in the Archigram’s Logplug and Rokplug projects or the off-capitalist fantasy of Superstudio in the Supersurface – proposed a shift from architecture and home furnishings towards installations guaranteeing the possibility of “plugging in” to meet the fundamental need for heating, food and information exchange. To this, we could add various elements of participation – from Giancarlo De Carlo’s idea of participation in the design process, the possibility of altering architectural elements via computer-operated feedback loop system in Cedrik Price’s Fun Palace, to the possibility of reconfiguring the entire functional system at the regional level in his Potteries Thinkbelt, based on more or less up-to-date data, as well as Christopher Alexander’s proposal to replace the design process with the results of computer work. What is more, the issue of the Greater Number, i.e. a rapid population growth, combined with post-war reconstruction, contributed to the revision of modernist planning (as in the idea of “habitat” by the late CIAM and Team 10) and plans to limit the areas intended for development. In turn, countercultural and later anti-consumerism movements explored the idea of constructing architecture from recycled materials (such as the US Drop City), community food production, such as the British City Farm, or creating a catalogue of approaches, technologies and tools as part of the “Whole Earth Catalog,” helping to find one’s place in the present and the near future. Such innovations were publicly endorsed, for example, in the PREVI experimental housing programme in Lima, where the architectural neo-avant-garde (including van Eyck, Stirling, Alexander, Hansen, Kikutake, Kurokawa and Maki) was to create the nucleus of a district that would later be expanded by residents according to their needs, tastes and abilities   ^37  37   P. Land, The Experimental Housing Project (PREVI), Lima – Design and Technology in a New Neighborhood, University of Los Andes, Bogota 2015.  ↩︎. An extended decade of experimentation ended with the energy crisis of 1973, highlighting the tenuous character of many initiatives   ^38  38   In the context of analogies between contemporary initiatives and the belated end of the 1960s, it is impossible to avoid associations with the energy crisis caused in Europe by Russia launching a war on Ukraine in 2022.  ↩︎.

The selection of the various approaches and practices presented above illustrates the wealth of examples that can help us think about the new challenges currently faced by humanity. At the same time, we should, like Maldonado in his text on the Bauhaus, pay attention to the changing circumstances. In the past, the inclusion and use of computer techniques was limited due to cost and necessary skills. Many past experiments could not rely on the support of public institutions. What is more, the three-decades-long post-war prosperity in parts of Western Europe and North America did not necessitate the reasonable management of resources and the post-war fascination with modern materials (all kinds of plastics) and individual car transport seems incompatible with the current agenda. Other differences can of course be identified, but for the purposes of this article it is sufficient to reiterate the warning against merely repeating the positions and ideas of the 1960s.

The future of NEB

The initial steps have been clearly defined. In mid-2021, the stage of co-designing the NEB was completed, as a result of which three principles were formulated: combination of global and local dimension, participation and transdisciplinarity   ^39  39   The European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. New European Bauhaus. Beautiful, Sustainable, Together, 15.09.2021, p. 5.  ↩︎. They can be treated as supplementing the first triad of values with organizational and process demands. The foundations outlined in this way were used to launch the NEB Lab in April 2022, i.e. a platform that is to support the community of official NEB partners and carry out expert activities designated by the European Commission   ^40  40   The NEB subpage about NEB Lab https://new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/about/neb-lab_en, accessed 28 March 2023.  ↩︎. At the same time, activities aimed at popularizing the idea of NEB were carried out, in particular, an annual prize was established, and linking the NEB with other EU initiatives and sources of funding, mainly within Horizon Europe   ^41  41   Schedule of activities and initiatives available on new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/about/about-initiative_en, accessed 28 March 2023 ↩︎. Despite the passage of several years from the beginning, it is difficult to draw conclusions on directions of development of the initiative. Perhaps the NEB will be institutionalised into a network of partnerships or a single organisation. Maybe it will remain to serve as an open catalogue of ideas, complemented by commissioned solutions. Perhaps it will be partially included in the principles of civil society participation in the activities of local government units. Regardless of the nature of further actions, the main purpose of the NEB has already been partially fulfilled – the European society has been informed that the European Green Deal and the fight against the effects of the climate catastrophe will require imagination, innovative solutions and a change of attitudes. All European citizens will, to some extent, take part in designing a common future.

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