Newsletter 2014
Dear members,
In this newsletter you will find information on the following:
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1- Colloquium in Poznan 2014
2- Our Commission at the IGC Krakow 2014
3- Young Scholars Prize 2014
4- 2015 Dublin meeting, and our presence in the regional IGU Conference in Moscow
5- Future meetings 2016 up to 2022
6- Books publication
7- Book projects
8- Actual and Future actions
9- Renewal of our commission
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1- Colloquium/Annual Commission Meeting in Poznan, 11th to 14th of August 2013
The colloquium was hosted by the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań (Poland). The colloquium was opened by the President of the City of Poznan, the Vice Rector of Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, and the Dean of the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences. The two distinguished keynote speakers were:
- Professor Peter Nijkamp (Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands):
Cyber city in a complex world
- Professor Marek Ziółkowski: Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland)
Twenty years of transformation: Transformation of Polish society, transformation of Polish cities.
The meeting was a great success thanks to the organizers and thanks to the quality of the presented papers. In total there were 80 delegates representing 15 nationalities. There were 11 papers sessions (49 papers), one business meeting, and two very interesting field trips/scientific excursions inside and around Poznan (and 3 sessions of Piano thanks to Prof. Jerzy Parysek). The excursion linking Poznan to Krakow through the Silesian region was rainy but with a nice ambiance and an informative visit to this urbanized industrial region.
Thanks again to the organizers, Professor Jerzy Parysek, Professor Lydia Mierzejewska and to their team from the Institute of Socio-economic Geography and Spatial Management of the Adam Mickiewicz University for their wonderful organization and their constant willingness to help everybody during this memorable meeting.
2- The Urban Commission at the IGC Krakow - August 2014
3 joint-sessions were held with other Commissions in Krakow 2014:
Urban Challenges for Mediterranean and Gulf Cities
C12-30 Mediterranean Basin Commission
Beyond global cities' system: cities as geopolitical actors in the complex world
C12.33 Commission on Political Geography together
The Planning, Symbolism, and Legacy of Mega-events
C12-14 Commission on Global Information Society
C12-07 Commission on Cultural Approach in Geography
C12-15 Commission on Tourism, Leisure, and Global Change
C12-30 Commission on the Mediterranean Basin
3 additional special sessions:
The place and role of small towns in complex urban systems
Chair: Agnieszka Kwiatek-Sołtys, akwiatek@up.krakow.pl
The Labyrinth of Social Changes: New Theoretical and Methodological Approaches
Chairs: Górczyńska Magdalena, mgor@twarda.pan.pl, Bouloc Caroline, caroline.bouloc@gmail.com
Urbanization and functions of cities in post-socialist countries
Chairs: Daniela Szymańska, dani@umk.pl, Dr. Beata Hołowiecka, b_holow@umk.pl, Prof. C. Rozenblat, celine.rozenblat@unil.ch
Of course, we hosted our 8 main topics, with particular success for the sessions listed below:
· Technological innovations and creative activities in cities
· Contested Social Spaces
· Urban Governance
· Complex Urban Systems
In total, the Urban Commission organized 24 sessions with around 100 effective papers presented. The number of papers, presentations and the wide range of material covered across all the sessions indicate a very successful IGC for the Urban Commission. The Urban Commission organized more sessions than any other Commission present and augurs well for the future of our Commission. There were some very well attended sessions with large audiences and packed lecture halls. We would like to express a special thanks to the Krakow organizers.
3- Young Scholar’s Prize 2014
Organized by Niamh Moore (Dublin) and Maria-Jose Pineira-Mantinan (Santiago de Compostela) with Wayne Davies. This year, 4 papers were submitted for the prize, all were recognized for the high standard of work produced. The applicants were:
• Pu Hao, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Charles Bohan, Lausanne University
• Eudes Leopoldo, University of São Paulo
• Jose Ignacio Vila Vázquez and Aránzazu Pérez Indaverea, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France
The paper by Charles Bohan was chosen by the jury to receive the prize. He received first prize of $1000 US. We take this opportunity to once again congratulate Charles and all those who took part in the Competition for this valuable prize.
For next year in Dublin, we expect to have more Young Scholars’ papers. The jury will be strengthened with more Commission members participating.
4- Commission Meetings in 2015
4.1 Annual Meeting in Dublin: August 9th to 16th 2015
Organized by Niamh Moore, University College Dublin, Ireland
Important dates:
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Monday, 3 November 2014 |
Conference website online, general call for papers released, abstract submission, full conference costs notified and registration open |
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Friday, 20 February 2015 |
Deadline for submission of individual abstracts |
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Friday, 27 March 2015 |
Notification of acceptance of abstract proposals Early bird registration closes |
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Friday, 1 May 2015 |
FINAL Registration deadline for IGU Urban Commission 2015 |
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Friday, 26 June 2015 |
Conference programme published |
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9-16 August 2015 |
IGU Urban Commission Conference and post-conference excursion |
The First Circular and Call for papers is already available on the IGU-Urban commission website, highlighting themes, registration information, costs, excursion information, etc…
Web page address: http://www.unil.ch/igu-urban/home/menuinst/meetings/2015-dublin.html
A dedicated website for the meeting in UCD will open soon.
A special thematic focus for the Dublin Conference will be
Urban Resilience and Environment
We welcome paper submissions for this and any of the other 8 topics that form the core focus of the Urban Commission work program:
· Technological innovations and creative activities in cities
· Contested Social Spaces
· Creating Sustainability
· Dilemmas of Aging Cities
· Increasing Insecurity
· Urban Heritage and Conservation
· Urban Governance
· Complex Urban Systems
4.2 Regional IGU Conference in Moscow: August 17th to 21th 2015
General website of the Moscow 2015 IGU Regional Conference:
Important dates:
Opening registration: November 1st 2014
People presenting papers must register before January 15th
Deadline to submit a proposal for a session: November 30th 2014
Deadline to submit a paper: January 15th 2015
Urban Commission participation:
http://www.unil.ch/igu-urban/home/menuinst/meetings/2015-moscow.html
In addition to our 8 thematics, we’ll propose 2 other specific sessions:
- Post socialist cities
- Eastern/Western cities
Beside our proper sessions, we will host sessions initiated by interested individuals and we’ll organize joint-sessions with other Commissions. All the information will be available on our website on a page dedicated to the Moscow meeting 2015.
For people who would like to organize a session under the label of the IGU Urban Commission, please submit it to our chairs before 20th November 2014 (before sending the form to the Moscow organizers):
- daniel.donoghue@canterbury.ac.uk
Deadline to submit thematic sessions to IGU-Moscow: 30th November 2014
5- Future meetings
Regional IGU Conference will be held each year until 2016. It was again discussed in the IGU Krakow meeting that it would revert to alternate years thereafter.
2016: Shanghai Commission meeting / Beijing IGU Congress
Prof. Shenjing He, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Urban Geography Committee, Secretary of the Geographical Society of China (UGC-GSC), presented in Poznan Business Meeting the possible organization of a pre-conference meeting in Shanghai.
- 15th to 20th August - East China Normal University, Shanghai. field trip to Suzhou
Local host: Prof. Yueming Ning, College of Resources and Environmental Science, (former director of UGC-GSC)
Co-organizers: Prof. Shenjing He & Prof. Werner Breitung, Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
- 21th to 25th August - General conference, Beijing : Co-organizers: Prof. Shenjin He & Prof. Werner Breitung, Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
Expected congresses in the future (last update from the chairs meeting during Krakow 2014)
2018: Quebec IGU Regional Congress
2020: Istanbul IGU General Congress
2022: Paris IGU Regional Congress
6- Book publication 2014
O'Donoghue D. P. (Ed.) (2014) Urban Transformations: Centres, Peripheries and Systems. Ashgate publisher – Publication of selected papers of the Canterbury meeting.
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409468516
7- Book projects
In Progress:
- For end 2014: Special issue from the Johannesburg/Stellenbosch meeting 2012 (Nico Kotze)
- For 2015: International and Transnational Perspectives on Urban systems (C. Rozenblat). We have obtained the agreement of MIT Press to act as publisher and we are collaborating with UN-Habitat.
For future projects, we propose an increased focus on special issues so books may be based on the annual meetings according to the specificity of the hosted city. Publications should be in accordance with special topics announced in the call for papers of future meetings.
Mediterranean cities today: Maria Jose Pineira-Mantinan in cooperation with Maria Paradiso, chair of the C12-30 Mediterranean Basin commission (co-organization of a session in Krakow, 2014). This project will be strengthened if we manage to organize a future commission meeting in a Mediterranean city.
- Restructuring Post-communist cities: Processes and Problems (with the meeting in Poznan / Krakov)
- Creating new societies in the Middle East – Central Asia cities (with the meeting in Middle East)
Please note that IGU has launched a Springer Series on Geographical and Environmental Sciences
8. Enlargement and strengthening of our community
8.1 Present actions
- Promotion of local research through meetings
=> Local keynote speaker (Poznan 2014: Marek Ziokowski)
- Diffusion of international theoretical debates in urban research
=> international keynote speaker (Poznan 2014: Peter Nijkamp)
=> In Dublin 2015, we’ll also have a keynote speaker (we’ll specify it when it will be confirmed)
- Linkages and projects with national committees
=> Japanese National Geographic Commission – 2015 – publication on Shrinking Cities
Edited by Jun Tsutsumi + Masateru Hino
8.2 Actions to develop further
1- Linkages and projects with national committees
In Progress :
=> Spanish Urban Commission
=> Chinese Urban Commission
=> National committees where the annual meeting will take place.
2- Promotion of international theoretical debates in urban research
more collective publications, special issues, special sessions in AAG etc…
=> possible support from the IGU
3- Diffusion list: iguurban@unil.ch
=> must become « THE » list to be registered as urban geographer
=> everybody can send directly information to the list
=> system to keep the information in a website
9. Renewal of our commission
Calendar:
- May 2015: list of members (coming at least 3 times last 6 years).
- June 2015: deadline for nominations to be part of the steering committee
- July 2015: Election of the steering committee by the members
- August 2015: Discussion of the topics, organization
- October 2015: send the proposal to the IGU Executive
