| The New European Bauhaus, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s pet project, has failed spectacularly, and it is mostly her own fault. In 2019, the Bauhaus movement – a world-changing new approach to art and architecture – celebrated its 100th anniversary. One year later, no doubt inspired by all the media attention, von der Leyen launched a successor: the “New European Bauhaus”. It was to be the “soul” of her flagship project, the Green Deal: climate action and nature protection. The Bauhaus had introduced practicality into design while her new Bauhaus would make design beautiful, inclusive, and sustainable. Four years later, has anything been achieved? And can the new Bauhaus survive without her executive backing, should she not manage to win a second term? Today, the new Bauhaus counts “almost 500 projects in total,” dwarfed by the 1,400 members of the “community” – which can be anyone, from NGOs and industry associations to project holders. Some of these members are quite unusual, like the China-based bamboo industry association INBAR. Yet, the European Commission says the members have reached “several millions of Europeans”. In exchange, €380 million has been committed to the project hitherto, and €95 million of that money was spent on 20 lighthouse “demonstrator projects.” From 2025, an extra €120 million per annum will be spent on the new Bauhaus until 2027. Exemplarily, that money has been spent on building a ”NEBourhood” community in Munich – one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. Another one, based in Denmark, quizzes pupils about what makes a circular economy desirable. Projects for an urban “woke” elite, some will say. | 