Dear
Colleagues,
I wish
every one of our members a creative and productive time in the year ahead and I
hope that the 2008 will be an action packed year.
CONTENTS
1. Announcements
2. Commission activities in 2007
3. Conference announcements
4. Relevant information
1. Announcements
1. I would
like to inform our colleagues that Jerzy Banski has accepted to replace
Campolina Dinitz as deputy chair of the commission. I would like to thank
Campolina for his significant contribution to the commission’s activities in
the last three years and I am sure that he will continue to contribute as a
member of the commission’s steering committee.
2. I would
like to inform our colleagues that Professor Liu
Weidong, from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources
Research, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is replacing Xiomin Pang as a new
member of the steering committee.
2. Commission activities in 2007
The Commission on Local Development took place as
part of a larger conference “The Second Global Conference on Economic
Geography” in Beijing in June 2007. The Commission was given two specific session slots,
although the number of relevant papers was much larger, and some of these
relevant papers were located in other sessions, some of which dealing directly
with local and regional development. The full program of the conference, the
commission sessions, and other issues can be found in the following link:
3. Conference announcements
31st
International geographical congress - Tunis August 12-15, 2008
The 2008 annual
meeting of the commission will take place during the coming IGU Congress in
Tunis in August 12-15. The main reason for having the meeting parallel to the
main Congress is that there are difficulties to organise the annual meeting in
Tunis before or after the main congress.
The following congress internet site contains the
required information:
We are in the process of structuring the programme
within the Congress. The organisers
have allocated five (5) sessions for the commission’s meetings. These sessions
can be concentrated in one day or spread into two days. While we could have themes for five sessions and twenty papers, we may
have some themes that occupy two sessions. Details for the submission of
abstracts are provided in the congress site. The organisation of commission
sessions is based on 90 minute blocks, in which we insert four oral
presentations followed each by a discussion.
The IGU
executive committee encouraged all commissions to have, during the Tunis
congress, one session related to Mediterranean Basin issues. I have already
received the acceptance of Rassem Khamaisi, from the University of Haifa, to
organise a session around the general topic of "Issues of Local Development
in Mediterranean Countries". Possible
themes are the following; nevertheless additional ideas could be well accepted:
1. What is local development and for
whom
2. The nature of local development in a mobile society
3. The role of talents and creative
industries for local development in a globalising economy
4. Issues of Local Development in Mediterranean
countries
Early concerns have been expressed regarding the
cost of registration, and the risk that this may seriously affect the number of
participants. The IGU Executive has recently discussed the matters with the
organisers and my understanding is that there will be some reduction in the registration
fees.
We asked the organisers
to organise for the commission a two-day field trip. The excursion proposed is
the Sahel region of Tunisia (Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia), a program that has to
be confirmed. The excursion will take place immediately after the congress. We
need a minimal number of participants in order to reduce the costs. We may try
to run the field trip as a joint project with another commission.
I insert here a short report written by Lex Chalmers the chairman of the IGU-Commission
for Geographic Education who visited Tunis and the Congress venue. This report
adds some useful information.
Lex Chalmers report on Tunis as
a venue: I spent five days in Tunis in April this year, and
I provide some comments below that might be helpful. I suggest that language is
not a great problem; I managed with very limited French as most people had a
reasonable level of English (apart from the marche central and medina).
Personal safety is also no more threatened than in any urban area; we moved
around extensively on foot and on the TGM (railway). Taxis are cheap, but we
were bullied about fares more than once, despite what was on the meter.
Accommodation is an issue; my April 2007 preference
was for a downtown hotel, and the Abu Nawas was excellent and not expensive,
but it is not on offer in August 2008. The prices quoted are much more than we
paid. If you are inclined to work through the dozens of internet re-sellers,
you may be able to pick up a package (European out and back) flight and hotel
for the same price that you will end up paying through the Congress site. My
August 2008 preference would be for the hotels removed from the city (sadly),
as the three star hotels are accurately rated - some of the rooms we saw were a
little stale and unappealing. On the other hand the Garmmarth and La Marsa
hotels were spacious, close to Le Kram, light, modern and on the beach front -
check their web sites. The Organisers
offer minibuses and the TGM is not far away. The Le Kram venue is impressive,
and it seems from the documentation that our hosts will be providing a high
level of support and activities for registrants; Le Kram is a very, very big
facility
We want to have an idea how many of those receiving
this newsletter intend to participate in the congress, how many intend to
present a paper and how many intend to participate in the field trip. This will
give us an early idea about the interest in the congress and allow us to be in
a better position regarding the commission’s activities. Please inform Michael
Sofer (soferm1@mail.biu.ac.il) whether
you plan to attend the congress.
I would like to consult with you what
should be the main topic of the 2009 commission’s
annual conference in Warsaw. A tentative
topic appears in the commission’s activities timetable below. This meeting is
organised by Jerzy Banski who has already prepared a draft of the program.
The
updated timetable of the Commission on Local Development activities: 2008-2010
Year
|
Month
|
Place
|
Comments
|
Theme
|
|
2008
|
25-29 August
|
Tunis
|
IGU International Congress;
Possibly - a pre-congress meeting in Tunis
|
A range of topics shown above
in this newsletter
|
|
2009
|
July / September
|
Warsaw
|
Commission annual meeting
|
Poverty-reduction through local
development
|
|
2010
|
The
dates of IGU regional conference: 11/12-15/16 July
|
Tel Aviv / or elsewhere in Israel
|
IGU regional conference
|
To be decided
|
4. Relevant information
The
31st IGC, Tunis, 2008 - for details see http://www.agt.org.tn/Cong2008_fr.htm
If
this site is not available please try:
The
registration form is available on the site as well.
For
IGU updates check the Home of Geography website:
Commission's
web site located at: http://www.biu.ac.il/soc/ge/igucomld/
For
IGU updates check the Home of Geography website http://www.homeofgeography.org/
Please
spread this news among all those persons you might think may have interest to take
part in the LD commission’s sessions in Tunis. You are invited to offer your
own papers. “Local Development” is certainly grounded in economic theory and
regional development, but our interest is also very much into issues of spatial
unevenness, governance, infrastructure, social policy, and resource management.
Papers related to these issues are welcome.
I
am currently gathering information for our July Newsletter including all the
current conference updates. Could you please send information to me for the
next newsletter? I will be sending the newsletter to everyone early in July.
I
hope we will have fruitful years ahead!
Michael Sofer,
Chairman, IGU Commission on Local Development
