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Co-created by the 6 founding schools, this Joint Statement launched the NEB goes South initiative in June 2021. The text summarizes its main motivations and vision as a response to the New European Bauhaus movement.

Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto (PT)

Dep. of Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum, Univeristy of Bologna (IT)

Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb (CR)

School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens

We find ourselves in an era marked by significant challenges and a growing collective awareness of the limitations of our planet’s resources, a reality which everyone must learn to accept. Earth, humankind’s home, requires a worldwide movement to accelerate the overall transformation that can ensure a better future. Climate change cannot be solely explained by natural causes, indeed occurring mainly as a result of anthropogenic causes. Human actions generate emissions, lead to deforestation, and cause air pollution that, together with the resulting build-up of greenhouse gases, result in alarmingly fast warming across the globe. While addressing these issues, we need to provide environments which also take cultural and societal sustainability into account. The 

 is therefore embraced as a platform with a holistic approach and a mission that provides a welcome framework for future action.

Changes in the climate affect terrestrial environments and ecosystems in a variety of ways. Countries in Southern Europe are dealing with, among other problems, increased signs of extreme climate events, rising temperatures, heat islands, desertification and drought. They also share rich histories and a cultural heritage which need careful protection while addressing these emergencies. Though issues like these are not easily dealt with, they lead us to question whether they should be addressed differently in different regions around the world.

Closer co-operation and co-design between Southern European countries could strengthen their ability to cope when faced with their common threats and develop social and nature-based solutions together—solutions that are therefore sustainable while still accessible, affordable, inclusive, and aesthetically qualified as the 

We believe that a common effort must be made. We aim to bring together innovation and creativity, combining art with technology, by crossing disciplinary boundaries, in order to question practices and imagine new possibilities. New design and innovation can be more easily achieved and adapted to real problems by taking into account regions which share similar climates, ecosystems, cultures, and societal problems. This shift in thinking about climate, resources, and socially inclusive solutions implies responses tailored to each region that must be discussed and built together.

NEB goes South acknowledges this common geographical and cultural legacy. For that reason, six schools of architecture at universities from six different countries are joining forces to create a pan-European platform for meetings and discussion, with the ability to broaden and enhance international debate on co-designing sustainable solutions while bringing people from different backgrounds together.

Education is our common goal. We believe that creative solutions available to everyone are crucial to change mindsets and make citizens aware of the key issues of our time. That effort needs to take into consideration the critical role of higher education and research institutions to promote inclusive participation and to organize and disseminate results.

This pan-European platform stems from the idea that understanding and mapping the particularities of Southern Europe and providing free access and inclusivity to contemporary discourses and opportunities to disseminate experiences will contribute to the building of a new culture guided by the key concepts of New European Bauhaus: sustainability, inclusiveness, well-being and aesthetics.

NEB goes South is jointly organised by the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, the Valencia School of Architecture, the Toulouse School of Architecture, the Department of Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the University of Bologna, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, and the School of Architecture of the National Technical University Athens.

NEB goes South hopes to introduce a step forward by combining the efforts of students, architects, designers, engineers, geographers, sociologists, and other scientists and artists, with the ideas of everybody interested, to create a Southern perspective for the New European Bauhaus goals to contribute to a climate neutral Europe by 2050.

Joint statement - NEB goes South

Following its recognition as the official NEB Lab of the New European Bauhaus, the NEB Goes South (NEBgS) initiative aims to expand its community in order to broaden the debate and conditions for emerging academic collaborations.

With education at the heart of the action, this 1st Call for Partners seeks University Schools related to thinking and designing our spatial environment (eg, architecture, construction, urban planning, landscape, design, arts...).

Within the framework of the European New Bauhaus movement and the Southern Europe context, selected partners are expected to:

- contribute to the discussion and assessment of the specific environmental and societal challenges faced by the Southern areas of Europe;

- jointly design concrete academic actions (e.g. teaching materials, courses, workshops, programs or research work...) that can orient an humanistic and professional culture that supports a more sustainable, beautiful and inclusive built environment.

If you are interested in joining our community, please submit your application here:


In the near future, NEBgS will launch new Calls for other types of Partners in order to expand the community and the outreach of its actions.

1st Call for Partners - Schools

Da contracultura ao Eco-modernismo with Pedro Bandeira

On 16 October at 4.30pm, FAUP will host the conference  'Da contracultura ao Eco-modernismo (uma visão necessariamente holística e objetivamente superficial)' (From counterculture to Eco-modernism — a necessarily holistic and objectively superficial vision) by architect and professor Pedro Bandeira, as part of the NEB goes South Lecture Series.

The lecture is a synthesis of the lesson given at the Aggregation Tests presented by Pedro Bandeira in June 2023, at the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho.

Pedro Bandeira (1970), architect (FAUP 1996), is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Art and Design at the University of Minho and a research member of Lab2PT. Author of several publications on architectural culture, he is also co-editor of the Fascículos de Fotografia series published by Pierrot le Fou. In 2015 he was awarded the Critics Prize by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA)/Carmona e Costa Foundation. His design practice includes the Rotative House (Coimbra, 2018), nominated for the European Mies van der Rohe Prize and winner of the Sustainability and Innovation Prize awarded by the Environmental Fund and the Portuguese Ordem dos Arquitectos.

NEB goes South is a platform led by FAUP with the participation of the Valencia School of Architecture, Toulouse School of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum of the University of Bologna, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, and the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens. Supported by the European Commission as NEB LAB - New European Bauhaus laboratory, NEB goes South is an open and collaborative platform for learning, debating, designing and inspiring actions that combine sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion, recognising the geographical and cultural reality of Southern Europe and responding to the challenge of the New European Bauhaus (NEB).

Organisers: Clara Pimenta do Vale and Diego Inglez de Souza

The lecture will be in Portuguese.  Automatic translated captions are available through Zoom.
Programme subject to change (without prior notice).

This initiative may be recorded and publicised by FAUP through photography and video.
FAUP does not issue attendance declarations or online assistance for the event.

NEBgS Lecture series #4 | Da contracultura ao Eco-modernismo with Pedro Bandeira

‘From computational networks to generative systems’ will be held on 27 February at 11.30am with architect Gonçalo Castro Henriques (FAU-UFRJ)

As part of the ‘Architecture, Project and Digital Technology’ (PDA) course, the open lecture ‘From computational networks to generative systems’ will be held on 27 February at 11.30am with architect Gonçalo Castro Henriques, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro FAU-UFRJ, where he coordinates the 3D Models and Digital Fabrication Laboratory - LAMO-PROURB.

In the open lecture, Gonçalo Castro Henriques will discuss the progressive integration of multiple computational processes in architecture, highlighting the importance of multi-scalar networking in co-creation processes with multiple authors in the Ibero-American context. It will also discuss research into teaching visual and textual programming in Python at UFRJ. Finally, she will share the search for convergence between algorithmic and analogue thinking with robotic manufacturing processes.

The initiative is part of the NEB Goes South project programme, which is part of the European Union's New European Bauhaus Lab.

The open class will take place via videoconference (via zoom, with access restricted to the FAUP academic community).


Gonçalo Castro Henriques is an architect, researcher and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (FAU-UFRJ), coordinator of the 3D Modelling and Digital Fabrication Laboratory - LAMO-PROURB. He has a PhD in Architecture (FAUTL, Lisbon), a Master's degree (ESARQ-UIC, Barcelona), a degree in Architecture (ESAP, Porto), and attended TUE Eindhoven under the Erasmus programme. He is interested in integrating generative processes (algorithmic and parametric design, scripting) with simulation, digital fabrication and robotics (CAAD-CAE-CAM). Former vice-president of SIGraDi, with publications, research and projects developed in various countries.

Course unit - Architecture, Design and Digital Technology | PDA
Lecturers - José Pedro Sousa

Programme subject to change (without prior notice).
This event may be recorded and publicised by FAUP through photography and video.

FAUP does not issue attendance declarations or online attendance of the event.

Open class ‘From computational networks to generative systems’ with Gonçalo Castro Henriques

University of Cagliari: Presentation by Adriano Dessì

University of Lisbon: Presentation by Rita Filipe

Politecnico di Bari: Presentation by Michele Montemurro

University of Pavia: Presentation by Tiziano Cattaneo

As a result of the 1st Call for Partners, Eight new schools joined the NEBgS initiative

On September 28th 2024, the NEBgS initiative held a meeting with its newly joined partners, marking an important step towards expanding its influence in sustainable and innovative architectural practices in Southern Europe. Led by Diego Inglez de Souza, a researcher at the University of Porto—the coordinating institution for NEBgS— presented updates on the initiative, outlined recent achievements, and discussed future collaborations.

The NEBgS project, which initially brought together six architecture schools from Southern Europe, now welcomes eight new institutions, further enriching its network. This growth is expected to enhance the collaborative potential of the initiative, which focuses on addressing contemporary challenges in the built environment through sustainable design, public engagement, and interdisciplinary research.

The meeting started with a brief overview of NEBgS context and actions, which was originally formed by six architectural schools: the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, the Universitat Politècnica de València, the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Toulouse, the Dipartimento di Architettura at Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, and the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens.

Now, the NEBgS network includes eight additional partners: the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the University of Beira Interior, the School of Architecture at the University of Lisbon, the Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture at the University of Cagliari, the Politecnico di Bari, the University of Malta’s Faculty for the Built Environment, the Department of Architecture at the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, the University of Pavia’s Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and the Department of Architecture at the Università degli Studi di Firenze. The addition of these institutions greatly strengthens the initiative's geographical and academic diversity.

During the meeting, the representatives from the University of Porto summarized the key actions taken by NEBgS since its inception. These include the successful kickoff event, six online thematic events organized by each one of the founding schools between 2021 and 2022, and the recent recognition of NEBgS as an official NEB Lab by the European Union in 2023. This prestigious recognition underscores the initiative’s relevance and potential in shaping sustainable architectural practices in Southern Europe.

 was launched in July 2023, resulting in the recent expansion. A new website has been established to enhance communication and information sharing across the network. The website hosts event recordings, including lectures organized by NEBgS, and team members are encouraged to contribute content for publication through an online submission system.

Looking ahead, several collaborative initiatives were discussed. These include the continuation of the NEBgS Lecture Series, with members invited to organize and promote lectures related to NEBgS themes, which can be shared via the project’s YouTube channel. Another key initiative is the development of 

 (Milos, March 2023), Rethinking the Architectural Urban Environment (Ravenna & Cesena, September 2024) but also Summer Schools like the Costa Produttiva LAB (organized by the University of Cagliari in Sardinia, September 2024), highlighted as successful models of interdisciplinary collaboration.

One of the ideas discussed during the meeting was the proposal to create a joint Master’s or PhD program, fostering academic mobility and collaboration across the NEBgS network. In addition, a symposium was proposed to further academic collaboration and provide a platform for compiling research and insights from previous NEBgS events, which could be published as part of a larger academic effort.

The meeting also featured presentations from the new partners, who introduced their institutions and discussed how their research aligns with NEBgS goals. Common themes included rural transformation, coastal landscapes, public spaces, and the impacts of climate change and natural disasters on architecture and urban environments.

To facilitate future events and projects, new partners are encouraged to explore existing collaborations between their institutions and other NEBgS members. A follow-up general meeting is scheduled for the second semester of the 2024–2025 academic year, but partners are encouraged to begin planning and initiating projects in the meantime. With its expanded network and continued commitment to sustainability and innovation, NEBgS is well-positioned to become a leading force in rethinking the future of architecture in Southern Europe.

NEB Goes South Expands Network with Eight New Architecture Schools

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Keynote Lectures held during NEB goes South events

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NEB goes South acknowledges this common geographical and cultural legacy. For that reason, six schools of architecture at universities from six different countries are joining forces to create a pan-European platform for meetings and discussion.

We find ourselves in an era marked by significant challenges and a growing collective awareness of the limitations of our planet’s resources, a reality which everyone must learn to accept.