New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Regaining a sense of belonging

Email user
sabina@intrevecini.ro

Basic information
Initiative title
IntreVecini

Full initiative Title
IntreVecini - Creating offline micro-communities in cities

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
ÎntreVecini regenerates the community spirit, creating offline micro-communities, on the block of flats terraces, to form sustainable local hubs in Romanian cities.
After successfully finishing the pilot project, this year IntreVecini will install a minimum of 10 kits for 10 blocks free of charge, carrying out more than 100 interactive-activities around sustainability. Every project starts with installing Photovoltaic on a bloc of flats to engage the neighbours in a journey of change-making.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
National

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Romania

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
București, Dolj, Galaţi, Gorj, Hunedoara, Mureş şi Prahova

Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): Asociatia IntreVecini
  Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation
  First name of representative: Mihai
  Last name of representative: Toader-Pasti
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Romania
  If relevant, please select your other nationality: Romania
  Function: Founder & Strategist
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Bucharest
  Town: Bucharest
  Postal code: 062088
  Country: Romania
  Direct Tel: +40767007000
  E-mail: mihai@intrevecini.ro
  Website: http://intrevecini.ro
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/intrevecini
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): IntreVecini
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
ÎntreVecini (BetweenNeighbours) aims to regenerate the community spirit, creating offline micro-communities within the blocks of flats most people in urban areas of Romania live in, in order to form sustainable local hubs in several Romanian cities.
After successfully finishing the pilot project, this year, IntreVecini will install a minimum of 10 kits for 10 blocks free of charge, carrying out more than 100 interactive activities around sustainability. The changemaking journey for the neighbours starts when Photovoltaic panels are installed on the roof of the block of flats and continues through various community-focused and sustainability-centred activities.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
Sustainability

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Cities

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Communities

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Solar-energy

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Belonging

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
A NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT
Instead of a country project

In the next 3 years, we aim to have 47 communities - at least one IntreVecini community in every county in Romania and local sector in Bucharest.
Each community should do at least 10 self-organising activities, so 47x10=470 activities around the entire country in just 3 years.

10 activities for each community around the
17 Sustainable Development Goals

Photovoltaic panels are just the trigger for activating communities.
At the core of the IntreVecini approach is the creation of autonomous offline communities, which takes place through the activities that neighbor associations choose to do during the course of a year. To enable this, they will initially have access to an Activities Guide. At a later stage, there will also be a list of Romanian NGOs grouped around the 17 SDGs, for neighbors to get involved with.

By 2030, we aim to involve 1,000,000 Romanians in block projects and begin the process of change for Romania.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
In 2023, we successfully implemented the pilot project in the 6th district, in an old communist block of flats, the ones that are most present around the country. Until 2016 there were no energy prosumers in Romania. For 3 years, a partner organisation energiaTa changed the law. Since 2019 energy prosumers are a reality so today there are +30.000 prosumers, residential and offices. In December our block of flats became probably the first one in Romania. We currently don’t have any official information.

AESTETICS. The money home-owner association will be used to retrofit the block of flats and their garden which will have a significant impact on the quality of people’s experience. A communist building drives more negative emotions than a space that is green, inclusive, safe and happy. The Gardens are used and we used it to kickstart the social activities to create a culture of the neighberhood similar to creating an organisation culture.

A strong cultural belief in Romania is that “Change is not possible”, “this is what we have” or that others should do the change because as a remaining effect of the former communist regim people feel they do not have power to change the systems in place.
By giving them the framework in which they generate small changes (eg painting the entrance of the building in a brith, enjoyable colour) & big changes(eg. Beeing among the first buildings that generate energy) themselves we transform this belief.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Inclusion is one of the core principles of the initiative because the aim of the creating the micro-communities is to break the barriers and bring the neighbours together.

The governance structure is flat, and we want to bring the communities to the point they can self-manage and self-host themselves, with IntreVecini just providing the framework and facilitating the ignition of the community.

In order to engage all members of the community, each micro-community will use the already existent and used channels (eg the Whatapp group of the building, the affichage window from the block entry, word of mouth, door knocking).

The activities are free, so accessible from this point of view to anybody and they will take place in the close vicinity, as the goal is to activate the neighbourhoud.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
Local resilience for national impact

How about getting to know our neighbors? How about helping each other? To put our minds at ease when we have to leave our children in someone's care for a few hours. Or the dog, the cat, the fish or the parrot. To have someone to help us in the case of flooding or house issues. Let's say hello to our neighbors, spend less time online and more time in reality. Let's increase the index of our quality of life. Let's be happy in our communities.

How would it be for it to be like when we were young and knew everyone on the street?

IntreVecini no longer waits for change.
You produce it. From the block to the whole country.

Out of the 19 million Romanians, over 10 million live in the urban environment, where there are around 100,000 blocks.

As a result of past communist periods and current digitization, the community spirit of the block has been lost and with it, the confidence in one's own ability to bring about change in the place where we live.

Moreover, this lack of feeling of belonging to a community contributes to the massive emigration that Romania is facing. Sometimes we feel alone among Romanians, and that lowers the level of trust.

Together we can produce the change we want, the increase in the quality of life.

Citizens will become more environmentally sustainably through generation of solar energy. Through activities, they will improve their energy efficiency, grow food locally in their garden. Furthermore they will start believing in their power to be change-makers putting more pressure on the local administration.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
We bring neighbors together to contribute significantly to increasing the standard of living and satisfaction in the communities where we are. Neighbors are not only on the block of flats - they are also in the business environment, in the local administration, in NGOs, which we are all engaging in.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
As you do not choose your neighbours, in the first pilot we worked with a very diverse group.
The first added value was the fact, that for the first time in the history of the block we invited all the neighbours to a lunch and they got to know eachother.
After the first connection was facilitated and they realised they liked it and they want to do more and also that they share not only the common goal of receiving a solar panel, but also of building connections between eachother, they formed a core group that started to engage all the others.
From there, the team of IntreVecini guided the core group in puting things in action: talking with institution, constructors, neighbours, obtaining approvals, installing the solar panels, making workshops.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
Romania, like lots of other similar countries, expects the change to come from central authorities, while the average citizen feels powerless and disconnected. Most of the existing non-profits are concentrated in the capital and a few big cities. Change-making initiatives are lacking the needed resources to scale at the national building. IntreVecini is creating local ecosystems of non-profits, by aggregating money from private companies, through sponsorship, to put 15.000Eur in every community. 7.000Eur people to put PV on roofs and kickstart the efforts and generate money for change and 8.000Eur for the 10 activities each community has to organise. By this we are motivating and funding local non-profits. After our initial project, communities will continue to raise money from local businesses to scale their activities and help other communities from their cities to replicate the process. It’s a kind of pay-it-forward. By being transparent, open-source, apolitical and descentralised, we can scale without the limits non-profits usually have.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
And the problem is universal so it’s replicable anywhere in the world where there’s a high density, usually urban areas with block of flats, where the problem we are addressing are the biggest.

The entire IntreVecini initiative is designed from the ground up to be replicated and scaled easily across Romania, EU and the world. It’s descentralised, open-source, apolitical and transparent. Everything we create will be freely and easily accessible on our website in most of the language on the globe, including the Sustainability Activities Guide, which will be the cornerstone of what we are going, which includes everything you need to do similar projects in other countries, from how to engage stakeholders to how to rise the money and how to get going in doing the initiatives.

IntreVecini is descentralised, open-source, apolitical and transparent project and non-profit.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
In approaching and forming the communities we will use a mix of elements and principles coming from the following methodologies: Design Thinking, Community building, Community canvas, Art of hosting meaningful converstation, Participatory design, World cafe/Civic cafe.
Having in mind the diversity of the people in a block or in a neighbourhoud we are develop a unique IntreVecini method that is inclusive for all people and backgrounds and adapted to the local reality, so that in an activity we can bring at the same table both seniors and youngsters or people regardless their sector of work or background. This means that we will apply the above methodologies, but without burdening people with the terminology & concepts. They will see and create activities & workshops based on the guide we provide & update with them.

The method has been piloted with the first community, where we had participatory conversations and made a first guide of activities/workshops addressing various sustainability issues in accordance with the community needs & interests.
The core of the approach is co-creation and “start building with and not for”.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
By bringing neighours together, creating micro offline communities, around self-organised sustainability activities, IntreVecini positively contributes to most of the Global Risks for the next 2 & 10 years by WWF by having a grass-root approach
The pandemic of loneliness is generat theremendous problems related not only to Mental Health (Depression), but also to Physical Health, having negative impact on the economy as well.
Erosion of social-cohesion and societal polarisation. Social media reminds us about how we are different so we forget what brings us together. By bringing together people from all walks of life, together with private companies, non-profits and local administration, we dramatically reduce the risk of polarisation
In Natural Disasters and extreme weather events, the most critical factor is community preparedness, because authorities can never act instantly and for everyone.
Climate Change already has a negative impact on society at large, regardless of how well the world will move in tackling it. As a consequence, we have to build resilience from the bottom-up.
Cost of living crisis. We live in a digital gig economy. What if we can move that gig economy at the neighberhood scale, with your neighberhous. What we aim for is for people living in close proximity to exchange services and goods.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
In the next 3 years, we aim to have 47 communities - at least one IntreVecini community in every county in Romania and local sector in Bucharest and 10 activities for each community around the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Every year we will have 2 open-calls for buildings to enroll in the cohort. And the selected ones will have our facilitation & support for 1 year to start and establish their micro-community.

After the first 6 months of implementation they will have access to the bigger community of micro-communities.

So far we successfully finished the pilot project in which After a year work, In December our block of flats became probably the first one in Romania. We currently don’t have any official information on that from the public authorities.

By having 30.000 energy prosumers in homes and offices, this is obviously a huge problem, not having any prosumers on home-owner association, specially now in the context of energy prices, inflation and energy security.

We aim to change that by launching a Guide in March 2023 with how we did and, how much it costs and helping people become energy prosumers with a step-by-step guide, featuring the people from this community as example of a real opportunity for people around the country.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
Web link
Web link
- https://intrevecini.ro/intrevecini-english.pdf
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
Because local communities have to self-organise at least 10 activities around the 17 SDGs, based on their interests and local challenge, our projects touch all the four competence groups related to sustainability that should be acquired by learners of all ages, as the blocks of flats gather people from all ages, walks of life and wealth.
Embodying sustainability values
valuing sustainability
supporting fairness
promoting nature
Embracing complexity in sustainability
systems thinking
critical thinking
problem framing
Acting for sustainability
political agency
collective action
individual initiative
Envisioning sustainable futures
futures literacy
Adaptability
exploratory thinking
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
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By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes