NEB Festival 2026 Comes to Brussels in June
Taking place from 9 to 13 June in Brussels and at satellite locations across Europe and beyond, the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Festival 2026 will once again bring together policymakers, designers, researchers and citizens to explore how we can shape environments that truly put people first.
The biennial festival showcases the most compelling practices emerging from the New European Bauhaus – the European Commission’s initiative connecting the green transition with the quality of our built environments and everyday lives. It aims to inspire communities to rethink spaces, create better living environments and advance sustainability, inclusivity and beauty.
The 2026 theme, Life, Spaces, Buildings, draws on the thinking of Danish architect Jan Gehl, whose work foregrounds human-scale urban design. In this perspective, buildings and public spaces are not ends in themselves, but frameworks for everyday life – shaped by movement, encounters and social interaction. The theme shifts attention from individual objects to lived environments and their social performance.
This year’s programme places particular emphasis on democratic engagement and affordable housing. It highlights how citizens can actively participate in shaping their environments, while addressing housing as a critical foundation for equitable and resilient societies.
The festival provides a platform to better understand people’s needs and aspirations while showcasing projects that respond to them in meaningful ways. In doing so, it demonstrates how a high-quality, inclusive and sustainable built environment can strengthen communities, enhance resilience and support long-term competitiveness.
Explore the Festival programme
The NEB Festival unfolds across three strands: Forum, Fair and Fest.
More than 60 exhibitors from across Europe will present their work in the Fair section, addressing themes such as circular construction, nature-based solutions and community-driven innovation.
The Forum programme will tackle key questions shaping the future of the built environment, including climate-neutral construction, adaptive reuse, digital democracy and bio-based materials. Speakers include European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, alongside Commissioners Henna Virkkunen, Raffaele Fitto, Jessika Roswall, Dan Jørgensen and Ekaterina Zaharieva.
The Forum also features leading voices in architecture and urban thinking, including Helle Søholt (Gehl Architects), Carlo Ratti, curator of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, and architect and author Julia Watson, known for Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism.
The discussion programme is complemented by the Fest strand, where architecture intersects with art through performances and installations. In addition, the festival offers a wide range of guided activities, including architectural tours across Brussels.
Explore the full programme here.
Finnish contributions to the Festival
The festival will feature a strong Finnish presence. Participants in the Fair section include Aalto University, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and the University of Oulu’s Art of Darkness project.
Aalto University’s exhibition, The Pathfinders: Overcoming Circular Economy Bottlenecks, presents research addressing key challenges in circular systems – from battery metals and textiles to construction materials – demonstrating how circularity can move from concept to implementation.
The Art of Darkness project takes part in the NEBULE initiative, where ten EU-funded projects collaboratively explore new ways of linking science, art and civil society in the co-creation of sustainable living environments.
Metropolia and Archinfo are producing the Heart of Fair programme, with further details to be announced during the spring.
Satellite events in Finland
Alongside the main festival in Brussels, NEB Satellite Events extend the programme to local contexts across Europe and beyond. In Finland, these include:
Artova’s home city story paths
Helsinki: many voices, one city
Co-creating multispecies affordances within affordable housing
Visioning Turku 2050
Let’s Play! Exhibition at Proto Design Centre
Celebrating Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture year
The Phenomenon Fest (Finnish: Ilmiöfestarit)
Research to reality: smarter decisions for a sustainable built environment
Additional information
The festival programme will continue to develop throughout the spring. Further details on events and contributions by Finnish NEB actors will be announced in due course.
