From 9 to 13 June 2026, Urban Bloomers will be in Brussels for the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026, one of the most significant European platforms for innovation at the intersection of sustainability, inclusion, and design.
The project will be presented at the Art & History Museum in Cinquantenaire Park, alongside researchers, institutions, and creative practitioners from across Europe who share the vision of a more beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive built environment.
What is Urban Bloomers?
Urban Bloomers is an inter- and transdisciplinary research project developed in collaboration between the Departments of Architecture, Biology, and Agronomy of the University of Florence, the Tuscany Region, the Municipality of Florence, national associations, and Tuscan SMEs specialising in 3D printing with natural and recycled materials.
The project engaged students from two middle schools in Florence in a co-design process grounded in the More-than-Human Design framework — an approach that recognises living organisms not as decorative elements, but as active co-agents in architectural design.
Through urban bioblitzes to map existing biodiversity, 3D printing workshops, seminars, and participatory design sessions, students and researchers explored the city as a shared ecosystem — asking a fundamental question: what if we designed cities not only for people, but for all living beings?
The outcomes of this process — green wall prototypes integrating stress-resistant vegetation, fabricated through 3D printing with natural and recycled materials — will be showcased at the NEB Festival as an example of community-driven, nature-based design research.
Urban Bloomers is funded by the University of Florence under the UNIFI EXTRA 2025 Public Engagement grant.
