June 14, 2013. Yekaterinburg keeps struggling for the right to host the World Universal Exhbition EXPO 2020; its application presents a very clear-cut plan on the use of the exhibition area and infrastructure after the event, the city council’s press service reports.

Issues relating to the cultural heritage of the exhibition are given the top priority in Yekaterinburg’s application. After the exhibition is over, the housing fund (about 2.5m sq m) will be handed over to the local residents and will create a new, comfortable residential district in VIZ. Most of the large-scale buildings on the exhibition premises will be listed as EXPO heritage and will be used for the locals’ needs.

After EXPO is over, the 2.5-km embankment will be converted into a beach. A number of theme pavilions, the pavilions presented by the federal districts, and Russia’s central pavilion will be kept as cultural heritage facilities and will be used later on as museums, libraries, exhibition premises and congress sites, and recreational and shopping centers.