I think there are a number of legitimate concerns about this year's IBG
but I think generally the whole conference scene is changing and
becoming more kind of twin track, such that you have both big
name/plenary type conferences which perhaps give you an overview of the
discipline and a chance to meet and catch up with people across the
discipline, and smaller, more focused conferences run on more of a
workshop/seminar type model catering for particular interests and
oriented more at academic dialogue, detailed discussion and
collaboration.
I don't think any conference can do both of these and it seems we, as
punters, just have to choose wisely how to spend our meagre
conference/travel funds.
This year's IBG was certainly positive in the way that attendance was
good, even if some people were just popping in for the day, but this
could just be seen as a sad indictment of the fact that many of us will
travel to London but not to Plymouth, or Leicester, or Belfast. This,
together with a considerable number of plenary sessions focused on
London, did suggest more signs of both a centralisation of UK geography
and a London-centrism... I don't remember numerous sessions on, say,
Leicester when the IBG was there.
Don't know what anyone else thought....
Alison
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Dr Alison Stenning
Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
Tel: +44 191 222 8017
Office: +44 191 222 8016
Fax: +44 191 232 9259
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.nowahuta.info
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