UBC Planning Cities Commission goes online by Paulina Szewczyk| p.szewczyk@gdynia.pl
This year, in May, the UBC Planning Cities Commission together with the Sustainable Cities Commission planned to organise the seminar “Liveable City. Combining history and contemporary life in urban space” in Turku, Finland. Due to the risks related to spreading out the coronavirus disease we had to postpone the meeting. It also appeared impossible in the Autumn 2020. So the first time in its history, the Planning Cities Commission is meeting virtually. The webinar ”The impact of coronavirus on the city planning. Experiences of the Baltic Cities”, will be held on 19 November 2020, using Zoom tele-conference platform, at 12:00–14:00 CET. The Covid pandemic has affected our lives and added a new unexpected layer of challenges for the cities around the Baltic Sea. After over half of a year every one of us has got thoughts and reflections how it has influenced urban planning and construction. • Did the pandemic situation of coronavirus change the sense of place? Do we have to reimagine our cities? Can city planning enhance communities that are both healthy and connected? • What has become more important in our planning considerations? Is there anything that has become less important? • Do we have to re-evaluate the core principles of the the city planning? Or, on the contrary, are we convinced that they are still actual?
As UBC Planning Cities Commission promotes interaction and cooperation between Baltic Sea cities and towns in the field of urban planning and construction, sharing experiences from the cities in a short talk enriched with illustrations is very welcome. Please let Paulina Szewczyk (p.szewczyk@gdynia.pl) know If you want to join and contribute. Your experiences and reflections are invaluable and build the core of our meeting. During the meeting we will also have an chance to listen to a story from New York, USA. Alessandra Galletti, Director of Design Practice at Project for Public Spaces will tell us about ”Practicing Placemaking and the importance of Public Spaces in the time of Covid. Temporary and long term changes, improvements, and measures to help people use public spaces and what we know and what we do not know”. We are also going to here about experiences of Cities from Lake Victoria Region. Sebuliba Mercy Stephen, Regional Programs Officer, Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation is going to bring us closer the idea of re-strategizing urban planning approach in face of Covid-19 and unprecedented rise of Lake Victoria causing a major social economic backfall in the basin. Registration to the webinar is through UBC website: https://bit.ly/36rhEFf
34 Photo: The city of Gdańsk
