2026-2029

Part of our RESEARCH Pillar

The Bottom-Up NEBourhoods project aims to empower grassroots social entrepreneurs to drive systemic change at the neighbourhood level. The project implements four ambitious demonstration pilots in Helsinki (FI), Košice (SK), Ancona (IT), and The Hague (NL). Each pilot is rooted in the core values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB): sustainability, inclusion and beauty.

Bottom-Up NEB focuses on promoting community-led systemic change, moving away from top-down urban policies, and in that sense aims at demonstrating how community-led initiatives in construction, mobility and land use can create lasting local value. In this regard, the AC3 Framework (Assisted Co-Design, Co-Implementation and Co-Assessment) is central to the project, ensuring a bottom-up participatory approach by treating each pilot site as an Urban Living Lab.

As methodology co-lead, iUE will design the AC3 Framework together with The Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS). We will also lead capacity building workshops and provide ad-hoc methodological support to pilot teams.