In December last year Gdynia started the project Waterfront Urban Development. A Network of Cities in the Baltic Sea Region, which is financed with Phare CBC and Interreg IIC funds. The partners of the project are: Elblag, Gdynia, Szczecin, Tczew, Gdansk, Pomeranian Province, Koge, Potsdam, Lübeck, Werder, Rostock, Göteborg and Vaasa. 
The objective of the project is to create spatial plans for waterfront areas. The commonly faced problem is the necessity of change of these areas' functions: an alteration from the present industrial, military or unplanned roles into cultural, natural, tourist or recreational ones. The waterfront must not only retain cultural heritage but also stimulate Baltic cooperation and integration. This seems to be the reason why the project appeals to and is supported by over 30 Polish governmental and self-governmental institutions, NGOs, scientific or academic organisations. The representatives of the organisations supporting the project participate in its implementation.
An important field of cooperation in the development of the idea: Waterfront Areas -Baltic Meeting Places may be UBC, particularly the Commission on Urban Planning. Out of 14 cities participating in the

WATERFRONT AREAS

Kosciuszko Square in Gdynia

project, 9 belong to the UBC. 
The present waterfront areas are the source of many problems: legal, urban, technical and financial. Their solution was the objective of the III Plenary Meeting held in Gdynia, 6-8 April. The participants discussed directives of Sustainable Urban Planning Development of the European Continent. The directives imply; among others: "coastal regions represent very rich biological, geophysical, landscape, economic and cultural systems. They therefore offer a common resource and heritage for individuals and society which should be protected for present and future generations." A challenge for local-governments is to shape 

social responsibility for nearby natural surroundings. In post-totalitarian countries a great majority of society has lost the belief of being able to influence the spatial planning of their district or city. Polish partners of the project thus approach Waterfront as an important experience and "Academy of Skills" as regards European spatial planning standards. 
During the last meeting, areas included in the project as well as plans of their modification were presented. The discussions were held in the following problem groups: legislation, implementation, instruments, visions and sustainable development. At the end of the meeting the declaration of the cooperation even after the completion of the project was signed by Polish partners.

URBAN DESIGN CENTRE

- To investigate the educational need to strengthen university teaching in Urban Design and to gauge its importance for urban development. 
- To produce a research programme on Urban Design considering the strong, already established research topics of the university as well as the possibility of close cooperation with universities within and outside Sweden. 
- To link scientific research to planning work at regional and local levels. 
During this year interdisciplinary groups will be formed to develop research programmes to serve as the basis for applications to research foundations and to other groups such as UBC.

One of the reasons to stress the urban dimension in regional planning is the importance of the urban environment as a generator of development. Within the European Union's programme European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) -increasing interest is focused on the city and its role in the development process. 
Migration of people from rural areas to cities has created a type of city dwelling and a way of life with different sets of values from those of earlier generations. Therefore a shift of values needs to be analysed influencing the design of the urban environment. The sustainable city demands new tools and planning solutions. The environment and structure of urban areas must be transformed in order to respond to the new demands of today. Through internal

migration and immigration from abroad, the city continues to be a melting pot of people with different social and cultural backgrounds. These changes in the urban environment demand new knowledge about how the planning situations should be handled. New research findings are necessary to form the basis for how planning problems should be treated. 
CERUM and the regional and local planning agencies in Umeĺ have drawn the conclusion that there is a need for new knowledge that can include the design of the cities/ towns and urban regions as well as that of smaller places and their different functions. In order to meet this need CERUM is working on developing an Urban Design Centre to be established at the University of Umea.
At present an introductory study is being carried out with three aims: