The organizers of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo yesterday announced they will invite cities from around the world to display their greatest features at the Urban Best Practice Area, an original project to be launched at the fair.

Inspired by the expo's theme "Better city, better life", the Urban Best Practice Area (UBPA) will provide space for 30 cities from the Chinese mainland and overseas to display their achievements in urban development. The expo's organizer expects the UBPA project to demonstrate different kinds of "widely acknowledged, innovative and valuable practices carried out by high-profile global cities".

"The area will also provide a platform for these cities to exchange ideas about urbanization," said Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.

He said his bureau would propose a list of cities and their accomplishments at the start of the recruitment drive. In the meantime, individual cities from around the world can also submit proposals to the expo's organizer in order to take part in the UBPA exhibition.

An International Selection Committee has also been set up to review and evaluate proposals for the UBPA project. The committee is headed up by the executive director of UN-HABITAT, Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, and the secretary-general of the Bureau International des Expositions, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales. The committee consists of nearly 20 members from a number of organizations, including the UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), UNDP (United Nations Development Program), UNESCO, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and relevant authorities from the Chinese government. The members of the International Selection Committee and some other international organizations will be able to add cities to the candidates' list.

After the committee finishes its preliminary review, the expo's organizer will send solicitation letters to qualified cities by the end of September. Participants will have to submit exhibition plans by November, and then the International Selection Committee will make the final decision and issue official invitation letters at the end of this year, according to expo's organizers. The entire recruitment process will wrap up in April 2008, when city participants and the expo's organizers sign the final contract.

City participants or their sponsors will have to shoulder the cost of the exhibitions and related construction.

The UBPA project will be located in Puxi, east of the expo site.

Bai Wenhua, president of Shanghai World Expo Land Holding Corporation, said the UBPA venue would be divided into two parts, covering a combined area of 15.12 hectares. Old factory buildings and facilities within the area will be renovated to provide space for pavilions to accommodate the exhibition. A simulated community made up of living, working and leisure areas will be built to the north. It will also include a waterscape and an infrastructure display.

"The city's practices will be integrated and presented in many different ways. The UBPA will be an exhibition area as well as an exhibit itself," said Bai.

The UBPA project will touch on issues including "livable cities", sustainable urbanization, the protection and utilization of historic sites and technological innovation.

"Cities like London, Liverpool, Hamburg and Venice have contacted us and have shown an interest in participating in the UBPA project prior to the recruitment," said Bai.

(China Daily May 15, 2007)