UBC EnvCom wishes to thank all participants and organizers of the UBC Joint Commission meeting that was held in the City of Tallinn 10-12 April 2013. Presentations from the event are now available for download on the event page.
We hope to see you all again at the UBC General Conference in Mariehamn in October!

The newest project at UBC EnvCom named CH4LLENGE has been now officially started. The goal of CH4LLENGE (Addressing Key Challenges of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning) is to actively facilitate the take-up of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) in European cities, and to establish a cross- initiative dialogue on overcoming SUMP challenges.

Building on previous experiences and lessons from earlier and on-going national and European SUMP initiatives, the consortium has identified common challenges which pose significant barriers in the wider take up of SUMPs. The project addresses the challenges in the process of SUMP development and implementation by:

• developing transferable solutions to overcome challenges related to participation of stakeholders
• providing transferable strategies to overcome challenges related to institutional cooperation
• elaborating a solid approach to identify SUMP effective measures and measure packages
• presenting transferable solutions to overcoming challenges related to monitoring and evaluation of the process and measures

9 cities Amiens (FR), Dresden (DE), Gent (BE), West Yorkshire (UK), Brno (CZ), Budapest (HU), Krakow (PL), Timisoara (RO) and Zagreb (HR) will overcome the challenges by piloting strategies and developing clear hand-on guidance for decision makers and practitioners in local authorities around Europe. At the end of the project the results will be gathered in practical resource kits.

In addition the project will support 30 European cities at different stages of working with SUMP and offer them guidance and training possibilities to develop or further improve their SUMPs. From UBC network Jyväskylä, Turku and Kotka from Finland, Gdynia from Poland, Kaunas from Lithuania and Tartu from Estonia and Kalmar from Sweden will be closely involved with the CH4LLENGE project.

UBC Commission on Environment is responsible for the dissemination and communication activities within the project. More information about CH4LLENGE will soon be available at the project’s website.

We welcome all UBC cities to follow our progress!

For more information, please contact:

Maija Rusanen
Project Coordinator
firstname.familyname(at)ubc.net

22nd of May 2013 at Forum Marinum Maritime Centre, Turku, Finland

The changing operating environment is creating challenges for the Central Baltic Sea region maritime clusters. Besides common challenges, the countries also share opportunities, of which the most important is their proximity to Russia’s growing maritime sector. The aim of the roundtable is to strengthen the collaboration among triple helix actors and stimulate discussion regarding co-operation prospects, developments and business opportunities between the Central Baltic Sea region countries and Russia.

Roundtable Programme

The event is free of charge, but the participant amount is limited. Registration is open until Wednesday 15 May 2013. Please register here!

Instructions on how to arrive to Forum Marinum Maritime Centre. There is free parking in front of the venue.

For more information about the event please contact:
Annika Forbes-Sarantsin
annika.forbes-sarantsin@centrumbalticum.org
Tel. +358 400 511 201

SmartComp is coordinated by the UBC Commission on Environment and part financed by the Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme. Read more about the project from the SmartComp website.

The next Environmental Bulletin will be focusing on Sustainable Transport in the Baltic Sea Region. This topic is an ever increasing issue and many good examples can be found in our region in order to reduce the CO2 emission and still maintain a high service level within our mobility systems. Transport is a driver for prosperity for all, but also one of the main contributors to CO2 emissions. Solutions to preserve well-functioning mobility systems are highly important to broadcast. We, at UBC EnvCom, therefore request all member cities to contribute to the Environmental Bulletin with their local sustainable transport solutions that can display the great variety and innovation of sustainable transport solutions our region contains. The Bulletin will be aligned with the joint UBC meeting in Tallinn 10-12 April, which also focus on sustainable transportation in the Baltic Sea Region.

If you wish to publish an article for the Baltic Cities Environmental Bulletin, kindly send a confirmation-email before Monday 11 March to: jeppe.jensen(at)ubc.net

A new project for UBC Commission on Environment has started. The CIVITAS-DYN@MO project will run until 2016 and is part of the CIVITAS initiative, aiming at creating cleaner and better transport in cities.

Four European cities - Aachen from Germany, Gdynia from Poland, Koprivnica from Croatia and Palma de Mallorca from Spain - demonstrate their mission to strengthen sustainable mobility through promoting non-polluting lifestyles. They will develop "Mobility 2.0" systems and services by applying "web 2.0" technologies, take into use new electric and hybrid vehicles and engage in a dynamic citizen dialogue for mobility planning and service improvement.

During the project, A Baltic Sea Region Competence Centre on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans will be established in Tricity Poland (Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot). The aim is to promote SUMP for cities in the region and thus contribute to the CIVITAS aims in the area.

The project will strengthen the UBC EnvCom project portfolio in the field of sustainable urban mobility. Many co-benefits and joint activities can be found with the ongoing projects ELTISplus and QUEST.

Read more about the CIVITAS-DYN@MO project and the CIVITAS initiative.

For more information, please contact Kirsi-Marja Lonkila, kirsi-marja.lonkila(a)ubc.net.