Boost for Small Municipalities: All applications

"A Garagem" transforms a former car shop/bus depot into a dynamic hub for innovation, commerce, and sustainability in Manteigas, fully embracing New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles. By integrating local crafts, digital/creative businesses, and gastronomic valorization, it fosters economic resilience, inclusivity, and participatory governance. Using sustainable local materials like burel wool and wood, it redefines rural revitalization, making Manteigas a model for community-led regeneration.

Architecture in Motion: The Ephemeral That Transforms. A program where sustainable design revitalizes the historic city of Rieti. Through the construction of installations made of wood and circular materials, co-designed and co-built with young people and the community, the squares are transformed into living spatial spaces to host exhibitions, conferences, performances, and inclusive creative workshops, strengthening the sense of belonging to protect and enhance the heritage.

The Grevena Indoor Swimming Pool is being transformed into a modern, sustainable and energy-efficient public facility through an innovative combination of geothermal energy and renewable sources, reducing environmental impact while ensuring continuous operation and providing citizens with a high-quality, healthy and inclusive space for sports, wellbeing and community life.

Urban Garden Transylvania: Once an empty field, this initiative in Beclean is transforming into a vibrant, multifunctional space. With a growing botanical park at its core, the project integrates tourism, education and community life through eco-accommodation, a lake with bungalows, promenades, sports areas, a suspended bike lane and future learning hubs. It redefines urban living in a small town and supports the European vision of the “right to stay”.

Built from local bio-based materials, the project creates a healthy environment where children learn through natural light and sensory design. By bringing the local community together to co-create this circular and highly adaptable public building, the initiative reduces environmental impact while actively strengthening social cohesion. It proves that even small municipalities can lead systemic change - not through more, but through better.

Caminho da Escola – Green Stops and Safe Mobility for Youth aims to transform school commutes by creating green, sustainable bus stops that promote safe mobility for students, while also serving as a resting and gathering space. By providing comfortable shelters as well as encouraging walking and public transport, this initiative reduces car dependency, traffic congestion, and environmental impact, but also empowers the next generation to adopt healthier, more sustainable transportation habits.

In Veynes, the first floor of Maison Gillibert is being transformed into a beautiful shared place for cooperation, culture, learning and community life. By rehabilitating an underused municipal building and revealing its remarkable heritage features, the project creates inclusive spaces for shared work, creative activities, fabrication and collective uses in a small rural town.

The San Martino Community Hub project transforms an unused space within the municipal sports facility into an accessible and sustainable meeting place for families, young people and local sports associations. The initiative enhances an existing public infrastructure while promoting social inclusion, environmental sustainability and active community participation.

The Sant’Antonio complex, in the heart of Morbegno, is a key landmark. Restored in 2024, it has been brought back to life: the church is now an auditorium, while the cloister and convent spaces host conferences, exhibitions and cultural events. It has become a hub for mountain culture and local knowledge, welcoming community initiatives and offering an immersive experience of Alpine urban life, including festivals such as Morbegno Alps Festival, Sano Festival and Greening Italy.

The Apfeldorf Community Centre initiative transforms a former multipurpose hall into a vibrant community hub. While structural renovation nears completion, the current crucial ongoing phase focuses on co-creating inclusive outdoor facilities while simultaneously embedding a sustainable district heating network, proving that small municipalities can lead the green transition.