EU awards reveal grassroots energy of fight against climate change

From making waste collection attractive to reinvigorating #urban water fountains, winners of a European Union design award show how connecting people to place is vital for creating #sustainable #cities.

For the last four years the European Union has given a platform to innovative projects and concepts by citizens from the EU and beyond that connect the goals of the European Green Deal with delivering benefits to local communities.

On 12 April, a dozen of some 50 projects that had been shortlisted based on almost 30,000 public votes were recognised in the 2024 New European Bauhaus Prizes for contributing to a “more sustainable, inclusive and beautiful future”.

Not all were city-based but, as this this is a blog about sustainable cities, it will focus on the projects that aimed to unlock transformation in an urban environment. The projects encompassed everything from waste collection to rooftop gardens. But a common theme among many was a desire to engage local residents in the solution — in other words, the energy came from the ground up rather than from the top down.

A good example is the project that won the prize awarded by a public vote. Map4Water in the once war-torn capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, maps public drinking water fountains and engages groups to share the upgrading and supervision of those undervalued public utilities.

It uses a pilot digital platform to show residents and visitors where drinking water was still available. It provided the basis for the creation of a partnership of stakeholders between citizens, visitors and public authorities to take charge of caring for and maintaining the water quality and ensuring public access.

In the Bulgarian capital Sofia, locals, experts and artists have collaborated to turn an office complex into an active community space. Concrete to Culture, the runner-up in its category (Regaining a Sense of Belonging), is a long-term initiative to turn an office complex into an active community space through a collective design process that brings together locals, experts, and artists.

It transformed a bare, underused 3,000m2 concrete rooftop of a business office complex that was previously closed to the public, into active space for recreation, work, play, and culture. Design and cultural programming were geared towards local needs, especially families in the adjacent residential area. More than 10,000 visitors came to the events marking the new spaces’ opening.

Breadth and depth

Re-sourcing Commons by Social Design Vienna, another runner-up, refurbished a public park in the Austrian capital that was located in an area with many social housing units and an above-average number of young and old people, but which was underused because its care was overlooked and had little to offer local people.

Building on a participatory process that the project leaders said revealed a strong desire for a park offering “quality for everyone”, residents were invited to contribute ideas, criticism, comments or requests. The park — that previously did not work as a social space and fuelled xenophobic resentments —is now a functioning small micro-centre for neighbours from different communities, nations and generations.

One final project that did not win a prize is worth mentioning. In Tallinn, Estonia, The Invisible Visible looks at how correct sorting of waste can mitigate a key part of urban pollution. Waste containers are an essential part of every city, yet they have developed a reputation of being an unattractive feature, mostly due to their unpleasant contents.

The project used technology developed by an SME, WasteLocker. Residents of the Nõmme municipality used their smartphones to photograph waste, feeding into WasteLocker's image detection system. By involving citizens directly in data collection, the data gathering fosters both community engagement and awareness about waste management.

The breadth and depth of the entrants, in terms of their ambitions, their innovation and geographical spread, show there is huge energy at a grassroots level. It also acts as a reminder of the lacklustre performance of some who have their hands on the levers of power and decision-making. The full list of winners and runners-up is here.