Bhubaneswar: Representatives of various cities will gather in the capital city for the 5th International Biennial Conference of Indian Heritage Cities Network from February 2 to 4.

The state government, Indian Heritage Cities Network Foundation and Unesco, New Delhi, are jointly organising the three-day conference on the theme - Role of Culture and Heritage in Urban Sustainability - at Infocity here.

The conference is aimed at acknowledging and highlighting the importance of culture and heritage to achieve sustainability in urban development. It aims to provide an opportunity for historical cities to come together and discuss subjects relating to inclusion of heritage in development.

This conference will explore themes relevant to current trends and concerns related to heritage in India's urban scenario such as Smart City and heritage, urban sustainability and climate change, resilience of historic cities, sustaining traditional communities and livelihood and world heritage cities.

The event will encourage building partnership between cities, institutions as well as professional for mutual benefit and sharing of experience in the field of culture and heritage based sustainable urban development.

"Cities are hubs for intellectual, cultural, social and economic development. To make cities sustainable urban planning, transport systems, water, sanitation, waste management, cultural heritage, livelihood generation, disaster risk reduction, access to information, education and capacity-building are relevant issues for good living conditions," said mayor Ananta Jena.

There will be a special heritage dialogue series with a round table discussion with focus on the state.

The delegates are also scheduled to take part in a special Ekamra Walks session covering the rich Kalingan temple architecture in old city area. The previous edition of the conference was held in Pune in November 2013.