October 2008 NEWSLETTER

Dear Colleagues

Please find below the October 2008 newsletter for the IGU-Commission for Local Development.

CONTENTS

1. Activities Report

2. Conference announcements

3. Publications

4. Relevant information

1. Activities Report

The annual meeting of the Commission on Local Development took place as part of the 31^st International Geographical Congress in Tunis, August 12-15, 2008. The Commission was given two specific session slots, although the number of relevant papers was much larger, and some of these relevant papers were allocated by the organisers to different sessions, some of which dealing directly with local and regional development. My estimation is that we could have themes for as many as five sessions – about twenty papers altogether.

The following congress internet site contains some information about the congress:

http://www.igc-tunis2008.com/

2. Conference announcements

The 2009 annual meeting of the Commission will be held in Warsaw, followed by a four days very attractive field trip, 7-14 of September. The conference will start with registration on September 7, three days of sessions 8-10 September. The 11-14 of September are dedicated to the excursion. The information about this meeting has been already spread among you and I’ll be grateful if you could spread it to other potential participants.

The general theme is: Socio-economic disparities and the role of local development

Those willing to receive additional information please write to the two email address below.

All those who intend to participate please return the early registration form by 15th December 2008. The organisers wish to have an early idea about the number of participants. The form should be return to:

Jurek Banski jbanski@twarda.pan.pl

Marcin Mazur m.mazur@twarda.pan.pl

The updated timetable of the Commission on Local Development activities: 2009-2011

Year	Month	Place	Comments	Theme
2009	September 7-14	Warsaw	Commission annual meeting	Socio-economic disparities and the role of local development.
2010	The dates of IGU regional conference: July 12-16	Tel Aviv / or elsewhere in Israel	IGU regional conference	To be decided.
2011	To be decided	An option Belo-Horizonte, Brazil	Commission annual meeting	To be decided.

We are debating, and it will be raised again during the 2009 meeting, whether to run the 2010 annual meeting before the main Congress (in another part of Israel), or, as the organizers suggested (actually I am one of the organizers), to hold a meeting as part of the congress in Tel-Aviv.

Collaboration with other commissions:

In the past we have collaborated with other commissions, particularly in operating the annual meeting. Recently, two commission heads have approached us, suggesting a future cooperation, again on the basis of a joint annual conference. The two commissions are:

1.          Sustainability of Rural Systems

2.          Marginalization, Globalization, and Regional and Local Responses

I’ll be happy to receive your opinions on this matter, and I expect people to suggest topics that could suit and deserve such cooperation.

4. Publications

Members of the Commission have also started to talk about a proceeding paper based on the type of template used at 2006 meeting in Cairns, Australia, and edited by Tony Sorensen (see below). Proceedings publication is an essential part of any Commission meeting, as attendance is often tied to the presentation of a paper.

The next meeting in Warsaw might go even one step forward towards a special issue of a refereed journal. Jerzy took on himself to co-ordinate the publication of papers that will be the outcome of the conference. The format in which these should be submitted will be given at a later stage. We may also consider the incorporation of papers on the Commission’s website after the conference.

The proceedings of the 2006 tri-commission meeting in Cairns, Australia, has appeared under the superb editorial work of our steering committee member Tony Sorensen. The details are below:

SORENSEN, T. (ed.) 2007. Progress in Sustainable Rural Development. Armidale, Australia: University of New England/CSRS-IGU (collection of papers presented in the 2006 colloquium). Paper and CD-ROM versions, 22 chapters, 209 pages.

3. Relevant information

I would like to have a section in the newsletter titled NEWS FROM OUR COLLEAGUES. These may include announcements regarding forthcoming conferences, conference reports, new books and other publications, educational programs, etc. So I hereby submit a request to one and all to send us news that you think may be relevant to our activities, and wish us to spread among our members.

There are some areas where the Commission has not made much progress. We should be adopting a correspondent structure to make sure that colleagues interested in what we do will be able to receive such information. A membership review is a good target for the 2008-2012 Commissions. We would like to increase the number of corresponding members. Names of potential corresponding people are welcome.

The information in this newsletter will be uploaded to the Commission's web site at: http://www.biu.ac.il/soc/ge/igucomld/

For IGU updates check the Home of Geography website:

http://www.homeofgeography.org/

Please spread the news about the commission among all those persons you might think may have interest to take part in the LD commission’s future sessions. Could you please send me information regarding activities, conferences and other issues of interest for the next newsletter?

With best wishes,

Michael Sofer

Chairman, Commission on Local Development, IGU