The Getty Conservation Institute is working with the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) in conjunction with its Ninth World Congress. Specifically, the GCI is organizing the scientific program and poster section for the congress. In addition, the Institute will present a precongress workshop for newly elected mayors of World Heritage cities.

This collaboration builds upon the Institute's work at the 2005 congress (see Conservation, vol. 20, no. 3) and is part of the Institute's endeavor to better understand current important conservation and management issues related to historic cities and to identify specific areas where the GCI can work collaboratively with cities and other institutions to address these important issues.

The Ninth World Congress, to be held June 19–23, 2007, in Kazan (Tatarstan), Russian Federation, is organized by the City of Kazan in collaboration with the OWHC. It brings together politicians and professionals who are committed to the preservation of historic cities, particularly those inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The Ninth World Congress, whose theme is "Heritage and Economics," will examine the link between heritage and economics in greater depth and present tools and guidelines to mayors for confronting the associated challenges with greater insight.

Poster abstracts for the Ninth World Congress in Kazan are now being accepted. The deadline for submission is February 1, 2007. All proposals will be reviewed by the Congress Advisory Committee, and authors will be informed of the acceptance of their poster no later than March 15, 2007.

For complete poster submission guidelines and for further information on the congress itself, please visit the Web sites of the Organization of World Heritage Cities and its Euroasia regional office in Kazan.