ICONS brings co-creation to the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026

ICONS is organising the interactive co-creation workshop “Co-creating the Future of Living Heritage, Regenerative Materials and Inclusive Cities” at the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026 in Brussels. Featuring three Horizon Europe projects – EHHUR, TIMBERHAUS and INHERIT – the workshop explores how communities can shape more sustainable, inclusive and meaningful places.

The biennial Festival of the New European Bauhaus creates a place to understand people’s needs and aspirations and showcase projects that successfully reflect them. It aims to inspire communities to reimagine spaces and design better living environments.

ICONS joins this context with a workshop that reflects its long-standing connection with the New European Bauhaus vision. As an official partner of the initiative, selected by the European Commission, ICONS works to connect research, creativity and society through science communication, social innovation and engagement, in line with the NEB motto: “beautiful, sustainable, together.”

Co-creating better places to live

Sustainable transformation is not only a technical challenge. Creating better places to live also requires participation, local identity, social inclusion and a deeper connection with nature.
Through an Ikigai-inspired co-creation method, ICONS guides participants to reflect on what people care about, what communities need, what can realistically be implemented and what can be sustained over time.

The aim is to create a collaborative space where different perspectives meet and where participants imagine more human-centred approaches to the transformation of the built environment.

Three projects, three ways to bring NEB values to life

Each project contributes to the workshop by addressing a specific dimension of the New European Bauhaus vision and its core values: Prioritizing People, Reconnecting with Nature and Belonging.

• EHHUR focuses on people-centred urban regeneration through the NEB value of Prioritising People, exploring how neighbourhood transformation can become more participatory, socially inclusive and responsive to the real needs of communities, particularly vulnerable groups.
• TIMBERHAUS highlights regenerative and bio-based construction, through the value of Reconnecting with Nature, showing how sustainable materials and circular building approaches can help reconnect people, buildings and ecosystems.
• INHERIT explores living heritage and cultural identity through the value of Belonging, showing how they can strengthen people’s connection to places, supporting more community-centred and meaningful pathways for sustainable transformation.

The workshop will be facilitated by ICONS team members: Eva Martinez, Social Innovation Senior Officer, with the support of Lorenzo Cannella, Graphic and Web Design Officer, and Jasmin Jabbarpour, Project Management Officer.

Registration is open for in-person participation. Register now to join ICONS at the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026 and take part in the workshop in Brussels: https://new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/festival/latest-news/registration-opening-2026-edition-2026-04-20_en

 

Featured image by Aleksandre Lomadze from Pexels.