The 2007 World Conference of IGU/C 04.27 on Marginalization, Globalization and Regional and Local Response

August 20-25, 2007

Hokkai School of Commerce, Kitami, Japan

(First)

Conference Theme: Critical reflections on Local and Regional Responses: Perspectives from the North and the South

Date:

19 August: Arrival in Kitami, Hokkaido

20: Plenary (morning), Parallel Sessions (afternoon, evening)

21: Parallel Sessions (morning, afternoon, evening)

22: Parallel Sessions (morning), Plenary (afternoon), Excursion (Evening. Suburbs of Kitami City)

23-25: Excursion (ends in 25 evening)

Venue:

Hokkai School of Commerce

235 Hokkou, Kitami City, Hokkaido 090-8555, Japan

Excursion:

Theme: Economically depressed but most endowed with natural beauty

Visiting spots (provisional):

23: Small-sized cities in depression, Shiretoko World Natural Heritage, Sand peninsula and shallow seabed with shrimps and shellfish, Spa

24: Border region with Russia, Partially barren Konsen Plateau, Living space of the indigenous people named ‘Ainu’, Kushiro Marshland National Park and sanctuary of red-crested white crane

25: Volcanic Mashuu Lake with high transparency, Pasture and agricultural landscape, Canoe tourism

Scope of the Conference:

Commission 04.27 has the tradition to introduce and compare the marginalization and regional/local response against it in various areas both rural and urban around the world. Among the main factors of the marginalization is economic one. The value system mainly led by the more economically developed countries in Europe and USA induce many regional inequalities. Globalization, that is, the simultaneous progress of economic influences/fluctuations all over the world is a good example. The local/regional effects and responses occur differently due to the local/regional natures and situations. The function of industries, the role of the small and medium-sized cities, entrepreneurship and so on constitute a part of this sub-theme. This kind of topics will be summarized as economic researches in general.

Commission 04.27 also has the tradition to focus upon the marginalization and regional/local response against it from the viewpoints of cultural, ecological, historical, psychological and so on. The regional comparisons and the frame of reference upon these topics are expected to pursue.

When considering the successful regional/local responses for the sustainable society, both the tangible and intangible assets and resources and their management play important roles. In this sense, the topic on the suitable management of local/regional resources and heritages consists one sub-theme. Social capital in contemporary society and its temporal dynamics and areal differentiation also consists one sub-theme. Their role and management in the post-productivism society and in the knowledge society may also become a topic to be touched upon.

In contemporary society we see the strong impact and function of the politics and regional policies. If we look carefully, we will notice a lot of policies weave a web in a society. Not only agricultural and forestry policies as well as industrial policies, but also regional policies such as the policies for less favored areas cover and function in the contemporary world. Critical comparative reflections on them will consist an inevitable topic of interest, too.

The restructuring and innovation of the communities are under way in many countries. In several countries the merger/amalgamation or the cooperation of the administrative corporations are in execution. In many countries various struggles for the community governance are tried such as in cooperation with informal/voluntary sectors and in the system of partnership among several organizations. The principles such as social inclusion/exclusion, community involvement, sense of belonging, empowerment are within the same category. Elderly care welfare, the utilization of the redundancies of the social networks and the creative communication systems will be the typical topics of this branch. All of these relate to the topic of community development as social/sociological study in general.

The papers of both theoretical and empirical nature are welcome. The scales of the study area are among local, regional, national and international. Any scale may be okay, but the perspective (view, consideration) of the comparison with other countries (regions, or continents, that is, at the same scale) will be important. Among topics of interest above mentioned (but not limited to) are:

･Rural, Urban, Rural-Urban Development (Role of Industry, Role of Medium and Small-Sized Cities, Clues and Mechanism to Escape from the Marginalization, that is, Economic Study in general)

･Restrictions and Structure of Marginalization induced by Economic Globalization, Cultural, Historical, Psychological Factors etc.

･Sustainable Management of Local/Regional Resources and Heritages

･Role of Social Capital in Contemporary Society and Its Temporal Dynamics/Areal Differentiation

･Role and Perspective of Politics and Regional Policies in Contemporary Society

･Community Development through Governance, Voluntarism, Partnership and so forth, that is, Social Study in general

Constitution of the Conference:

The conference is constituted by plenary and parallel sessions. The parallel sessions include the following two sessions:

The Asian session: As the Conference is held in Asia, one session is to be intended to focus upon the comparison of marginalization, globalization and regional/local response of the East, Southeast and South Asia.

The session on Social Capital and Development Trends in the Japanese and Swedish Countryside: This session is jointly executed by Swedish researchers and the MARG(Marginal Areas Research Group) members interested in the development of sparsely populated areas with much attention to social capital.

Another sessions will be constituted according to the abstracts that participants submit.

First day, in the morning of 20 August, the opening greetings of the Conference and the keynote lectures are addressed. It is open to the general public, that is, citizens in Kitami City and Hokkaido. Translated documents at hand are distributed. From the afternoon of 20 August to the morning 22 August, the parallel session will continue. In the afternoon of 22 August, the concluding plenary session will be held.

In order to make the Conference more productive/fruitful, the discussants will be appointed to each presentation as well as the chair for each module of the session.

Publication:

As well as the previous Conference, selected papers from the Conference are to be published. Detail information will be given later.

Submission Information and Key Dates:

- 15 April 2007: Deadline of the submission of abstracts to Local Organizer, Yasutaka Matsuo. Title and Abstracts in Word(max 300 words) may be sent by e-mail to matsuo@isc.senshu-u.ac.jp. The abstract should include title, complete address, phone number and e-mail address

- 15 April 2007: Intention or not to participate in the excursion of 22(23)- 25 August

- 15 May 2007: By this day the participants are requested to book “Kitami Towa Hotel” by themselves. One single room for one night with breakfast costs about 7,200 yen that is about 65 USD. Phone number is +81.157.24.2511. 30 rooms are temporarily secured from the night of 19 to 21 (22) August 2007. As summer is in long holidays, we cannot keep the temporal secure so long. If we change the departure time of the excursion in the morning of 23 August, the hotel reservation of the 22th night in August is necessary. I will inform the details later. If you have queries, please ask me. E-mail is matsuo@isc.senshu-u.ac.jp and phone number is +81.44.911.1290.

- 10 June 2007: Final date for payment of the registration fee and the excursion fee

- 30 June 2007: Provisional programme announcement by Local Organizer

- 30 July 2007: Deadline of the submission of the complete presentation paper to Local Organizer. Local Organizing Committee prepares the necessary number of copies when the paper is submitted by this day. After it, the presenter will bring the needed number of copies with him/her.

- 5 August 2007: Discussant appointment. It will be shown in the homepage and each email will be sent to inform him/her of it by the Local Organizer.

- 19 August 2007: Delegates arrive in Kitami.

- 20-25 August 2007: Conference and Excursion

Fees of Registration and Excursion (provisional, not fixed)

Fee of Registration: not fixed, but it will be between 10,000 to 12,000 yen, that is about 100 USD.

Inclusive of the cost of participation, document at hand, name card, lunches of 20^th, 21th, and 22th August, coffee break.

Fee of Excursion: not fixed, but intended to be not more than 50,000 yen, that is about 450 USD. (I have not got a reply from the travel agency yet.) As the Conference and Excursion is held in the summer vacation, the negotiation of the cost reduction is not easy, but I sincerely hope many members will participate in the Conference and Excursion and enjoy them!

Means of Transportation:

Detail information will be given later.

Organizing Committee:

Commission 04.27 Steering Committee:

Chair (Organizer) Prof. Etienne Nel, Rhodes Univ., South Africa.

Prof. Bradley Cullen, Univ. of New Mexico, USA.

Prof. Fernanda Delgado Cravidão, Coimbra Univ., Portugal.

Prof. Gareth Jones, UK.

Prof. Yasutaka Matsuo, Senshu Univ., Japan.

Prof.Stanko Pelc, Univ. of Primorska, Slovenia.

Prof. Pushkar K. Pradhan, Tribhuvan Univ., Nepal.

Prof. Margarita Schmidt, Univ. Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina.

Prof. Ali Toumi, Tunisie.

Prof. J A(Tony) Binns, Univ. of Otago, New Zealand.

Secretary: Prof. Walter Leimgruber, Univ. de Fribourg, Suisse

Local Organizing Committee:

Local Organizer Prof. Yasutaka Matsuo, Senshu Univ.

Prof. Tohru Tamura, Muroran Institute of Technology.

Prof. Hideaki Abe, Hokkai School of Commerce.

Prof. Kiyoshi Takahashi, Kitami Institute of Technology.

Prof. Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Graduate School of Management, Kyoto Univ.