NEB Cooltours
Cooltours (2024–2026) is a cultural initiative grounded in the principles of the New European Bauhaus*, connecting the cities of Ljubljana, Rovereto and Rijeka across the Alpe-Adria region set to invent new forms of tourism. In response to the environmental and social harms of mainstream tourism, the project uses culture and creativity to shape regenerative tourism by inventing visiting practices that seek to restore local landscapes and strengthen communities affected by environmental damage, climate change, processes of commodification and gentrification.
Three cultural associations—Krater Collective, La Foresta, and Urbani separe—are collaborating across regions to pilot cultural activities and tours that build ecological literacy, strengthen local identities, and connect visitors with practices of care for local landscapes. Through thematic labs experimenting with innovative methodologies of Community Economies, Zoönomy and Speculative Design, the project co-creates new ways of reading and engaging with local territories.
Tourists are invited to act as ambassadors of regenerative practices, while students, cultural actors and local communities participate in shaping and hosting regenerative tourism experiences. The process will culminate in the NEB Travel Guide, sharing these approaches across Europe’s creative networks.
In Ljubljana, Krater Collective develops a cultural program centered on fostering urban biodiversity and feral ecosystems, most notably its rewilded construction site, transformed into a creative laboratory. Activities range from schoolchildren outside Ljubljana exploring urban nature to creating feral cartographies through printmaking. The program features anti-greenwashing tours, creative workshops, explorations of regenerative materials, and foraging that ends in shared community meals with locals and visitors.
Photo: Amadeja Smrekar
* The New European Bauhaus is a pioneering EU initiative that unites sustainability, creativity, and community well-being in shaping more sustainable futures for Europe.
Cooltours is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
