The European Commission announced yesterday the list of the 52 finalists of the awards "New European Bauhaus" 2022, selected from over 1100 projects submitted from all over Europe under the slogan: "Be the change! Make Europe more beautiful, more sustainable and more inclusive!".

Among the finalists, the project "Healthy Places" ("Healthy Places"), proposed by a multidisciplinary team that also includes the team from the West University of Timișoara, was selected in the "Regaining a sense of belonging" category. The project reactivated two locations in Timișoara, Grădina Urbană UVT and Greenfeel Ronat, transforming them into real platforms for knowledge/recognition, interaction and symbiosis with nature. The 52 projects were selected by an international jury of independent experts, and on June 11, the 18 NEB Awards 2022 prizes will be designated and awarded to the winning teams. Two of the prizes will be awarded based on the popularity vote at which anyone can participate. 

UVT rector, Marilen Gabriel Pirtea: The academic community of UVT received with great joy the announcement of the qualification of the "Healthy Places" project in the final stage of the "New European Bauhaus" 2022 awards, a project proposed by a multidisciplinary team that also includes the team of the West University of Timișoara. I am convinced that this life project, which made the UVT Urban Garden possible, deserves our vote, in the largest possible number, to win one of the 18 prizes in the New European Bauhaus 2022 final. I encourage you not to hesitate in casting your vote , students, academics and people from Timisoara. The entire procedure takes one minute, accessing the "I VOTE FOR MY FAVORITE PROJECTS" section - Section 2: Regaining a sense of belonging – for the UVT project "Healthy Places". The vote of every Timișoara citizen is important and will ensure European visibility for Timișoara and UVT.

Votes to support the "Healthy places" project can be cast until May 16 by accessing the link: https://prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu/.

With the start of the participatory voting period for the New European Bauhaus Awards 2022, The Western University of Timișoara kicks off the Green Month at UVT, which will include, between 5 May and 5 June 2022, a series of conferences, workshops, round tables and debates aimed at raising awareness of the objectives of sustainable development and the European Green Deal.

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION "HEALTHY PLACES"

Through this project, Timișoara has regained two community gardens that have meanwhile become places for dialogue, experimentation in accordance with the principles of sustainability, as well as a platform for the dissemination of local practical knowledge. Various solutions inspired by nature have been approached in a participatory way to reshape these locations that have rediscovered their beauty through the diversity of needs they address and aspirations they develop. Through reversible interventions, it has been demonstrated how communities can maintain and adapt nearby places to their own needs and thereby manage to create a sense of belonging and involvement.

This community is made up of researchers, gardeners, entrepreneurs, artists, people of various backgrounds, of various ethnicities, with stories and personal memories that enrich the two locations daily. The model created from this project is an education platform that can scale to other locations at regional level.

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WHAT IS NEB AWARDS 2022?

"New European Bauhaus" - beautiful, sustainable, together – is the process that connects "The European Green Deal" to our daily lives and our living spaces. It invites all Europeans to imagine and build together a sustainable and inclusive future that is beautiful to our eyes, minds and souls.

In addition to the project in Timișoara, 52 other projects from Romania were selected in the list of 3 finalists, one from Piatra Neamț and two from Bucharest. In the "Regaining a sense of belonging" category, 9 projects from Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, Austria, Cyprus, Malta, Italy and two from Romania compete.

Contact persons

Landscape designer Raluca Rusu Associate Professor Alexandra Petcu

Email: ruraluca@gmail.com                                                   alexandra.petcu@e-uvt.ro

Phone: +40 751 161 266 +40 722 133 636

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DESCRIPTION OF "HEALTHY PLACES" TEAM MEMBERS

Studio Landscape – Raluca Rusu and Alex Ciobotă

Landscape Studio is an informal group specialized in landscape interventions anchored in the layers of identity and local knowledge, experimenting with the forms of nature (biodiversity and productive culture), facilitating human/community – nature interaction, creatively – artistically combining academic training in the landscape design process through collaborations, creative workshops, landscape curation.

Terrapia workshop – Alina Negru and Alessandro Serra

TERRApia is a creative team that explores the constructive and aesthetic potential of earth and promotes its relevance for a crafted and healthy architecture. The main challenges assumed by the two architects are the application and transmission of sustainable principles and technical knowledge about the role of natural materials to improve the quality of living in the earth.

West University of Timişoara – Adrian Sinitean, Dan Vișovan and Alexandra Petcu

The Western University of Timișoara (UVT) is a higher education institution that offers educational programs aimed at training skills for the sustainable development of communities and individuals. UVT benefits from advanced environmental research teams, in fields such as biodiversity, circular economy or environmental psychology.

UVT Urban Garden, inaugurated in June 2021, proposes a concept of landscaping and urban furnishing of the outer courtyard, with the integration of mixed functions, intended for formal and informal education, for recycling, recirculation and experimentation of local resources, for the increase and diversification of urban biodiversity and the integration of cultures of slow food. The landscaping solution includes productive functions, with a vegetable garden, fruit hedge, productive shrubs, as well as an outdoor amphitheater pavilion, a natural pavilion and an event area.

Greenfeel – Cristina Potra-Mureșan and Valentin Mureșan

GreenFeel is a private property in Ronat, Timisoara, which includes Grădinescu – the community garden, a "Meet in Nature" socializing and co-working space, and hosts numerous workshops with architects, artists, landscapers, gardeners and educators for people with diverse stories and aspirations. Greenfeel is home to biodiversity.

Timisoara Community Foundation – Bianca Baila

The Timișoara Community Foundation (FCTM) supports local initiatives and creates links within the community for its long-term development. FCTM is part of the Community Foundations movement in Romania and was established in 2016 by a group of people concerned about the common good.