A call for stories:

BUILDING UP THE NEW UBC
Evaluating our achievements and looking into the future

UBC General Conference will be held on 27–30 October 2015 in Gdynia. It will focus on UBC’s future themes and actions. What does your City see as major issues that UBC should emphasize and focus on in the coming years?

One of the goals of the UBC Strategy 2010-2015 has been to energize and to streamline the UBC work and to optimise the use of resources, in other words, to offer more “value for money” to our Member Cities.

Restructuring of the UBC Commissions has been one of the most important developments. Member Cities have welcomed this change by signing up for the new Commissions – each of them has some 25 or more members. As a result, they will be more targeted, active and efficient, attracting more Member Cities and meeting their interests better.

Instead of twelve, we have now seven Commissions: Cultural Cities, Inclusive and Healthy Cities, Planning Cities, Safe Cities, Smart and Prospering Cities, Sustainable Cities and Youthful Cities.

At the same time, UBC is developing its internal and external communications activities to inform better what we do and who we are.

This edition of the Bulletin will be entitled:

BUILDING UP THE NEW UBC
Evaluating our achievements and looking into the future

UBC is undergoing profound changes, including the recent process of consolidating the Commissions and improving the UBC communications. The Editorial Board would like to invite the cities to share their views on UBC’s achievements and changes made so far: How does your City see these changes and what is still needed to be done? What does your City see as  major issues that UBC should emphasize and focus on?

-         What do you see as UBC’s major achievements?
-         What should be UBC’s priorities in the forthcoming years?
-         Which themes should UBC as well as the new Commissions focus on?
-         How should UBC make itself and its achievements better known in the Baltic Sea Region, European Union, as well as overseas?
-         What is of special interest to your city? What are the main reasons for your City, being  the UBC member? Which Commissions are you active in?
-         What could be the role of the UBC, the Member Cities and Commissions in the implementation of the European Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region?
-         Any ideas on projects and on ways of funding them would be very welcome!

The Bulletin will present the UBC renewal process during the last few years. The launch of new Commissions is a part of it. This also gives an opportunity to evaluate the achievements and to list the coming priorities and challenges.

Also, the Editorial Board plans to interview the Mayors and other representatives from our cities and Commissions to present their opinions on further development of the UBC.

As usual, apart from the main theme, we are looking forward to receiving stories on interesting events and daily news from our member cities. Those articles are published in the chapter "News from Member Cities".

More information and guidelines:

• A call for stories and guidelines (190.29 KB)