Beautiful, sustainable and inclusive street furniture for the transformation of neighbourhoods
HORIZON Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-NEB-2025-01-PARTICIPATION-03
- Programme
- A research agenda for a beautiful, inclusive and sustainable transformation of neighbourhoods
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- May 6, 2025
- Deadline
- November 12, 2025
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €12,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €6,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €6,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 2
- Keywords
- HORIZON-NEB-2025-01-PARTICIPATION-03HORIZON-NEB-2025-01Art in public spacesEnvironment, resources and sustainabilitySocial Inclusion
Description
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Improved integration of public authorities (for compliance with regulations, strategies, etc.), social actors as well as the arts, especially cultural and creative sectors and industries (including local crafters and manufacturers), into the design and development of innovative street furniture[1].
- Better evidence on the uses of street furniture and the role of the co-creation in the design of street furniture informs procurement processes to improve quality of experience, safety, security[2], sustainability[1], resilience to the impact of climate change[4] and inclusiveness in neighbourhoods through street furniture.
Infrastructural decay, unequal access to essential public amenities (e.g., seating elements, facilities for people with disabilities such as ramps and lifts, etc.) and safety concerns (e.g., related to insufficient lighting or hazardous spatial conditions) represent just some of the challenges that especially older and poorer European neighbourhoods face.
The design of street furniture in neighbourhoods can have a positive impact on people's lives by enhancing comfort, safety, well-being, health, and accessibility. It can also foster social interaction, cohesion, a sense of belonging, cultural identity and community[1], respect for common spaces[1], etc.[7]
Furthermore, the attention to aesthetic values in the design of street furniture can contribute to local economies by attracting new visitors (e.g. developing creative tourism) and supporting local businesses, cultural and creative sectors and industries, and social economy entities and enterprises.
More prototyping and demonstration are essential to speed up the integration of innovative street furniture, that offer more attractive, sustainable, and inclusive design solutions for common spaces, following the values and principles of the New European Bauhaus[8].
Proposals are expected to address all of the following:
- Develop and demonstrate innovative designs for sets of street furniture which:
- Contribute to a functional common space throughout the year that includes relevant features such as resilience to vandalism and weather, protection from the effects of climate change, consideration of local specificities (such as coastal areas), and low maintenance cost.
- Improve the environmental performance of street furniture and, where relevant, integrate nature-based solutions[4], and sustainable, secondary (bio-based), recycled or upcycled materials as well as a digital dimension.
- Strengthen the aesthetic and cultural integrity of the history of the common space and the neighbourhoods.
- Meet the needs of different population groups throughout time (through modular and adaptive designs, and considering age, gender, mobility, etc.) by improving comfort, safety, accessibility, social interaction and well-being.
- Apply participatory methods while co-designing and prototyping innovative street furniture.
- Based on the research insights, produce recommendations to inform procurement processes for street furniture.
To achieve this, project consortia may provide financial support to SMEs, education or research institutions, and other relevant actors (such as not-for profit entities) in the form of Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP). Given the type of action and its level of ambition, the amount to be granted to each third party may be a maximum of EUR 100 000 to allow for the prototyping and demonstration of the innovative designs.
Proposals are expected to follow a participatory and transdisciplinary approach through the integration of different actors (such as public authorities, local actors from the targeted neighbourhoods, civil society, actors from the cultural and creative sectors) and disciplines (such as architecture or design, arts and crafts, (civil) engineering, health).
This topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities[1] (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
Proposals are expected to dedicate at least 0.2% of their total budget to share their intermediate and final results and findings with the Coordination and Support Action 'New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact' (HORIZON-MISS-2024-NEB-01-03).
[1] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[2] Action Plan to support the protection of public spaces, COM/2017/0612
[3] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[4] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25
[5] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[6] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[7] A discussed in several studies, such as: Mehta, V. (2014). Evaluating Public Space. Journal of Urban Design, 19(1), 53-88; Cozens, P. M., & Love, T. (2015). A Review and Current Status of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED). Journal of Planning Literature, 30(4), 393-412; Gehl, J. (2011). Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space; Carmona, M. (2019). Principles for Public Space Design, Planning to Do Better. Urban Design International, 24(1), 47-59; Whyte, W. H. (1980). The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.
[8] See definitions for NEB values and NEB working principles in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[9] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25
[10] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
Destination & Scope
To make the green transition happen, social fairness needs to be at its heart. Inhabitants have to have the opportunity to influence the green transition and feel ownership of the measures to reach climate neutrality and circularity[1], zero pollution and restore biodiversity. It is also important to better anticipate and manage climate-related risks across society, and to interact with inhabitants to build new concepts. All of this requires a closer understanding of people and how they experience their everyday lives. A recent Eurobarometer demonstrates that 88% of EU citizens think that the green transition should be fair and leave no one behind. Yet only 46% of Europeans are confident that by 2050 sustainable[1] energy, products and services will be affordable for everyone, including poorer people[3].
Vulnerable and marginalised groups are often more exposed to climate risks and pollution and affected by adverse impacts (e.g. health, energy poverty), while being least responsible and having lower capacity to adapt. The inclusion[1] of different types of ownership (e.g. private, social, retirement, student housing, etc.) as well as various building typologies (e.g. high-rise buildings, slab blocks, villa blocks, terraced houses, etc.) in the planning of new neighbourhoods[1] or the transformation of existing ones can also facilitate a quicker integration of marginalized and vulnerable groups - particularly younger generations, which should have equal opportunities and conditions for education regardless of their background - and fosters higher social intelligence among privileged groups.
In Work Programme 2025, this Destination contributes to the following expected impacts set out on the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027:
- 8. Realising the full potential of cultural heritage, arts, and cultural and creative sectors
- 10. Boosting inclusive growth and reducing vulnerabilities effectively
- 31. Sustainably developing rural, urban and coastal areas.
- 32. Developing innovative governance models and tools enabling sustainability and resilience.
This Destination seeks to reinforce ownership and a sense of belonging through more active, engaged and inclusive communities[1] in neighbourhoods for the sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful[1] transformation of neighbourhoods along the values[8] and principles[9] of the New European Bauhaus. This Destination will pay particular attention to the inclusion of different sociodemographic groups – such as families, women, children, youth, and older adults as well as vulnerable groups, including LGBTIQA+, people with physical and psychological functional variations, homeless, migrants and refugees, minorities, etc. – in design, creation and decision-making processes that affect them and the built environment[1] they live in.
Cultural participation, cultural heritage, cultural and linguistic diversity, and the inclusion of indigenous[1] and marginalised forms of knowledge can help enable this by offering a broader menu of interpretations and therefore different ways of making sense and assigning meaning to surroundings. The Destination will also foster social and ecological co-benefits to enable environmentally friendly, healthy and inclusive behaviours, and beautiful and environmentally friendly, healthy, inclusive environments.
More specifically, this Destination aims to:
- Understand how individual and collective mind-sets, habits and behaviours can change into more sustainable and inclusive ones in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas and how to promote interconnections between these diverse realities, turning the limitations and constraints stemming from the green and digital transitions into economic, cultural and social opportunities.
- Further explore the transformative potential of participatory practices and governance models (at local, national and regional levels), notably how culture, the arts and creative industry as well as the socio-cultural work sector can enhance transformation processes for the green transition, help address vulnerability and social equity concerns, and contribute to social inclusion, democracy, and sense of belonging in communities.
[1] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[2] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[3] Fairness perceptions of the green transition - October 2022 - - Eurobarometer survey (europa.eu)
[4] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[5] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[6] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[7] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[8] See the definitions of ’beautiful’, 'inclusive‘ and ’sustainable‘ in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[9] See the definitions of ‘multi-level engagnement‘, ‘participatory process‘ and ‘transdisciplinary approaches‘ in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[10] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
[11] See definition in the Glossary section of the NEB part of the HE WP25.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties and can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 100 000 to allow for the prototyping and demonstration of the innovative designs.
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Information on financial support to third parties (HE)
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 13. New European Bauhaus Facility (NEB)
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
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