URBAN PHYSICAL PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN SEMINAR

BUSINESS COMMISSION CONFERENCE

UBC Commission on Urban Planning invites architects, town planners and urban designers to the best practise seminar to be held in Umea, Sweden, 15-17 June 2000. The theme of the seminar is Renewal of City Centre and its surroundings. 
Discussion continues after the successful Malmö seminar last December. This time we are looking at City Centres and the empty places close to the central business areas. We want to find interesting examples of how cities and towns have developed their centres and kept them beautiful. What are the driving forces in your city , which keep the Centre vivid? It is also useful to discuss the actual problems, which must be solved. 
Umea is the City of large birch boulevards. You are welcome to the city of northern light.

The UBC Business Commission had its annual conference in Kolding, Denmark on the 25-26 of May. 
19 cities from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark were represented. The main topics were cooperation between member cities and exchange of ideas on how to develop the local business environment. 
In connection with the conference there was a preconference on the 24 th for those who had a special interest in the subjects "retailing" and "attracting new business from Denmark". 
As to the subjects of this year conference the inspiration came from the commission members themselves. In January a questionnaire was sent to all members asking questions like: "In what business related areas has your city experienced success and is willing to share information with others?" and "Areas in which you need inspiration from others cities?" In other words: We defined strong points and weak points -and try to learn from each other. Some members, especially those from Poland, raised the question: What can prevent an attractive city shopping area from dying out due to hard competition from new shopping malls on the outskirts of town and from foreign retail chains? Kolding has been active in this field, and we met the people involved in the successful cooperation between down town and shopping mall. 
Our conference was held in the same premises as Baltic Sea States Summit in April.

COMMISSION ON CULTURE
4TH SESSION

The UBC Commission on Culture wishes to invite all UBC members to participate in the fourth working session of the Commission on Culture to be held in Szczecin on 9-11 June 2000. 
The main purpose of this session is the election of a new Board of the Commission on Culture, and the election of its Chairman and Vice Chairman, as well as the discussion about the functions of the Board, the strategy and activities of the CoC in the forthcoming years. 
We wish to inform you that the Committee of the Commission on Culture during the meeting in Klaipëda (Lithuania, 23-24 October 1999) adopted the following regulations concerning the election of the CoC board. 
Members of the Board 5 to 7 persons / elected every second year/ are from different countries. Cities propose themselves to be on the Board and they are represented by professionals in the field of culture (from Municipality or City Institutions). Non elected members have priority for the next two-year period. The Board proposes Chairman and Vice Chairman for the approval of the participants of the CoC election 

meeting.
Initiative of invitation to the meeting belongs to the Chairman and Vice Chairman. City which is represented in the Board covers travel expenses and accommodation of its representatives for participation in the Board meetings. 
According to the above the new CoC Board will be elected by the representatives of the UBC cities which will participate in the 4th CoC Session. 
The Cities which wish to be represented on the CoC Board are kindly requested to send their application to the Secretariat in Szczecin. 
Presenting your candidate for the Board election, please include the following information: 1. main professional activities, 2. education, 3. personal motivation for the candidature, 4. languages, 5. experience in dealing with international cultural events.