After spending more than a year seeking inspiration, organizers of the Shanghai World Expo said they will come up with designs for their own exhibition pavilions by the end of this year.

Many details are as yet undecided, but the contents to be shown in the Theme Pavilion and Chinese Pavilion will be based on the concept of "a harmonious city," said the expo organizers in a recent press conference.

"Exhibitions at the two pavilions are expected to focus on the same issues of urbanization, so as to be in line with the theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, 'Better city, better life'," said Wang Junyi, deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Co-ordination.

He said the theme is the first one in the expo history which has emphasized "city," which has vast implications for different exhibitors to develop.

According to Wu Zhiqiang, chief planner involved in the project, the Chinese pavilion will probably give "a retrospection of China's urbanization in the past 5,000 years with its special ethnic soul" in the fair.

"And the soul is defined as the idea of 'harmony'," Wu said in an exclusive interview with China Daily Shanghai & Delta edition.

"Harmony is a traditional Chinese philosophic thought which has run through the nation's urbanization and history. So in the pavilion, we may show the achievements of some ancient Chinese cities, the contemporary city evolutions as well as problems brought by fast urbanization," he added.

The show in the Theme Pavilion will be more closely related to the general urbanization idea, according to Wu.

He said the exhibition might be composed of following points: the problems of urbanization such as disasters, different social and environmental challenges as well as energy crisis; creative solutions to tackle such problems and a new city mode which can achieve a harmony between human beings and nature.

Wang said the bureau started to make design plans for the two pavilions in March, 2005, and has received suggestions for them from home and abroad.

"We expect to optimize our exhibition ideas and detailed schemes by involving more people in the discussion. It is possible that the whole design process will last a very long time," said Wang.

The expo organizers promised that they would fulfill the theme at the expo site and even beyond the 184-day expo session.In order to create a better city life, the expo theme's goal, the organizers plan to build the city's largest green open space along the Huangpu River in Pudong before the expo.

"After the 2010 World Expo finishes, the expo site is also expected to become a new landmark and an active area in Shanghai," Wang said.