These 7 webinars, called NEBinars, aim to cultivate a new professionalism, place-makers, starting with junior professionals as catalysts for change, emphasizing the principles outlined in the New European Bauhaus (NEB) COMPASS: multidisciplinarity, citizenship engagement, and multilevel engagement.

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Learning Objectives

The overarching goal of the capacity-building activities is to empower designers to evolve into place-makers, enabling them to undertake NEB projects at the local level. This process places significant emphasis on core values such as beauty, sustainability, and a collaborative spirit, aligning with the working principles of design practices, including multidisciplinary, multilevel engagement, and a participatory approach.

The first topic delves into the participatory design approach, where the focus is on imparting essential knowledge about the place-making of public spaces. This involves placing local communities at the heart of decision-making processes.

The training course encompasses both theoretical principles and practical experiences, sharing global best practices and analysing successful initiatives that have already been implemented internationally.

At the beginning, the courses explore the concept of placemaking by analysing its basic principles and the target groups involved. Factors contributing to successful placemaking are discussed with a focus on guidelines and ideas for integrating these concepts into the urban fabric, and the links between good placemaking and NEB principles are highlighted.

Special attention is given to the role of the urban context, both natural and cultural, to the management of common problems in public spaces, and to the main challenges of urban design and placemaking with a focus on integrating diverse user needs. Starting from the pyramid of needs by Abraham Maslow, reinterpreted by Charles Mc Dermid, the five basic categories of human needs are analysed: physiological requirements, security, love and belonging, esteem and self-realization.

The concept of inclusive cities, designed to support well-being and accessibility for all age groups is well highlighted because it explores the principles for creating accessible urban spaces, strategies for designing liveable streets and ways to improve public spaces, promoting adaptability and usability for all citizens.

Moreover, the main stages of the co-creation process are explored, from planning to implementing collaborative projects and, through practical examples and structured guidelines, useful tools to stimulate creativity and teamwork are provided.

The central role of the human being in the design of spaces is considered analysing how the bodily proportions, from classical canons to modern parameters, influence architecture and design to understand the relationship between human movement and the organization of spaces. For this purpose, solutions and best practices for inclusive public spaces are presented, inspired by New European Bauhaus.

The webinar also explores the role of pocket parks, small green areas designed to improve urban quality, with a focus on location, types and design objectives. The advantages of these placemaking spaces are highlighted, with examples of good practices using wood as a sustainable element, in line with NEB initiatives.

In conclusion, the evolution of wood as a building material, analysing its history and contemporary applications are explored. The use of wood in early constructions, from primitive shelters to complex structures, is explored, showing how different cultures have adapted this material to their own needs, creating unique and lasting architectural styles. The building techniques are analysed, from traditional methods such as wood carpentry to modern solutions combining wood with other materials, and to, finally, contemporary application of wood in placemaking, highlighting how it can contribute to the creation of sustainable and welcoming public spaces.

At the end of each webinar, the person could express an interest in participating in the selection for the next phases of the:

• Winter School at the laboratories of the University of Florence (January 2025);
• Workshop at the InnoRenew CoE in Izola, Slovenia (February 2025);
• Innovation Labs (autumn 2024) - co-participated design workshop according to the principles of New European Bauhaus - and Challange Based Learning design competition for the redevelopment and preparation of internal and external spaces of a social housing building in Imperia (beginning of 2025). The winning project will be partly realised, and the winners will participate in the award ceremony during the final event of the BE-WoodEN project at the European Commission in Brussels (January 2026).

Effort

16.8 hours

The seven courses are divided into 4 modules which comprise a number ranging from 4 to 7 lessons. Each module includes a final test.

Format

All the courses are delivered online in an asynchronous way, each of which can be followed independently.

For whom?

• Professionals: architects, engineers, designer, project managers
• Technicians and timber experts
• Building managers
• Companies
• Policymakers and public officers
• Institutions at local, regional, national and EU level
• Higher education and Post-graduates Students
• Higher education Professors
• Citizens

Provider

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland

Prerequisites

None

Hub

South

Topic

• Needs in placemaking
• Placemaking on a different level - decision making processes
• Changing role of Professionals (Experts) in placemaking - new visions of professions
• Hidden distances, meaning and non-verbal communication in temporary architecture
• Ageing and human factors - groups and conditions, ergonomics
• Private placemaking - wood in historical vernacular architecture
• Private and public placemaking - new vernacular approach to placemaking processes
• Evaluation - how to measure placemaking impact