President's Report 2007

One year after my first President's Report I am pleased to report on further ISUF activities, especially the development of regional associations.

The ISUF conference in September 2006 was hosted in Stockholm by the newly established Nordic Network of Urban Morphology. The good attendance and the interesting programme of some 50 papers were testimony to the vitality of the Nordic Network. The success of this first major conference organized by a regional group of ISUF gave reassurance that the ISUF policy of encouraging the development of regional organizations is an enlightened one. The increased scope that it offers for disseminating research and practice at a local scale is consistent with ISUF's objective of stimulating communication between both disciplines and schools of thought. The vitality of regional networks is an important aspect of strengthening the international and interdisciplinary communication that is at the heart of ISUF's purpose.

At the conference in Stockholm, Michael Conzen was succeeded as Secretary-General by Nicola Marzot. The fact that Nicola currently holds posts simultaneously in Ferrara, Italy and Delft, in the Netherlands is in tune with the internationalization of urban morphology that is central to ISUF's aims. I am proud that a young Italian scholar has taken over as co-ordinator of our organization. At the same time I wish to express my deep gratitude to Michael Conzen for having held the reins of ISUF since 2004, fulfilling an invaluable scientific and organizational role at an important juncture in the development of our organization.

Following rapidly on the heels of the formation of the Nordic Network of Urban Morphology, I am delighted to report on the foundation of a parallel Italian group. The first meeting of ISUF's Italian network took place during the annual meeting of CISPUT (International Centre for the Study of Urban and Regional Evolution) in Artimino in November 2006. At the meeting there were representatives of the faculties of architecture of Milan, Turin, Bologna, Florence, Ferrara, Rome, Bari and Naples. At the end of a morning of lively debate, it was decided to hold an inaugural convention in Rome early in 2007. Giuseppe Strappa brought this event to fruition, organizing a conference at 'Casa dell'architettura', sponsored by the Architectural Association of Rome, 23-24 March 2007. It was divided into two sessions: first an interesting debate on 'the heredity of modern homes and future townscapes'; secondly, ISUF's Italian constituent assembly.

The first session included speeches by Professors B. Todaro, L. Barbera and G. Piccinato of the three faculties of architecture in Rome, Professor S. Poretti, who heads the Civil Engineering Department of the Second Tor Vergata University in Rome, R. Morassut, Town Planning Councillor of the Municipality of Rome, and administrators and heads of public and private building concerns. Reports by various speakers on surveys of the current condition of buildings constructed in the last decades of the twentieth century revealed a variety of problems: primarily the social conditions of inhabitants, building deterioration, lack of services and severe problems in the maintenance of our building heritage. Resolution of the problems entails either renovation to bring infrastructures up-to-date, or demolition and rebuilding in accord with current criteria and planning practices.

The Italian constituent assembly of ISUF was attended by approximately 40 university scholars and researchers, most of them having attended previous meetings in Artimino. After a lively, albeit somewhat quibbling, debate the articles of association were approved. Ways of devising and achieving collaborative working programmes were then discussed. It was proposed to set up interfaculty research projects with a view to presenting findings at ministerial level. A variety of views are contributing to the organization of the Italian network. A steering committee is bringing these together and will shortly circulate to members a document setting out the way forward.

By the time this report is published the next major conference of ISUF, in Ouro Preto, Brazil, will be over. Organized by Staël de Alvarenga Pereira Costa, it promises to be the largest ISUF conference yet. At the business meetings to be held at the conference, plans for the principal ISUF activities over the next 2 years will be approved.

Gian Luigi Maffei, Dipartimento di Progettazione dell'Architettura, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Viale Gramsci 42, 50132 Firenze, Italy. E-mail: gianluigimaffei@libero.it