ISUF business meetings, Ouro Preto, Brazil, August 2007

Reports

All reports have been published in the Journal Urban Morphology.

Meetings of the Council and Editorial Board of ISUF took place on Tuesday 28 August in Ouro Preto, immediately before the annual conference. A General Meeting of ISUF took place during the conference. This report covers all three meetings.

Secretary-General's report

The decision to hold the conference in 2008 in Rabat, Morocco, was reviewed owing to organizational difficulties experienced by the local organizer. Abdellah Abarkan was seeking alternative venues. If the conference could not be relocated to another venue in Morocco, it would be held in Italy in association with the meeting of ISUF Italia.

The conference in 2009 would be held at South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou, China from Friday 4 September to Monday 7 September 2009. The principal organizer would be Professor Yinsheng Tian of the Department of Architecture at SCUT. Dr Kai Gu of the University of Auckland would co-ordinate the conference on behalf of the Council of ISUF.

Treasurer's report

Keith Lilley was unable to attend the meetings but submitted a report which indicated that ISUF's finances were healthy. For the year 2006/7 payments exceeded receipts but money overdue from institutional subscriptions should offset the deficit. The Treasurer thanked Professor Abdellah Abarkan for the funds received from the Stockholm conference.

ISUF's main expenditure continued to be the production of Urban Morphology and it was noted that there had been a small increase in costs this year.

The number of individual members continued to grow. Members who had joined in Ouro Preto would benefit from an extended membership period until 31 December 2008. This would include free copies of the journal. The Treasurer noted that an improved membership database for both individual and institutional members was needed. He recommended that consideration be given to the appointment of a Membership Secretary.

Editor's report

Jeremy Whitehand reported that there had been some improvement in the quality of articles received but there was still a need to improve diversity. In particular more submissions would be welcome from outside Europe and North America. Regional reviews and thematic progress reviews were continuing. The flow of 'viewpoints' remained satisfactory, but it was hoped to enlarge the size of the book review section.

Access to the journal through the website is available for the early issues (up to and including 2001). Library subscribers have access to recent issues. It is hoped to provide free access as soon as possible to library subscribers for the whole run of issues.

The flow of manuscripts has been such that the number of pages in the journal has remained at the increased level of Volume 10. About one-third of the articles submitted were accepted for publication.

During 2006/7 the average time lapse between receipt of revised version of an article and publication was approximately 6.5 months. This is the longest time lapse since the journal began, but is still substantially less than for most journals.

New appointments

To fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Sylvain Malfroy, Attilio Petruccioli and Jeremy Whitehand, and the appointment of Nicola Marzot as Secretary-General, the following people were elected to Council: Abdellah Abarkan, Jason Gilliland, Peter Larkham and Shigeru Satoh. Kai Gu was co-opted onto the Council. Emily Talen was appointed to the Editorial Board, following the retirement of Anne-Sophie Clémençon.

Webmaster's report

Elwin Koster was unable to attend the meetings, but submitted a written report. The website continued to grow in 2006/7. A user database has been set up on which users can add and change their own data. It is hoped to expand the database so that it can be used for conference registration.

Regional associations

Giuseppe Strappa reported that ISUF Italia had had three meetings so far and these had been very successful. 42 individuals had joined the Group. Current members are all from an architectural background. It is hoped to attract others, such as Italian geographers, in order to maintain the interdisciplinary ethos of ISUF.

New Researchers' Forum

It was agreed that there should be greater encouragement for younger members and that they should have a more substantial time allocation at conferences. Their participation in regional associations should be encouraged and their contributions to a Newsletter were welcomed.

Susan M. Whitehand, Urban Morphology Research Group, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: smwhitehand@hotmail.co.uk