Council Meetings of ISUF, 2001

ISUF Council Meetings were held on 6 and 7 September, during the Cincinnati conference: a total of over five hours of discussion. Apologies were received from Elwin Koster and Attilio Petruccioli, but all other Council members were present. Also in attendance were Pier Giorgio Gerosa, Peter Larkham and Nicola Marzot.

The agenda began with the President's Report. Anne Vernez Moudon drew from her report in Urban Morphology 5(1) in detailing ISUF's activities. She particularly mentioned the translation of Interpreting basic building, on sale at the Conference; the award from Skidmore Owings and Merrill to Brenda Case Scheer for research forthcoming in the journal Places; the development of links with the Congress for New Urbanism; the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning workshop on education; and links with the Space Syntax conference at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Her strongly-expressed conclusion was that ISUF must promote linkages with other related organizations, and raise its profile.

Secretary-Treasurer Michaël Darin reported that the financial balance was healthy, the bulk of income being used in the production of the journal. The Editorial Board had recognized that production and distribution costs may rise, particularly as proposals for further developing the journal, and new publishing initiatives, are undertaken. There was, therefore, no scope for complacency. Methods of payment, including the move to accepting payment in sterling, dollars and Euros, were discussed. The issue of credit card payments would be further investigated.

In his Editor's Report, Jeremy Whitehand noted a recent increase in published papers from the English-speaking world. However, the Editorial Board would ensure that a strong representation of work in non-anglophone countries was maintained. The acceptance rate for papers had risen to 60 per cent. Evaluation of the journal by the Institute for Scientific Information for inclusion in its databases could, if successful, increase the journal's profile. However, there was still a need to encourage library subscriptions. Ten new subscriptions, including purchase of all back issues, would pay for the printing of one complete new issue! There was no Webmaster's report, but the ISUF website was discussed at length. It was agreed that a commercial name would be more attractive (e.g. ISUF.com), and that a strategy for the development and maintenance of the site, with resource implications, was a priority.

Reports were received from Commissions and Working Parties. It was agreed that the Commission on the role of history in the study of urban form would merge with the Commission on theory and methodology. The Working Party on GIS and cartography had not reported. Council agreed that any Commission or Working Party that did not make formal reports in future would be disbanded. A general conclusion from the reports was that these groups needed to arrive at a good definition of the domains of their activities, and a set of specific output targets.

Brenda Case Scheer reported on the progress of the Cincinnati conference. Nineteen countries from five continents were represented. There were a number of lessons to be learned for future conference organizers, including measures to reduce the drop-out rate between submission of abstracts and actual registrations.

Arrangements were discussed for the Council meeting to be held in Lugano in 2002, arranged by Pier Giorgio Gerosa. This would involve developing links with urban designers meeting at the same venue.

A range of suggestions was debated for the next major conference in 2003. It was agreed that it should take place in southern Italy, organized by Attilio Petruccioli.

As no additional nominations for Council members had been received, Professors Castex, Cataldi and Maffei were elected unopposed. The Officers were reappointed for a further term.

Council lastly discussed several proposals for potential projects, by Sylvain Malfroy, K.-J. Kim and Peter Larkham. These were supported in principle and these organizers were encouraged to develop their projects with ISUF contacts.

Peter J. Larkham, School of Planning and Housing, University of Central England, Perry Barr, Birmingham B42 2SU, UK. E-mail: peter.larkham@uce.ac.uk