HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-03: Innovative solutions for the sustainable and beautiful use of… — expected outcomes, evaluation and traps

Topic	HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-03
Status	Open
Call	HORIZON-NEB-2026-01 — Beautiful, inclusive and sustainable neighbourhoods for communities
Destination	Circular and regenerative approaches for the built environment (2026-27)
Type of action	Innovation Actions · lump sum
Opening	5 May 2026
Deadline	1 December 2026
Budget	around EUR 5 million per project · 3 projects expected · EUR 15 million in total
Part B page limit	45 pages (standard application form; check your call)
Template	Work Programme 2026–2027 application form

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes. The topic says: “Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:”

EO1 Higher availability of innovative solutions for vertical space use on the market.
EO2 The application of innovative solutions for vertical space use allows for a more efficient use of the existing built environment and provides green spaces and/or affordable housing in neighbourhoods.

Expected impacts named in the destination

The wider, long-term effects the destination seeks. Your outcomes feed them; they are not project deliverables.

EI1 Living and working in a health-promoting environment.
EI2 Achieving global leadership in climate-neutral, circular and digitised industrial and digital value chains.
EI3 Putting biodiversity on a path to recovery, and protecting and restoring ecosystems and their services.
EI4 Sustainably developing rural, urban and coastal areas.
EI5 Advancing the development and integration of innovative, bio-based and more circular construction materials and products in new construction and building renovations, while complying with current European standards and regulations, as well as informing them.
EI6 Rethinking the way we design, build, use, renovate and disassemble our built environment over its entire life cycle to reach a more circular and sustainable built environment, better health and well-being of their occupants, better resources management, better biodiversity and regenerated ecosystems.
EI7 Leveraging digital tools and technologies, local cultural identity and heritage as well as traditional and vernacular knowledge and knowhow.
EI8 Developing new methods or improve existing ones to assess environmental performance and associated impacts of solutions, designs and techniques for the built environment.
EI9 The built environment, including cultural heritage buildings, and its composing elements and materials in neighbourhoods are more sustainable, circular, adaptable, multi-purposed, long-lasting, and have net-zero GHG emissions (and beyond) over their entire life cycles, resulting in an overall more sustainable, and climate-neutral building stock.
EI10 Neighbourhoods are more beautiful, healthier places where human beings, natural ecosystems and biodiversity can thrive.
EI11 Spaces, existing buildings and resources for construction and renovation are optimally used without compromising affordability, comfort and living conditions.
EI12 The solutions developed are sustainable, beautiful, user-centred and place-based, connect with local cultural identity, historical knowledge and cultural heritage, answer the needs of and are accepted by users – including minorities, underrepresented groups and groups in a vulnerable situation.

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes.
For each outcome (EO1 to EO2), name who will use or adopt your results (a specific group, not “industry” or “society”), how they get them, and the indicator that shows the change, with baseline, target and date.
Use the topic's own words for each outcome, so the evaluator can tick it off.

What the scope asks for

Evaluators check the proposal against these sentences of the scope. Answer each one visibly, in the call's own words.

“The increased demand for housing and thus land can conflict with the need to preserve and restore nature and biodiversity in our neighbourhoods.”
“There is therefore a need to develop solutions that make use of the under-used and un-used vertical space above our streets and buildings.”
“Proposals are expected to address all of the following:.”
“Proposals are expected to follow a participatory and transdisciplinary approach through the integration of different actors and disciplines and to involve the local community and, if relevant, cultural and creative industries, in the co-creation of the solution(s) developed.”
“In order to achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is encouraged.”
“This topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.”
“Proposals are expected to allocate at least 0.8% of their budget for engaging with the Horizon Europe-funded 'New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact' to share their intermediate and final results, findings and learning, as well as to contribute to impact assessment.”

Conditions that shape the proposal

Part B, sections 1–3: 45 pages (standard application form). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
Lump sum: the budget is fixed per work package and paid when each work package is completed. Every work package needs activities and deliverables an evaluator can verify, and the effort must match the money.
Innovation action: evaluators expect a plausible path to commercialisation and named first users or customers.

Impact pathway and traps

The topic asks for social sciences and humanities (SSH) expertise. Evaluators look for SSH partners with a real role in the methodology, not a token task.
Users or citizens are part of the scope. Show how they take part in the design and testing, not only that they are informed.
The scope expects pilots or demonstration. Name the sites, the partners who run them and what is measured there.
International cooperation is part of the scope. Explain what the non-EU partners add and how the cooperation is organised.
Life-cycle or safe-and-sustainable-by-design assessment is expected. Name the method and where in the work plan it runs.
Policy or regulation is in scope. Name the policy owners you will reach and what you will give them.
Keep outputs, outcomes and impacts apart: what you deliver, what changes when others use it, and the long-term effect.
For each destination impact you claim, show which of your outcomes feeds it. Destination impacts are long-term effects, not project deliverables.
Name the barriers outside the project (regulation, markets, user behaviour) that could block uptake, and what you will do if they do.
Section 2.3 (the summary canvas) is optional on this call; the old split into scientific, economic and societal impact is no longer required.

The scope, as published

The increased demand for housing and thus land can conflict with the need to preserve and restore nature and biodiversity in our neighbourhoods. Rethinking the way we use existing buildings and applying a smart and efficient use of space is thus crucial to limit urban sprawl. There is therefore a need to develop solutions that make use of the under-used and un-used vertical space above our streets and buildings. Urban vertical farming, community gardens on rooftops, vertical extensions and other alternative multifunctional structures making use of these spaces might be suitable solutions to high-quality, sustainable and affordable housing and green spaces while limiting land use. However, if not carefully planned and integrated, these solutions might face challenges such as social acceptance, regulatory barriers, and hold risks of excessive densification, neighbourhoods profound alteration as well as environmental risks. Proposals are expected to address all of the following: Develop and demonstrate at least one innovative solution that makes use of the un-used or under-used vertical space above buildings and/or streets in a beautiful and sustainable manner to improve the availability and affordability of housing and / or provide more green spaces. Integrate circularity principles to the solution(s) developed. Assess the life cycle environmental social and economic impacts of the proposed solution(s) with appropriate methods. If relevant, minimize and mitigate the negative effects of densification. Assess the potential for the proposed solutions to contribute to a reduction in demand for land use. Identify and address the regulatory, technical and societal barriers to the implementation of the proposed solution(s) and propose solutions to overcome them. Proposals are expected to follow a participatory and transdisciplinary approach through the integration of different actors and disciplines and to involve the local community and, if relevant, cultural and creative industries, in the co-creation of the solution(s) developed. Proposals are expected – to the extent possible – to contribute to the urban greening goals set out in the Nature Restoration Regulation. In order to achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is encouraged. This topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. Proposals are expected to allocate at least 0.8% of their budget for engaging with the Horizon Europe-funded 'New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact' to share their intermediate and final results, findings and learning, as well as to contribute to impact assessment.

Source and attribution

Topic text from the official topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, retrieved 19 October 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU (CC BY 4.0). Changes: the expected outcomes and impacts are split into numbered statements, long passages are shortened, and the evaluator checklist is GrantWise's own commentary. Your call and the Work Programme always win; check them before you submit. GrantWise is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the European Commission.

Innovative solutions for the sustainable and beautiful use of vertical space

Expected outcomes

Expected impacts named in the destination

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

What the scope asks for

Conditions that shape the proposal

Impact pathway and traps

Other topics in HORIZON-NEB-2026-01

Source and attribution