New Generations Festival. Zero Impact

An international festival on the architecture of the future

The New Generations Festival was created to give a voice to emerging architectural studios in Europe and has progressively established itself as one of the most recognizable events on the cultural scene of Rome, in the Lazio region. Promoted by the New Generations Cultural Association and curated by Gianpiero Venturini, the festival is the annual public event of a research platform that, since 2013, has involved thousands of studios from over fifty countries through festivals, exhibitions, open calls, video interviews, workshops, and experimental formats.

Zero Impact: the theme of this edition

The edition titled Zero Impact is supported by Roma Capitale as part of the Roma Creativa 365. Culture all year round public call, managed by Zètema Progetto Cultura. Among its cross-cutting objectives, the call places great importance on projects capable of promoting a culture of sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of events. The title therefore points in two directions: on one hand, the design themes — material reuse, circular economy, regeneration of the built environment, and the ecology of living — and on the other, the organization of the festival itself, designed to minimize consumption and emissions.

How it works

The festival's consolidated format includes several intensive days of public programming, primarily conducted in English, structured into various sessions:

• Conferences and presentations by emerging studios selected through the New Generations European network;
• Roundtables and debates on the state of the profession, often curated in collaboration with collectives and independent entities;
• The 10×10 Challenge, a fast-paced format where ten designers each launch a challenge regarding the present and future of European architecture;
• Exhibitions and reading rooms featuring a selection of publications and research materials from participating studios;
• Architectural tours to discover foreign academies and sites in the city;
• Workshops and digital activities open to students and young professionals.

The bond with the Real Academia de España en Roma

The Roman editions of the festival have found a home in the spaces of the Real Academia de España en Roma, on the Janiculum Hill, one of the foreign academies that make the capital a permanent international laboratory. Collaboration with the academies and cultural institutes present in Rome is a hallmark of the project: the festival brings the research of young European studios into dialogue with the city's built heritage and its contemporary transformations.

Who it is for

The festival's audience consists of architects, urban planners, designers, architecture students, researchers, and curious individuals interested in understanding how the city is changing. Historically, the Roman editions have offered free admission, with online registration required for certain limited-capacity activities. It is a rare opportunity to hear from dozens of voices in new European architecture in just a few days and in a single location, before they become established names.

Rome, capital of a design culture

In the cultural calendar of the Lazio Region, the New Generations Festival occupies a unique position: it is not a celebratory exhibition, but a research device that captures the state of health of a transforming profession every year. The 'Zero Impact' theme fits consistently into a season where sustainability is no longer a separate chapter of design, but its starting condition.