2018 Working-Level Officials Meeting in Sapporo

Period

January 25-26, 2018

Venue

Sapporo Park Hotel (Sapporo, Japan)

Participants

Member Cities: 11 cities from 5 countries (55 people)

• Changchun, Jiamusi, Shenyang (China), Rovaniemi (Finland), Matsumoto, Sapporo (Japan), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Hwacheon, Inje, Taebaek (Republic of Korea)

  Observers: 4 cities (8 people)

  Yokote, Fukuoka, Chitose, Niseko (Japan)

   

  Meeting Topics

  1. Report on environmental action goals set by each member city
  The WWCAM has decided at the Sapporo Mayors Conference in 2016 to continue their effors towards environmental conservation that each city had set action goals and worked on since 2014. During the 2018 WLOM, member cities presented their numerical targets with regards to 1.) the reduction of energy use and conversion to renewable sources, and 2.) efforts being undertaken for environmental conservation including tackling air pollution.

  2. Mid-term Report on the Revitalization Projects

The WWCAM has defined revitalization projects as “efforts undertaken to increase the number of member cities” of the Association. The City of Sapporo that play the role of secretariat for the projects made a report on recent activities.

Arctic Design Subcommittee

The City of Rovaniemi, the Arctic Design Subcommittee Secretariat, presented the results of a questionnaire they compiled in the winter of 2017, after which a round table discussion was held with member cities which participated in the subcommittee.  

WLOM Related Events

“Quality of Life as seen through Winter Cities Lifestyles”

On January 26, an event geared towards local residents entitled “Quality of Life as seen through Winter Cities Lifestyles” was held at a local restaurant in downtown Sapporo. The event was broken down into three parts where junior high school students from Sapporo and representatives of member cities participating in the WLOM talked about each respective city’s winter lifestyles, introduced local cuisine which is representative of their region, and participated in a talk session introducing each city in general. With a local professor who specialized in university lifestyle-related matters as the panel discussion facilitator, all participating city personnel discussed ways of living with a high quality of life, workstyles, and women at work, presented the dishes being served during the event from each region, and enjoyed free talk with local residents and conference participants while sampling said dishes. A poster session was also set up during this time.