Dear Colleagues:

I am attaching BULLETIN 1 (2000) of IGU Commission on the Dynamics of
Economic Space.
Both MS-Word file and ftf file.
The Bulletin includes information on:
1. 2001-2004 Programme of the New Commission
2. Members of the Commission
3. Call for papers: 2001 Residential Conference, Turin, Italy
4. 2001 Commission Travel Awards
5. Pre-registration form

I also include "Call for Papers" separately.
I look forward to seeing you in Italy.
Sincerely,

Sam Ock Park
Chair, IGU Commission on the Dynamics of Economic Space
Professor, Dept. of Geography
Seoul National University
Seoul 151-742, Korea

Call for papers

Local Development: Issues of Competition, Collaboration and
Territoriality

A joint conference of
the IGU Commission on the Dynamics of Economic Spaces,
and the IGU Study Group of Local Development

10-14 July, 2001
Turin, Italy


The conference aims to draw together contributions that deal with two
interlinked research themes, namely
a) the complex combinations of competition and collaboration between
economic agents, and
b) the relative significance of local vs. non-local relations for local
development.

The selection of these themes is motivated by the strong belief that
they are presently among the most fundamental in the study of local and
regional development. What tends to be wanting in existing accounts are
disaggregated analyses on how competition and collaboration as well as
local and non-local relations work together in specific corporate,
industrial, regional, and country contexts. There is presently a growing
interest in these themes across disciplines. Economic geographers
obviously should be keen on developing a deep understanding in them.
In much current accounting on competitive processes in the globalising
world economy, firms with well-selling products are seen as in danger of
rapidly losing their competitive edge as fast-moving rivals, potentially
in any corner of the world, imitate their products or innovate better
ones. In this race to constantly recreate their competitive advantage,
firms need to focus on ¡®core competences¡¯, outsource non-core
activities and engage in intensive collaboration within flexibly
organised networks. To combat competition, such networks, combining
different types of expert knowledge, are believed to be most beneficial
for change through learning. In regional development literature,
¡°localised learning¡± has come to be regarded as the key process
leading to the prosperity of firms and regions. This process is
faciliated by a supportive institutional environment and the
embeddedness of actors in a wide range of social relations where
interaction is governed by shared conventions in specific activity
domains. Those conventions draw on shared cultural values and practices
in local communities. The ensuing trustful relationships facilitate the
exchange of tacit knowledge that is fundamental to collective learning.
Learning builds, thus, on regionally shared but more broadly unique
knowledge regarding specific technologies, industrial practices,
designs, etc., supported by the rich history of local interaction
between users and producers in specific product markets.
As it is, proximity is likely to help make collaboration better, faster,
easier and smoother. It is likely to facilitate learning and innovation.
Yet, accounts of the kind outlined above result in a view where
competition is global and collaboration is local. In another version of
the story, stemming from the literature on clusters and industrial
districts, actors are seen to be engaged in complex relations of
competition and collaboration simultaneously. Prosperous localities are
not isolated islands, however - quite on the contrary. Their actors -
whether multiregional corporations or multiregionally networking smaller
firms - maintain strong links to actors in other places from which they
may learn, either by imitating or by collaborating to create
commercially applicable new knowledge. Additionally, there are
distinctions that need to be made explicitly concerning configurations
of actors (such as direct competitors, and other producers in the same
business; suppliers or subcontractors to the former or the latter group;
equally powerful partners in product development; customers with varying
degrees of ¡°advanced knowledge¡±; firms in other industries sharing
interests in improving local infrastructures, or the like) and the kinds
of relationships in which they are involved respectively.
There is a compelling need to analyse issues related to competition and
collaboration, proximate and more distant relations in a more
disaggregated fashion. It is a key challenge to differentiate between
levels and types of competition and collaboration. In addition, analysis
needs to shed light on actors engaged in various combinations of
competition and collaboration, how they take place in proximity and over
space, and how particular regional environments ? core/peripheral,
homogeneous/diverse ? affect the nature of these relationships.
Furthermore, there is an increasing need to understand the processes of
learning and knowledge formation and dissemination within economies that
have different societal forms. It is important to come to grips with the
nature and form of knowledge creation and learning in different societal
contexts (e.g. coordinated and uncoordinated market economies as well as
developing countries and transition economies). By integrating
experience from societies with different institutional frameworks it is
possible to clarify our understanding of the workings of processes of
competition and collaboration as they are complexly interwoven and yet
contextualised. In this way light can be thrown on the processes shaping
regional competences that foster competitiveness, innovativeness and
productivity in specific places leading to economic change and local
development. At the same time, the impact of changing international
governance and modes of regulation on local and regional development
needs to be more fully appreciated (e.g. the integration processes
occurring in Europe and North America).

Papers are invited on the various aspects of the theme. Some of the key
issues to be addressed are:
¡¤ contexts and modes of collaboration and competition; effects on
regional development
¡¤ the degree of territorialisation (localisation) of competitive and/or
collaborative relations
¡¤ aspects of renewal/dynamics, processes of change; the role of
different local/non-local agents and stakeholders
¡¤ the role of social capital; processes of trust formation
locally/non-locally
¡¤ competition, collaboration, and policy; changing inter-regional and
international forms of governance and regulation
¡¤ integrated conceptual frameworks and new theoretical positions
¡¤ empirical research in different institutional and competitive
environments, such as mature or hi-tech manufacturing, services of
various kinds, business practices related to the new economy, etc.;
SMEs, large firms, MNCs; regions in informationalised, industrialised,
developing countries, etc.
?

Abstracts

One-page abstract of papers should be sent by e-mail or fax to the Chair
of the Commission, Professor Sam Ock Park, Department of Geography,
Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea (email:
[log in to unmask]; fax: +82-2-886-4556) no later than February 28, 2001.
A maximum of 30 papers will be accepted for presentation at the
conference.

Further Information

The cost of the Conference will be around 500 US$ (the exact details
will be available in early 2001). The 2001 residential conference of the
Commission will be held from 9 to 14 July 2001 at Villa Gualino, a
conference centre set amongst the hills overlooking Turin yet only 4
kilometres from the city centre. The cost of the Conference will be
around 500 US$ (the exact details will be available in early 2001; rates
for single and double occupancy will apply). The cost includes:
conference materials; transfer from and to Turin airport; accommodation
and meals; an all-day excursion.
If you wish to receive further information about the conference
arrangements, please, contact the local organiser, Prof. Sergio Conti,
e-mail: [log in to unmask]; Dipartimento Interateneo Territorio,
Piazza Arbarello, 8 - 10122 Torino, Italy; fax: +39-011-6706246. Further
information can also be found on the Conference website
http://www.igu-localdevelopment.econ.unito.it

For information concerning the conference theme and the scientific
programme, please, contact the conference convenors:


Bj©ªrn T. Asheim
Centre for technology, innovation andcultureUniversity of OsloThe Oslo
Research ParkP.O. Box 1108 BlindernN-0317 Oslo, Norway.Fax: +47 22 84 06
01E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Paivi Oinas
CASBEC/General EconomicsErasmus University RotterdamPOBox 1738NL-3000 DR
RotterdamThe NetherlandsFax: +31-10-4089146E-mail: [log in to unmask]