Call for expressions of interest for Satellite Events
The Festival of the New European Bauhaus, 9-13 June 2026
In June 2026, the European Commission organises the third edition of the and you can be part of it! New European Bauhaus Festival The NEB Festival 2026 will among other topics address the transformative power of democratic engagement in shaping more inclusive and sustainable communities. It will highlight how empowered citizens, and local authorities can play an active role in creating their environments, with a particular emphasis on affordable housing as a cornerstone of democratic participation. In line with the NEB’s core vision, the Festival will be a space to reimagine our built environment placing first life, then spaces, and only then buildings. We offer you an online space, where your event or project can shine. This includes key information about your event, such as dates, location, names of organisers, agenda, and links to your event website and social media channels. You will also have the opportunity to be featured on our interactive map, gaining exposure and connection to a wider audience. Additionally, selected events and projects may have the chance for live streaming or recorded sessions on our central platform, allowing for even greater reach and engagement.
Event title
NEB goes South: the BIP ONAC Cycle in Zagreb – learning from territories and democratising pedagogies in times of a climate context
Description of the event
The Zagreb event in June 2026 is a pivotal moment for ONAC (the National Observatory of Climate Change), an experimental educational programme that explores the connections between architecture, territory, and democratic engagement across Southern Europe. Rather than merely using climate change as a thematic focus, ONAC uses it as a testing ground for alternative pedagogical models that engage directly with real social, environmental and spatial conditions. The event is part of the inaugural BIP ONAC cycle, which is an expanded interpretation of the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme. Rather than being a single, isolated activity, it operates as a continuous, transnational learning process.
This cycle comprises field-based workshops in Manteigas (Portugal) and Catarroja (Spain), followed by a public exhibition in Toulouse in February 2026. Together, these activities explore how design education can address territorial vulnerability, environmental risk, and social inequality through collective, place-based learning. Hosted by the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Zagreb — a founding member of the NEB Goes South (NEBgS) network — the Zagreb event will consolidate the outcomes of this first cycle, while also opening the platform up for future iterations. The event brings together students, educators, researchers, local stakeholders, and members of the New European Bauhaus community to reflect on the pedagogical models, methodologies, and design strategies that have been developed throughout the programme.
A key moment in the event’s programme is the public launch of the BIP ONAC publication, which combines student work with critical essays by teachers and researchers who form the Scientific Support Group (SSG). The publication demonstrates how design education can function as a democratic tool by making knowledge transparent, collective and accountable in response to real territorial challenges, particularly in regions facing environmental stress and limited resources.
As a satellite event of the NEB Festival FAIR, the Zagreb meeting establishes a live connection with Brussels and situates educational production within a shared European framework. By highlighting learning processes developed in vulnerable and often peripheral regions, the event promotes broader European discussions on inclusive spatial futures, affordable and context-sensitive design, and the role of education in creating fairer and more resilient environments. Rather than marking the end of something, Zagreb acts as a hinge, consolidating an experimental pedagogical cycle while opening opportunities for long-term collaboration, network expansion, and democratic engagement across Europe.
What activities/programme do you plan for your event?
The Zagreb satellite event is all about inclusivity, with a blend of exhibition, dialogue and collective reflection, in line with the NEB Festival’s focus on gathering and sharing knowledge.
Exhibition installation: A spatial installation at the Faculty of Architecture showcases drawings, models, field notes and visual documentation from the Manteigas and Catarroja workshops. The materials are arranged to encourage slow viewing, open access and spontaneous conversation.
Book launch and presentation: The ONAC publication, which brings together student work, territorial manifestos and SSG texts, is officially launched. There will be an introduction to its structure, aims and long-term relevance for educational innovation.
Lectures: Lectures presented by invited experts to enhance and expand the range of topics introduced in the workshop.
Round-table dialogue: Students, teachers and architects from non-academic practice engage in an open discussion reflecting on key methodological insights gained from the workshops and exploring possibilities for their further application within educational processes.
Informal Reception & Networking: An open gathering around the exhibition reinforces the festival’s spirit of conviviality, exchange and democratic participation.
Where possible, the programme includes a live or asynchronous link to Brussels, aligning the event with the NEB Festival’s global momentum.
Target audience(s)
The primary target audience includes students specialising in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and related spatial disciplines. It also encompasses academic staff and researchers engaged in innovative pedagogical models, territorial studies, and climate-responsive design. Participants from the Manteigas and Catarroja workshops, as well as members of the NEB Goes South (NEBgS) network, are specifically targeted, as they form the core group involved in the ONAC pedagogical cycle.
The secondary target audience extends beyond academia and is central to the event’s public and democratic dimension. This group includes non-academic, professionally practicing architects who bring applied knowledge and critical perspectives from practice. Their participation is essential in fostering long-term, empowering exchanges between civil society, academia, and professional practice, contributing to more resilient and socially grounded spatial transformations.
Taking place on the campus of the Faculty of Architecture and free of charge, the event promotes crosssectoral dialogue between education, professional practice, and the wider public. In doing so, it reinforces the New European Bauhaus commitment to inclusion, participation, and shared ownership in shaping Europe’s spatial and environmental future.
How will you engage with your events target groups (participants and beyond) before, during and after the event?
Before
The ONAC exhibition in Toulouse in February 2026 will create a shared visual and conceptual foundation, marking the beginning of communication. Partners will coordinate invitations through university networks, municipal channels, and NEBgS platforms.
During
The event will engage participants through an interactive blend of exhibition, dialogue, and collective reflection. Attendees will explore a curated exhibition that encourages thoughtful viewing and spontaneous conversations. Expert-led lectures will expand on the workshop themes, while a round-table dialogue offers an open space for students, teachers, and mentors to share insights and discuss educational methodologies. The event fosters collaboration and networking, promoting inclusive exchange and democratic participation in a welcoming and informal setting.
Afterwards
A digital package containing photos, documentation, key insights and, when available, recordings, will be shared through NEBgS platforms and partner institutions. The ONAC publication will circulate internationally to support long-term pedagogical transformation. Feedback is collected from participants and municipalities to refine and initiate future NEBgS cycles and strengthen collaboration within the NEB community.
How will you communicate about your satellite before, during and after the event and its links with the NEB Festival?
The communication strategy for the Zagreb satellite event involves digital outreach, on-site communication, and the coordinated dissemination of information through partner networks aiming to reach professional and nonspecialist audiences across Europe. The communication is structured around three recurring key messages: Education as a democratic tool for addressing climate and territorial challenges; Learning from vulnerable territories as a foundation for inclusive and affordable spatial futures; Collective, non-hierarchical knowledge production as a core value of the New European Bauhaus. Prior to the event, promotion will be carried out through the NEBgS website, partner school platforms, newsletters, and social media channels. All materials clearly identify the event as an official NEB Festival Satellite Event and adheres to the visual communication of the BIP ONAC graphic identity. During the event, on-site materials such as posters, exhibition signage and programme leaflets will reinforce the NEB and NEBgS frameworks, all the while remaining visually legible and inclusive. Real-time digital updates, such as photographs, short videos and key insights, are shared through partner and NEBgS channels to encourage participation from beyond the physical venue. Where possible, establishing a live or asynchronous connection with the NEB Festival in Brussels strengthens the event’s visibility and situates it within the broader European context. After the event, a structured digital recap including photographs, summaries and selected recordings is published on the NEBgS website and disseminated through the consortium networks. Finally, the printed/digital editorial compilation of the BIP ONAC extended programme experience and outcomes will validate the completion of the cycle while paving the way for the next one.
How does the event reflect and relate to the values, principles and thematic axes of the New European Bauhaus?
How does your event meet NEB values in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality?
The event promotes NEB’s values of aesthetics and quality of experience, framing education as an integrated, context-responsive practice rather than merely a functional presentation of outputs. Drawing on methods developed in Manteigas, such as situated fieldwork, collaborative practices, and nonhierarchical knowledge exchange, the programme puts NEB’s principles of sustainability and shared responsibility into practice. It aims to facilitate interaction between students, researchers, institutions, and the wider public, setting an environment for a reflective dialogue and strengthening a collective sense of belonging. The NEB’s understanding of experiential and cultural quality addresses aesthetics. The event incorporates an appreciation of territorial character, local knowledge and community identity into its educational processes. Rather than presenting finished results alone, the installation reveals processes, uncertainties and situated observations, allowing visitors to see how knowledge emerges from direct engagement with territory and climate. Aesthetics are understood as a shared experience that supports social interaction. Guided walks through the exhibition, open discussions and gathering spaces encourage visitors to meet, exchange perspectives and build connections across disciplines and backgrounds. This spatial openness fosters a sense of belonging and lowers barriers between students, educators, professionals and citizens.
How does your event meet the NEB’s value of inclusion?
Inclusion is a core principle of the ONAC pedagogical model and the design of the Zagreb event. The programme is structured as an open, non-hierarchical environment in which students, educators, researchers, professionals and cultural actors participate on equal terms. Knowledge is produced collectively through shared exhibitions, open discussions and peer-to-peer exchange, reducing the distance between experts and the public. Based on the pedagogical model developed in Manteigas (collective authorship, co-creation, cooperative learning) the Zagreb programme is designed to eliminate the traditional distinction between experts and learners. The diversity of participants, including students from multiple European schools, members of the NEBgS network and experts further operationalises inclusion. This variety of voices encourages dialogue across disciplines, backgrounds and levels of expertise, ensuring the event is accessible beyond the architectural field and relevant to broader societal and territorial issues. The previous project cycle demonstrated the feasibility of working with small municipalities and target groups to generate proposals that address their needs and perspectives. This experience informs the current programme, which is aligned with curricular frameworks that emphasise participatory methodologies and fieldwork. Ultimately, the event introduces future professionals to a fairer design approach and more accessible, humane environments.
How does your event meet the NEB’s value of sustainability?
The ONAC methodology is grounded in sustainability: learning begins with territorial analysis, environmental observation and the careful use of existing resources. Fieldwork in Manteigas and Catarroja highlighted ecological fragility, challenges to biodiversity and climate-related pressures such as heat, water scarcity and landscape degradation. This is reflected in the event’s low-impact practices, such as the reuse of exhibition materials, the use of locally produced communication tools, and the minimisation of travel through collaboration with partner schools that are already engaged in the workshop cycle. The content highlights regenerative approaches, circular strategies and life-cycle thinking as key elements in the workshops and updated curricula of the participating schools. Collaborating closely with municipalities integrates real environmental challenges into education, thereby strengthening long-term territorial stewardship. Rather than being approached as a technical layer, sustainability is considered a mindset that shapes how participants perceive, analyse and transform the places in which they work.
Please explain briefly how your event reflects one of the NEB principles (multilevel engagement, transdisciplinary approach, participatory process).
The event embodies the NEB’s transdisciplinary approach, uniting architecture, landscape design, ecology, pedagogy, cultural studies, and territorial research. Methods developed in the workshops combine environmental analysis, cartography, social research and design experimentation, and Zagreb brings these together in a shared space for reflection. The process is fundamentally participatory. Students, teachers, professionals and all academic environments collaborate to co-create knowledge, ensuring that pedagogical innovation responds to the needs of the local area. The publication and exhibition are collective works shaped by multiple voices. The ONAC cycle demonstrates multilevel engagement, involving local municipalities, partner schools, cultural and academic networks at a regional level, and the NEBgS and NEB Community at a European level. This distributed structure shows how educational practices can catalyse systemic change at different levels, in line with NEB’s vision of democratically and collaboratively transforming places.
NEB thematic axes does the event relate to?
- Reconnecting with nature
- Regaining a sense of belonging
- Prioritising the places and people that need it the most
- The need for long-term, life-cycle thinking in the industrial ecosystem
Event’s link to the selected thematic axe
Within the broader framework of the BIP ONAC cycle, the Zagreb event addresses all thematic axes of the NEB by materialising its pedagogical and territorial framework. The field-based design laboratories conducted in Manteigas and Catarroja articulates the reconnection with nature, where climatic, ecological and landscape systems function as primary epistemic agents informing design enquiry. The event’s collective and non-hierarchical format addresses the issue of regaining a sense of belonging by bringing together various actors in a shared process of reflection and knowledge production. By foregrounding work developed in low-density and environmentally vulnerable territories, the event prioritises places and populations that are structurally marginalised within academic and spatial development paradigms. This event embeds long-term and life cycle thinking through methodologies oriented towards continuity, intergenerational knowledge transfer and territorial care.
Is there anything else that you would like to communicate to the organisers of the Festival?
This proposal is framed within the ONAC programme developed by LAP LAB in collaboration with European schools through the NEBgS platform. Although the Zagreb event is organised independently from the NEB Festival, we propose its recognition as an official NEB satellite event. In parallel, the BIP ONAC initiative has submitted a proposal to participate in the NEB Festival FAIR through FAUP Porto, highlighting the complementary nature of these two NEB-related moments. Positioning ONAC within the NEB Festival framework is a strategic opportunity to increase international visibility and expand the NEBgS platform. By presenting work developed within the NEBgS laboratory, the initiative aims to attract new schools, partners, and institutions. In this context, the Zagreb event plays a key role in opening the platform and strengthening future collaborations across Europe. A live connection with Brussels is welcomed to further integrate the event into the NEB Festival framework.