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This is a guest post written by the NEB LAB Sustainable and Inclusive Neighbourhoods, a community-led project under the New European Bauhaus initiative. The project supports cities and regions in developing neighbourhood and district projects, from initial concept through to implementation. It provides expert guidance across funding, circular economy, CO₂ neutrality, social inclusion, and sustainability.
The Challenge: Turning Ambition into Action
Cities and municipalities are under increasing pressure to respond to climate change, modernise infrastructure, and improve quality of life for their communities. At the same time, they are expected to address social inequalities, strengthen cohesion, and make better use of limited resources.
While many local authorities have clear ambitions, turning these into concrete, funded, and implementable projects remains a major challenge. Limited capacity, fragmented knowledge, and complex funding landscapes often slow down progress.
Connecting Cities Through Shared Knowledge
The New European Bauhaus (NEB) Lab Sustainable and Inclusive Neighbourhoods is a community-led initiative focused on supporting cities and municipalities in tackling challenges in the fields of climate adaptation, social sustainability, and resilience (e.g. via circularity). The Lab provides help to turn strategies into action.
Delivered by a consortium of five organisations — Drees & Sommer, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), Bable Smart Cities, ICLEI Europe, and the Climate Positive Europe Alliance (CPEA) — it supports local authorities across the full project cycle. From early concepts and funding strategies to implementation. It also connects local authorities, district and infrastructure developers with each other and solution providers, helping to align efforts and accelerate delivery.
Learn from What Already Works
At the heart of the Lab is an AI-based matchmaking platform that connects cities and industry actors with peers facing similar challenges. Here, they can explore real solutions already implemented elsewhere, exchange experiences, and identify approaches that can be adapted locally.
This reduces the need to start from scratch and helps cities and districts move faster from idea to action. With multilingual access, the platform ensures that knowledge sharing works across borders and regions.
Strengthen Skills and Capacity
The Lab offers hands-on support, as well as offering the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge. Municipal staff can access expert services in areas such as urban development, sustainable building certification, inclusive design, and governance.
Through regular webinars, workshops, and tailored consultations, participants gain practical insights they can directly apply in their daily work. Topics can be adapted to different local contexts, ensuring relevance for both urban and rural municipalities.
Find the Right Funding for reliable and fast implementation
Securing funding is often one of the biggest barriers to implementation. To address this, the Lab includes a funding matcher hosted by Drees & Sommer and Bable Smart Cities. This tool helps municipalities identify relevant EU, national, and regional funding opportunities tailored to their projects.
By simplifying the funding search and linking it to concrete project ideas, the Lab helps cities move forward with greater confidence and fewer delays.
Get Involved
The NEB Lab Sustainable and Inclusive Neighbourhoods is designed as a practical resource for municipalities ready to act. Whether you are developing new strategies or advancing existing projects, the Lab provides support, connections, and tools to help you deliver results.
If you are looking to share knowledge with peers, access expert guidance, or identify funding opportunities, then you should join the Lab and take the next step towards more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable neighbourhoods.
You can also take part in a webinar series that the NEB Lab is hosting. Learn about best practices on topics such as urban financing, climate resilience, and social sustainability.
Find out more on how to get involved and also register for the webinars here.
Photos: Jocelyn Allen, Cristoforo Bonissone, Charlie Solorzano, sofia neumann
