Baltic’s Past & Future: Uniting Our Heritage through New European Bauhaus Initiatives

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is a flagship EU initiative aiming to shape more sustainable, inclusive and beautiful shared spaces. For this transformation to be truly impactful, it must be grounded in our shared cultural heritage and actively co-created by citizens. This proposal, developed by a consortium of 7 Baltic towns,addresses a key gap:while NEB values are inspiring, they aren’t yet widely understood or embedded at the local level.Participatory decision-making remains limited and co-creation practices are underdeveloped. Our objective is to empower citizens to engage with NEB values,co-design solutions & proposals for urban developments aligned with NEB & strengthen their sense of EU belonging.

To achieve this, the project integrates 2 phases:
Phase 1: Awareness & Engagement-7 transnational events (1 per country) will use storytelling, creative mapping, public forums, artistic and participatory methods to raise awareness of NEB values and explore our shared heritage through a NEB lens. Each event will include international participants to foster intercultural dialogue & EU identity. The phase will culminate in a joint online event to exchange reflections & strengthen cross-border connections.

Phase 2: Co-design, Dialogue & Local Action–Citizens in each town will participate in a structured co-design process to develop NEB-aligned solutions to local challenges. Through collaborative workshops, they’ll begin dialogue with decision-makers and propose ideas for future development. Each town will aim to implement at least 1 of the citizen-generated ideas, turning dialogue into small-scale, visible action. An inclusive communication campaign (social media, exhibitions, video storytelling) will extend the project’s impact to over 1000 people per country. By integrating aesthetics, sustainability & inclusion into everyday urban life, we aim to build stronger ties between participating towns, strengthen EU citizenship & create a replicable model for community-driven transform