• Juan Carlos Abascal, Vice-Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, took part in the session ‘The New European Bauhaus and the Urban Agenda beyond Architecture’.

The Hibridalab space in Vitoria-Gasteiz has hosted this Friday the session ‘The New European Bauhaus and the Urban Agenda beyond Architecture’ in the format of a radio programme broadcast by the Pop-up radio station.

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is an EU policy and funding initiative launched by the European Commission in 2021 that promotes sustainable solutions to transform the built environment and lifestyles in the framework of the ecological transition. The aim of this conference organised by the Conexiones improbables initiative, together with the Basque Government, and with the support of Euroiker and EDE Fundazioa, was to analyse how the NEB infuses ideas into the Urban Agenda of the Basque Country.

Juan Carlos Abascal, Vice-Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, attended the opening conversation together with Andoni Hidalgo, director of Euroiker; Laura Hageman, policy officer of the New European Bauhaus; and Roberto Gómez de la Iglesia, director of Conexiones Improbables.

During his intervention, Abascal emphasised that in the development of the local Urban Agenda ‘inter-institutional collaboration is necessary, with private companies, technology centres and universities, in order to tackle the challenges, not only urban, but also environmental, economic and technological challenges of urban regeneration’. In this regard, the Vice-Minister for Housing and the Urban Agenda gave as an example the Opengela model, which is working on the refurbishment of neighbourhoods and housing in the Basque Country. ‘We are working in 25 neighbourhoods in 20 municipalities. We have 130 million euros of our own funds, 40 million of European funds, in addition to what the local councils contribute,’ he said. Opengela, as Abascal explained, ‘is also going to achieve an energy improvement in housing, but far from improving the urban and architectural aspect, what it aims to do is to create community by integrating environmental, economic and social issues…’.

In the same terms, Andoni Hidalgo said, ‘we are talking about making cities more habitable, and there is a fundamental element: we have to place what is being done at a local level in the European sphere, the efforts being made in the Basque Country in the Urban Agenda in the European area’.

Other aspects related to the Urban Agenda, such as inclusive sustainability and creative sustainability, were also discussed during the event.