What do Zagreb, Ljubljana and Helsinki have in common? Trees and beautiful urban greenery in their built environment. They are The greenest cities in Europe. In science and politics, access to Mother Nature is seen as beneficial to health and well-being – especially for children, the elderly and low-income communities. Initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus transform Europe’s urban jungles into beautiful, sustainable, inclusive and green spaces. And in Spain, Italy, Hungary and Ukraine, four LIFE projects are making their contribution under the LIFE Bauhaus label.
If we talk about green walls, then perhaps Milan’s iconic Vertical forest comes to mind. Such buildings, green walls, roofs and facades are not only very aesthetic, but also contribute significantly to the environmental health of their surroundings. These systems for integrating vegetation and nature into buildings, known as Building-Integrated-Greenery (BIG), provide cooling, air purification, noise reduction and save water. This is the approach of BIG4LIFE The project is led by the University of Lleida and focuses on greening three cities: Lleida and Barcelona in Spain, Genoa in Italy and Patras in Greece. The project promotes the adoption of “xeriscaping” techniques that create landscapes where intensive irrigation is reduced or eliminated. Xeriscaping allows green spaces to flourish in urban areas, for example by replacing thirsty lawns with stones, soil and climate- or drought-tolerant native species and by using drip hoses instead of sprinklers. This is crucial for these Mediterranean cities that are suffering from increasing temperatures and pressure on water resources, such as Barcelona, where the thermometer rose to 40 degrees Celsius this summer.
At such temperatures, the heat reflected from the concrete gives a suffocating feeling. LIFE Be-WoodEN chooses wood and bio-based materials as an alternative for construction. Using wood instead of other construction materials reduces carbon emissions and promotes sustainable tree planting. This project focuses in particular on the wooden construction of social housing in Italy and aims to improve knowledge and skills, test innovative training methods and demonstrate pilot projects. The target audience includes architects, technicians, building managers, companies and civil servants. The findings will be disseminated through a NEB Academy Pioneer Center to show how wood, once an infrastructure material of the past, is part of our future.
When wood is recycled, it can be used to make particleboard. Along with pressed straw, these bio-based materials are used for insulation in Ukraine. 85% of housing in Ukraine has low or no energy efficiency standards. LIFE Panelka 2.0 is renovating such buildings, known as ‘panelka’, by promoting circular economy principles and retrofitting. One particular panelka building in Chernihiv is the pilot project, and from planning to implementation, its residents have been involved every step of the way. Community management and capacity building are key to rebuilding Ukraine. And that sense of community is evident in the larger project; examples of prefabrication and bio-based materials used in Estonia are being adapted for Ukraine.
Social innovation and community engagement at the local level are also at the heart of LIFE SeedNEB. In three municipalities – Lorqui (Spain), Potenza (Italy) and Dunaùjvàros (Hungary) – nature will come alive in public and private buildings and urban open spaces. The project will explore nature-based solutions, focusing in particular on tackling species extinction, which will bring a range of benefits including reducing air pollution, noise levels, soil erosion and water resource consumption. The new spaces in the three cities will involve communities to shape the green future of their neighbourhoods.
In addition to the new European Bauhaus, the four LIFE projects presented are in line with other EU policies and strategies, including: Habitats Directive; EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030; EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains; And Air Quality DirectiveThe projects offer a holistic approach to the topics of life, housing, sustainability and inclusion.
The 2024 LIFE call for Bauhaus projects has a total budget of 8 million euros and is open until 19 September 2024. Submissions are possible via the portal.
