CONTENTS
1. Chair’s report
2. Conference timetable – 2007-2010
3. New members of the Steering
Committee
4. Internet site
1. CHAIR’S REPORT: Michael Sofer (CHAIR)
a. On behalf of the Commission, the first thing I would like to do in this newsletter is to thank the Brisbane Organising Committee for their efforts in providing us with a wonderful symposium venue and a stimulating programme. I would like to thank Tony Sorensen, our man from down under, for organising a marvellous event – the tri-commission meeting in Cairns, following the Brisbane conference. I hope life has returned more or less to normal for Tony. For those of you who were unfortunately unable to join us, the meeting and the discussions were great, as were the field trips and the food, as well. The companionship was magnificent and the quality of the presentations all very exciting and informative.
Both meetings, but particularly the
conference in Cairns, gave us the opportunity to exchange views with our
colleagues in other branches of geography. In Brisbane, we had a business
meeting of the Commission and in Cairns, the three participating members of the
Commission Steering Committee met to discuss future directions.
b. The Brisbane conference included four sessions of our commission:
IGU 2006: Local Development Sessions
A. Brownfields,
the urban landscape and local development
Chair: Michael Sofer
1. Cortez A
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Local development and the restoration of
the landscape in brownfields: the sanitary landfills in Brazil
2. Ortigoza S
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Brownfields in medium-size cities in the
countryside of Sao Paulo State, Brazil: the possibilities of local development
by means of (re) development of urban areas.
3. Lombardo M and Vasques A
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
The process of brownfield formation and redevelopment
in Sao Paulo, Brazil
4. Pitton S
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Local development: valuation of the health services in
Rio Claro/Sao Paulo/Brazil
B. The nature
of local development in peripheral areas
Chair: Paweł Churski
1. Sofer M
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Local
development and the Fijian periphery: the case of Kadavu Island
2. Baסski J
Polish Geographical Society, Poland
Relations between core and peripheries in
the Polish conceptions of development
3. Campolina Diniz C
Universidade Federal De Minas Gerais, Brazil
The regional policy for the Brazilian
northeast region and recent local development experiences
4. Young Martin
Charles Darwin University, Australia
Reconceptualising tourism destination
development in peripheral areas
C. Local responses to local
and global challenges
Chair: Young Martin
1. Peters Kristine
Flinders University, Australia
Don't know, don't do: local business associations and
their influence on the environmental performance of small business
2. Ab. Ghaffar Fauza
University of Malaya, Malaysia
Globalisation and regional transformation: rethinking regional policy
in Malaysia
3. Carroll Michael
Bowling Green State University, USA
Social capital and cluster-based economic development
D. On development plans and local development
Chair: Campolina Diniz
1. Makki M,
Saudi
Geographical Society, Saudi Arabia
Towards a balanced
development in Medina region, Saudi Arabia
2. Churski P
Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Poland
Structural foundations of the European Union in
Poland – experiences of the first period of membership
3. Teresa C, Zbyszko C,
Chojnicki Z and Czyz T
Adam Mickiewicz University
Poznan, Poland
Human capital in a knowledge-based
economy in Poland
c. The meeting in Cairns was a joint
event of three commissions:
* The
Sustainability of Rural Systems;
* Land
Use Cover Change; and
*
Local Development
Because of its nature and orientation, there was a mixture
of sessions and papers and most of the local development papers were presented
in the sessions entitled: Development of
Rural Regions and Changes in the Rural Urban Fringe.
d. The Commission endorsed the IGU initiative on Cultures and Civilizations for Human Development.
Professor Adalberto Vallega (President, IGU) leads the project. See www.homeofgeography.org
for details.
2. CONFERENCE TIMETABLE - 2007 – 2010
a. We propose to hold our coming annual meeting before the next meeting of the Commission in Tunis in 2008. Campolina Diniz has offered to host a meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in August 2007. The theme will be 'The nature of local development in developing regions' – a title that allows us to look not only at the experience of developing countries, but also at local development processes in eastern Europe and in peripheral areas of developed economies.
Year
|
Month
|
Place
|
Comments
|
Theme
|
2007
|
August
|
Belo-Horizonte,
Brazil
|
The nature of local
development in developing regions
|
|
2008
|
August
|
Tunis
|
IGU
International Congress;
Possibly
- a pre-congress meeting in Tunis
|
To
be decided
|
2009
|
July
/ September
|
Europe
|
To
be decided in Brisbane 2006
|
The
role of talents and creative industries in local development
/ Poverty reduction through local development
|
2010
|
July
/ August
|
Tel
Aviv
|
IGU
regional conference
|
To
be decided
|
b. A most important item on the agenda is the 'shape' of the following full meeting of the Commission in Tunis in 2008. The Tunisian delegates made a presentation and distributed programme details. The Commission will receive the name of a counterpart in Tunis with whom we will work. If we can not find a local organiser by August 2007, we may suggest a meeting within the format of the IGU and promote some other activities during the Congress year.
3. NEW MEMBERS OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE
We
have a new member on the steering committee to replace members who retired. The
new member is Assoc. Prof. Jerzy Banski. His contact details are:
Institute
of Geography and Spatial Organization
Polish
Academy of Sciences
Warsaw,
Poland
(+48 22) 69-78-922, (+48) 602-39-14-53
Web
page: http://www.banski.pl
One
of our targets for 2006-2010 is to recruit new members for the Steering
Committee. We are still looking for new members from Africa, including Tunis.
Suggestions are welcomed.
4. INTERNET SITE
The
commission has an internet site:
For updates on IGU activities, also
check the Home of Geography website:
We look forward to receiving news
from members.
