Thank you ETSAM!

Dear Colleagues,

The EAAE Annual Conference, hosted by ETSAM Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, showed once again that we are a strong community of educators, researchers, architects, and urbanists committed to quality education and an outstanding building culture. A big “thank you!” goes to the Dean of ETSAM, Manuel Blanco and his team for organizing a perfect event, to our keynote speakers for their thought-provoking and inspiring insights, and to all the participants from 87 universities, 36 countries and 5 international associations, as well as VELUX! The conference’s title – “Towards a New European Bauhaus”  – motivated us to reconsider our attitudes to the recurring questions on the relationship between education, professional practice, and society under the three vectors of the NEB initiative: sustainability, inclusivity, and aesthetics. Thanks to the resourceful planning of ETSAM, we were able to enter into a direct dialogue with EU parliamentarians and Commission representatives – another fundamental and extremely valuable way to achieve impact in the regulatory environment.

I invite you all to participate in the projects developed by the EAAE taskforces Education Academy, Research Academy and Conservation Network to be started in the coming months. As noted in the roundtable discussion with ACE, ACSA, ENACA, FMVDR, and UIA, we must act with shared responsibility. The challenges to society and to the built environment connected to climate change, as well as the expectations from the education sector, are enormous and can only be mastered together.

EAAE is a growing and inclusive community that invites each of you to get involved: to care, to network, to share and to change – together. Diversity is the key to an open world and a graceful life.

Kind regards,
Oya Atalay Franck
President EAAE