Cold cities debate how to make life more pleasant
By He Na (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-16 05:29

CHANGCHUN: The mayors of 19 cities in northern parts of the world are meeting in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, to discuss how to make winter life more pleasant.

Themed "Grow in Winter," this year's Conference of the World Winter Cities Association for Mayors saw its participants share and exchange views and experiences on winter-related issues such as snow cleaning, winter traffic, energy saving, waste collection, power supply, urban greening, public space and maintenance of public facilities.

"It offers a great opportunity and platform for mayors who encounter the same challenges in winter to share their wisdom and experience and learn from each other," said Ueda Fumio, mayor of Sapporo, Japan and president of the association.

"Winter is the gift of nature," he said. "But to turn the harsh and disadvantageous winter conditions into our treasure and resource, we not only need leadership from the administrations and suggestions from experts, but also wide public participation."

A forum in which experts and government officials shared their experience on winter-related issues was also held.

Masashi Kudo, section chief of the Snow Management Section of Aomori, Japan, detailed the city's snow cleaning experience, which involves the enactment of a Snow Disposal Ordinance based on the philosophy of partnership with citizens.

"Citizens and governments maintain a relationship of partnership and collaboration while shouldering different responsibilities," he said, adding that they are promoting this successful snow cleaning model to other cities.

Bo Lindholm, member of the Sustainable Advisory Group of the city office of Kalmar, Sweden, promoted the successful experience of Kalmar in adopting more environment-friendly biomass fuels, such as wooden pellets, to replace traditional fossil fuels.

Carbon dioxide emissions had declined drastically, and the city already has some non-fossil fuel zones.

"We are looking forward to learning experiences such as snow cleaning, and how to provide public services in large northern cities, such as Changchun," said David Ramseur, chief of the Staff of the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska.

Anchorage is the biggest city in Alaska with some 270,000 people, half of the state's population.

Changchun is keen to learn new methods of maintenance of public facilities and construction of public space.

"With the surging numbers of private cars we are also seeking solutions to the winter traffic problem from other northern cities," said Zhu Yejing, mayor of Changchun. The conference runs until Wednesday.