How Designers are Leading the New European Bauhaus

Vera Winthagen’s design work will have a significant impact on European policy. Images courtesy of Vera Winthagen.

What’s old is new again.

As the story goes, on the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus moment in 2019, John Schellnhuber—one of the writers of the Paris Climate agreement—was at a conference with German president Ursula von der Leyen, and he told her about the impact of Bauhaus on the paradigms of 1919. She saw the uniqueness of the multidisciplinary approach and testing out new futures, new materials, and said, ‘We need something like this again.’

And so the European Commission ultimately launched the New European Bauhaus, an initiative to connect the ambitious climate measures of Europe, the Green Deal, to our living spaces and develop how we want to live together in the future in a sustainable, inclusive way.

“The New European Bauhaus is important because it can give hope,” says Vera Winthagen, Design Policy Analyst at the European Commission. “We all know all the doom scenarios of climate change, but do we also know how to make it work and how much influence we all have on making this future happen?”

Here, Winthagen shares how she and her team are trying to create a movement on the ground by spotlighting the people already working on inclusive and sustainable solutions for their environment, how she brings the best characteristics of design to policy, and the ways in which cities are reimagining themselves.

You've described your work as "design for policy." Can you share a little more about what you do and what design for policy means? 

Design for policy means using the methods of design for policy making. The way designers work and look at the world has specific characteristics that are useful for complex societal challenges in the public domain. We bring experiences from users into the design of policies, breaking silos between different departments and unpacking complex issues before trying to solve them. 

For example, I worked on a project for the future of agriculture in Europe–not directly looking at policies, but first looking at how farmers see their own future in 2040, and then translating this into policy recommendations. And the mission-oriented approach–from the 100 climate neutral cities trajectory–fits perfectly with the skills that designers bring to the table. 

What are the characteristics of a well-defined city today? 

What I generally can say is the following: with climate change, a lot of cities will change–or are already changing in many ways–so being able to transform cities in a way that they are capable of dealing with this climate change will be crucial. This means having enough green spaces to deal with increased heat, but also barriers for floods and draughts. 

It also means being able to take care of the people that are in the city. In Brussels–the city where I currently live–they are taking out parking spaces and greening the squares. A very good plan, but what you see in many places is that this benefits only a proportion of the people: the ones that have the luxury to go to work by foot or bike because they work around the corner in an office. The ones that need to go to work with the car – e.g. when working in the airport as a cleaner or in other lower wages industrial jobs outside the city -, are affected double because of their dependency on the car for an income when the parking space is gone. 

What I am very conscious of is that people who are already more vulnerable, could become even more so when implementing green policies. We know that for example in Paris the most vulnerable groups, in many cases racialized communities, live closest to the most polluted highways around the city. So in the New European Bauhaus we are looking for cities that are able to tackle not only the ‘hard’ and green issues in their cities, but are also able to restore or respect the social fabric, making sure that everybody benefits in an equal and beautiful way. By creating a good transit system, for example, or attracting new local business to enhance the local economy. In Jane Jacobs style, but with a 2022 version. 

Tell us about some cities that are reimagining in new and inventive ways.

I like very much the ongoing work of the Superblocks initiative in Barcelona, not only because of the 15-minute city concept and the greening aspect, but also because they thought clearly on how to involve and design public space from the perspective of women. Women use public space in a different way; for example they commute in different ways than men. While 60% of men use the car, women use public transport more–but public transport does not take the needs of women into account. This is what Superblocks tries to tackle. 

I am also impressed by the work of architect Christophe Hutin–who made the ‘social fabric’ of the Bordeaux Grand Parc project (together with Lacaton/Vassal; winners of the Mies van der Rohe prize in 2020). His office looked very carefully at the social system and the existing wishes of the citizens, before changing their environment. They even lived in the building block themselves for three months, to understand the needs of the residents. Christophe Hutins’s office also took up a mediator role for the local Bordeaux government–a role that goes way beyond what an architect or urban planner normally does. 

A third entity I like very much is the work of Afarai. The theme of the Architecture Biennale in Venice last year– and the ongoing theme of the New European Bauhaus is: “How do we want to live together?” But the question that should precede that is: who is WE? This is what Afarai addresses: The manifesto that was written for the Biennale–‘The multiplicity of other’ shows that our inclusion and participation language is outdated–it is not a matter of giving ‘others’ a seat at the table–the diversity of voices has always been there. We just did not see it.  

One of the New European Bauhaus's goals is to achieve 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. How do we design our cities to accomplish this?

Next to all the points I already mentioned before, one important point that the 100 climate neutral cities makes, is that one of the main obstacles to climate transition is not a lack of climate-friendly and smart technologies, but the capacity to implement them. The present silo-based form of governance, designed and developed for traditional city operations and services, cannot drive an ambitious climate transition. Therefore, a systemic transformation is urgent, accompanied by a more strategic, holistic and long- term climate investment approach, together with a new city governance for climate action.

On a personal note, which city do you think is the best designed in the world? Why?

I have lived and worked in many cities–Amsterdam, Hanoi, Nairobi, - and realize I am attracted to the liveliness of the normal city routine–because there is always an experience, something to see, and encounter to discover that makes you feel alive and part of the action, part of the world and with that creating a sense of belonging. I think it is this a core element that a city can bring. 

In one of my previous jobs we were once working on the user flow of a train station. It was so smooth, that at a certain point one of my colleagues said: but is this what we want? No surprises, no new encounters, just pure efficiency? Shouldn’t something go wrong every now and then, just so that people are reminded that they are human, real cultural beings and in a living environment? I think that comes close to my motivation. I think all the hardship during the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and all the climate change problems now show that we are interconnected–regardless of if we want it or not–we are in this together. 

If you’d like to read more from The Creative Factor—such as Morten Bonde’s story about reinventing himself as a LEGO Art Director while losing his sight or Edése Doret: Inside the Mind-Boggling World of Private Jet Design—sign up for our newsletter.