Council Meetings of ISUF, 2000

A meeting of the Council of ISUF was held on 13 July 2000 at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands. Members present were the President, Anne Vernez Moudon, the Secretary-Treasurer, Michaël Darin, who chaired the meeting, Jean Castex, Giancarlo Cataldi, Elwin Koster, Gian Luigi Maffei, Sylvain Malfroy, Attilio Petruccioli, and Jeremy Whitehand. Also present were two of the conveners of the conference to be held in Cincinnati in 2001, Brenda Case Scheer and Kiril Stanilov, Karl Kropf as reporter and, for the second part of the meeting, Katharine Arntz, Michael Conzen, Peter Larkham and Nicola Marzot.

The Chairman began by congratulating the conveners of the 1999 conference in Florence on their success. The congratulations were warmly endorsed and gracefully accepted.

President's report

As the President herself admitted, her report was prompted by a re-reading of all the previous numbers of Urban Morphology. The promptings resulted in a series of questions and suggestions for further action, relating in particular to the way in which ISUF presented itself. The following tasks were highlighted:

oContinue to emphasize and cultivate the philosophical grounding of the field, in particular in relation to the concept of evolution and the fact that ISUF's coherence was based on the unity of the problem it addressed rather than on the interpretation of that problem.

oEncourage further contributions to the series of papers on the study of urban form in different countries.

oCultivate more systematic links between theory and practice.

oExplore further what ISUF has to offer in the field of urban conservation, in particular in the cases of the destruction of historic fabric in Asian and Islamic towns.

oPress forward with the study of contemporary urban form.

oExplore hybrid methodologies and the integration of different `traditions', for example typo-morphology and space syntax.

oHighlight the publications of members.

oCreate a diary of conferences and events through the medium of ISUF's web site.

Secretary-Treasurer's report

In his report, Michaël Darin indicated that the financial position of ISUF is healthy. Current membership is about 300, which includes a relatively static core of about 150 (of which 50 to 60 are institutional memberships). The surplus of about £400 from the 1999 Conference in Florence would be used to help meet the cost of producing the journal.

At the moment, a larger number of members reside in the UK than in any other single country. Darin pointed out that this might, in part, be a result of the preferred method of subscription payment, which is by cheque in sterling. This continues to pose a problem for people outside the UK owing to the inconvenience and cost of currency exchange. Darin suggested that there is a need to make it easier for people to pay in other currencies. It was agreed to explore the possibility of establishing at least one, and perhaps three, credit card accounts for ISUF, one in the UK (in sterling), one in the Netherlands (in euros) and one in the US (in dollars). Brenda Case Scheer indicated that it was, in any case, desirable for an account to be set up in the US for the 2001 conference.

To attract more individual members, Darin felt that ISUF should provide more services: at present between conferences members received few benefits other than the journal. Anne Vernez Moudon suggested that Web publishing should be explored. It was noted that additional resources would be required to run servers and update pages.

On the subject of institutional subscriptions, Jeremy Whitehand noted that efforts have been made to increase numbers, mainly through sending free issues of the journal to libraries and the insertion of flyers in the issues sent out to members, reminding them to persuade libraries to subscribe. A number of reasons were put forward for the small number of library subscriptions, including the rising number of new journals and the failure of library budgets to keep pace with the increasing cost of books and journals.

Editor's report

Whitehand gave an update on the stream of material coming to the editors for publication. An acceptable amount is received, but the rejection rate for papers, after refereeing, is 60 per cent. This does not leave scope at the moment to increase the size or frequency of the journal. However, the time-lag between the receipt of papers and publication is very short relative to that of most other journals. Whitehand indicated that the editors would be more comfortable with a larger number of acceptable papers. As with the case of subscription levels, Whitehand felt the low level of submission of high-quality papers was, in part, a result of the relatively low profile of the journal, and expressed the view that a greater effort at publicity was necessary. It was important that papers shed light on issues of general significance.

Webmaster's report

Webmaster Elwin Koster began by noting that `hits' on the ISUF web site are low and suggested several means of improving the number of visitors. One was to change the domain name of the site from www.let.rug.nl/isuf/ to something simpler and more direct. Another was to make the site more `glossy'. Discussion brought out a number of other suggestions:

oinclude relevant dissertation abstracts;

oplace current Urban Morphology papers on the site;

oadd a list server for discussion;

oadd a message board;

oimprove the navigational tools on the site;

oput in illustrations, annotated images and interpretative maps;

opromote the site as an opportunity for members to advertise themselves, in particular with a list of publications;

oadd a register of past and current research;

oestablish the virtual library as discussed at the previous Council meeting;

osuggest to members that they include the site address in their e-mail signature.

Koster suggested that an initial item for a list-server discussion might be the question `what are your top ten books on urban morphology?' It was agreed that Michaël Darin, Elwin Koster, Brenda Scheer, Kiril Stanilov, Peter Larkham and Katharine Arntz would form a sub-group to explore the suggestions further, in particular the issue of whether to have open or limited access list servers. The aim was to initiate discussions by mid-September 2000.

Conference Conveners' report

Brenda Case Scheer and Kiril Stanilov, conference conveners, laid out the timetable for the 2001 Conference in Cincinnati. Planned to run from 6 to 9 September, the schedule is as follows.

oOctober 2000: issue call for papers and establish web site

oDecember 2000: deadline for receipt of abstracts

oMarch 2001: complete review of abstracts and confirm key speakers

oJune 2001: organize sessions and open registration

oJuly 2001: finalize accommodation and equipment requirements; deadline for summary of papers

oAugust 2001: close of registration

oSeptember 2001: conference opens

Negotiations with the hotel are nearly complete. The estimated fee for the conference is $205-225, excluding travel, accommodation and some meals. The conveners are working on an estimate of 200 attendees with approximately 120 papers divided between either four or five parallel sessions. Ideally, the proceedings will be available in book form at the conference, following the example set in Florence.

It was suggested that commissions and working parties could organize sessions of papers. On the basis of experience gained in Birmingham and Florence, it was agreed that the themes of sessions should be formulated after receipt of the abstracts. It was also suggested by Darin that the conference web site should include the list of papers from the 1999 conference. Whitehand brought up the question of the New Researchers' Forum and suggested that some provision should be made for this. It is likely that an optional field trip to Chicago will be organized.

Reports from the Commissions and Working Parties

A working party was approved on Architectural composition and building typology. Its principal, short-term goal is to translate into English Lettura dell'edilizia di base by Gianfranco Caniggia and Gian Luigi Maffei, ready for the Cincinnati 2001 conference. While a significant amount of work has already been completed, much remains to be done within a relatively short period of time. The members of the working party are Gian Luigi Maffei, Nicola Marzot, Ivor Samuels, Karl Kropf and Brenda Case Scheer.

The existing working parties and commissions were still in the initial stages of their work. The formation of a further working party, on medieval urban form, is under consideration. There was general discussion about the aims and procedures of working parties and commissions. Whitehand suggested that there should be scope for considerable variation between one commission or working party and another. Darin suggested that one function of the commissions and working parties might be to organize publications. Koster noted that he had been in contact with a Dutch publisher who is interested in the possibility of publishing a series of works under the aegis of ISUF.

Memorial to M.R.G. Conzen

Whitehand put forward the idea of establishing a memorial to the late M.R.G. Conzen. No firm consensus emerged but a number of ideas were raised. These included a prize for written works; a grant; a periodic memorial lecture, perhaps at the ISUF conferences; a thematic issue of the journal, perhaps tied to a memorial lecture; and a publication such as a melange or festschrift.

Future projects

Anne Vernez Moudon suggested that the 2003 conference might be in Korea in order to broaden the base of ISUF. Koster countered that the distance would be difficult for many existing members and might be counter-productive. He also suggested that another working party might be formed to interview the more established and experienced members of ISUF along the lines of the video interview of M.R.G. Conzen produced by Jeremy Whitehand and Terry Slater.

K.S. Kropf, Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Urban Morphology Research Group, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: ksk@compuserve.com