Dear UBC Friends,

Our XI General Conference in Liepāja just came to an end. I dare to call it successful as it gathered over 200 participants from 76 member cities, including mayors, council members, city officials, experts and also representatives of otherorganizations.We will long rememberits perfect organization, supportive and friendly people, and numerous interesting and inspiring discussions we all held.

Each meeting brings a lot of new ideas, inspires, enriches our experience and makes us eager to work with renewed vigour.

Thank you, Liepāja, for giving us such a positive impulse for a more intensive co-operation!

During the conference workshops we have been discussing i.a. the cities'attractiveness from the business, economic perspective. But could a city be attractive if it does not ensure the safety for its inhabitants and visitors? Safety and security are the basic needs that determine the quality of life. Steady jobs, health and welness, safe neighbourhoods, safety against accidents, injuries or crime make citizens more reluctant to move out. And these seem to be crucial if the city wants to develop.

The Conference approved of creating the UBC Commission on Local Safety. We believe it will enhance the cooperation on various thorny problems our cities face nowadays.

This is a great challenge for us to make our inhabitants feel safe.The sprawling urban areas, heavy traffic, increasing number of visitors, the economic, social and spatial inequities have all serious impacts on the local safety.

This edition of the Baltic Cities Bulletin presents the ways on how to cope with the most important problems. How do the cities deal with such challenges as graffiti, homelessness, juvenile offences, mass events? How do they come up with the ideas? A bunch of solutions and best practices can be found in 23 interesting stories.

I am truly convinced that the consolidation and transfer of existing knowledge, awareness on urban safety and prevention are necessary to improve the quality of live in our cities.

With Baltic Sea greetings,

Per Bodker Andersen President of UBC	Kolding, November 2011