The conference of the Danube Region Strategy National Hearing took place on 3 December 2024 in Budapest, at the Contemporary Architecture Centre. The focus of the conference was the New European Bauhaus (NEB), its presentation and its connection to the Danube Region and Hungary.

During the conference, the audience was given a comprehensive overview of NEB, its ideology, its logic and its links with various EU and national policies. It is only in the last few months that the practical meaning of the NEB has emerged for the first time. A guideline is now available, amongst pther languages in Hungarian as well. The NEB objectives are centred around the indicators of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusivity. The NEB supports the implementation of the European Green Deal, and it is an initiative closely linked to Life, Horizon.

NEB is a horizontal aspect in various calls for proposals and project implementations relevant to the Danube Region. The EUSDR 2020 Action Plan, renewed in 2020, is indirectly linked to the objectives of NEB. In the Danube Region, under Priority Area 3 (Promoting culture, tourism and people-to-people contacts), the first NEB-related project, New European Bauhaus on the Danube (NEBoD), was launched in the new Danube Flagship adopted in 2024. The project is also the only network (NEB Lab, laboratory) specifically bringing together the urban and regional actors concerned in the macro-region. Also worth mentioning is the NEB Lab ETOM, which deals with modern architectural heritage, but not with a Danube focus.

Several European good practices, NEB-compatible projects were presented (e.g. Berlin: Floating University project; Vienna: shaping the circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking; Bratislava: Nová Cvernovka cultural centre on the site of a former school and college; Bersenbrück: new land use with local community involvement; Cluj-Napoca: Făget forest park, revitalisation of forest land, multifunctional use; Sofia: Concrete to Culture project; Sarajevo: Map4Water project).

The integration of the New European Bauhaus into the national building policy was presented. The new Hungarian Building Act has also tried to take NEB into account, with all its 10 principles being linked to NEB principles (e.g. accessibility and equal access). It is important that a National Contact Point has been established in Hungary to support projects in line with NEB principles through coordination between EU and local level. Specific NEB elements will be included in the application evaluation criteria of the Hungarian operational programmes (e.g. in KEHOP Plus), while several calls will incorporate NEB logic by applying horizontal principles.

Among the examples of NEB-related projects in Hungary, the Kripton House Multicultural Experience Centre (COME project) in Ajka is worth to mention. The New gOvernance for New spAces (NONA) project is linked to Priority Area 10, with its only Hungarian site being the former furniture factory (former pop-up park of the cultural capital) in Veszprém. From Dunaújváros, the BiodiverCity project (biodiversity enhancement in residential areas) and the SeedNEB project (involving young people in biodiversity enhancement) were discussed. In Budapest, the Cooperative Ownership for Communities project in Józsefváros (complex use of a building in an industrial environment for arts, education and community purposes) and the AHA project in Újpest (affordable housing in a former school building, testing flexible housing) were highlighted.

A new commission call for NEB (LAB Facility) is expected soon. It will be tendered on an urban neighbourhood scale, unlike Horizon or Interreg. The main thematic areas will be Sustainable development and community participation; Circular and regenerative solutions in the built environment; Innovative financing and business models.