Community Motive 🌎🌍🌏Think Local Planet, Act Regionally!: CALL FOR PAPERS Sustaining Regional Futures. RSA Global Conference, 24-26 June 2012, Beijing Conference Center, China


Sustaining Regional Futures 24-26 June 2012 (Field trip on 27 June 2012) Beijing Conference Center, Beijing, China The Regional Studies Association Global Conference 2012, in partnership with the Chinese Academy ofSciences Call for papers Register now Hurry up, deadline for registration is 10^th February 2012! (After this date the full rate will apply, make sure you book in advance as only a limited number of rooms is available at a discounted rate) Tweeting about this event? Please use hashtag #CN_RSA
For the first time, the annual conference is being held in China and is being organised with our partner, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, around the theme of Sustaining Regional Futuresin Beijing, China. As well as the plenary sessions at the Beijing conference, where keynote speakers will address some of the biggest issues facing regions and sub-national areas around the world, gateways are being organised on the causes and implications of different patterns of regional development. The gateways are dedicated to assessing the forms and successes of regional policies in managing regional disparities; establishing basic public services; supporting endogenous growth and the comparative advantages of regions; promoting regional competitiveness and sustaining harmony between the economy, society and the environment. Papers on each of these themes are encouraged - on different countries’ and regions’ experiences, and on comparative studies. Papers on aspects of social justice, territorial politics, governance, and peripheral and marginal regions are also welcome to address what has been happening in these times of rapid national growth and global upheaval. Additional topics in which we particularly encourage contributions are city-regions, spatial planning and analysis which may look at the position in China but which may focus elsewhere Debate and discussion, contrast and comparisons are essential to the success of Regional Studies Association conferences and to academic endeavour. Critical analyses and sharing of experiences in all these topic areas will ensure the Beijing conference achieves the aims that the Regional Studies Association and its partners have set out for it. A limited number of Conference bursaries is available for eligible members. For more information: http://www.regionalstudies.org/events/2012/June-Beijing/		Gateway Themes A. Environmental sustainability B. Migration and labour markets C. Social justice and civil society D. Rural challenges E. Territorial politics and policy F. City-regions and urban transformations G. Spatial econometrics H. Infrastructure and development I. Borders, border regions and peripherality J. Industries, entrepreneurship, and regional competitiveness K. Innovation and knowledge economies L. Creativity, identities and branding M. Tourism and regional development N. Spatial planning and practice O. Banking, finance and financialisation Special Sessions: -International Airports. More than just an infrastructure facility? -Clusters Life Cycles and Territorial Resilience in Knowledge-Based Economies -Subjective wellbeing and the region -Multi-level governance and strategic planning for effective regional development policy: insights from Europe. * Organisers welcome proposals for special sessions, themed workshops and innovative forms of networking and collaboration. If you would like to organise a session to the conference please contact Jimmy Ancheta Jr. atevents@regionalstudies.org . Academic Organising Committee:** Co-chairs, Liu Yi: liuy@igsnrr.ac.cn , Andrew Beer:Andrew.Beer@adelaide.edu.au , Secretary, Weidong Liu: liuwd@igsnrr.ac.cn, Members, Henry Yeung: henryyeung@nus.edu.sg, He Can Fei:hecanfei@urban.pku.edu.cn, Anthony Yeh:hdxugoy@hkucc.hku.hk Mike Danson:michael.danson@uws.ac.uk, Pedro Marques:marques@geographie.uni-kiel.de RSA Organiser: Jimmy Ancheta, Jr.jimmy.ancheta@regionalstudies.org
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Cristina Comunian

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Tel +44 (0) 1323 899 698 Fax +44 (0) 1323 899 798

Prototype for Global Coding of Political Geographies Library and Data Management – Wikipedia Example

The system is based on a geocode scheme set up for earth that focuses on established political boundaries as a basis for regional grouping of nations, states and localities. It is decimal system based to take advantage of the sort criteria for numbers in computers. It utilized the Sector Group and Region codes of the United Nations and ISO. Geographic information system technology does not solve the problem, but its tools can be used with the geocodes.

The geocode system effectively organizes Wikipedia entries as a library management and the geocodes can be used for data aggregation. This has been developed under a Creative Commons license and would benefit from a global network implementation where local users cooperatively related subnational geographic regions and component political geography.

Examples are at the links which follow:

1. Global Geocode Library Use Organizes Wikipedia Pages Geographically

2. Global Geocode Library Use Organizes U.S. State Wikipedia Pages Geographically

3. Global Geocode Library Organizes U.S. Sub-state and Multi-state Region Wikipedia Pages Geographically

4. Why focus on COGs/Regional Councils in the U.S.? "the substate district is essentially an administrative tool of states"

Contact: Tom Christoffel

Community Motive – Three Thoughts by Tom Christoffel, FeRSA, 3/16/09-revised 9/29/09; 9/26/11

Based on my experience as a regional planner and agency director, 1973 -2008, and in recognition of emerging "regional communities," I developed three thoughts about community that relate to the challenge of working across-boundaries as greater or regional communities. The thoughts/theses apply for communities at the scale of bonding or bridging social capital as defined by Robert D. Putnam, which is alternately local or regional. (link below)

As of 2011, considering the global financial crisis brought about by pursuit of the "profit motive," it struck me that this has come to dominate modern life. This is a relatively new invention of civilization and wasn't a concern for most of the time that homo sapiens has been on the planet.

The three thoughts below that had emerged in my experience of working on regional cooperation now represent what I now posit as the "community motive." Concern about "profit" can emerge within an established community over time, but, to my mind the "profit motive" does not exist in the wild.

1) Community precedes cooperation.
2) Community is how life solves all problems.
3) Security is the primary purpose of community.

These three thoughts, theses if you will, are the basis of the "community motive." Following is some exposition about each one.

As I see it, security has always been the priority for humans since the plains of Africa. That's why communities first seek to establish defensible boundaries. After the basics are in place, security focus shifts to the social and economic. Boundaries work like the membrane in the osmosis experiment most of us have seen in a science class. The membrane is a filter that lets the good things pass through, but keeps unwanted things out. (Osmosis -YouTube - 45 sec.)

The evolved political boundaries of today have consequence. The rules change when you cross them. Though marked on the ground and fortified in some instances, they are conceptual, as pictured above, with Universe Man. The boundary divides the space between local, that within, and regional, everything outside, as labeled in the second panel. The third panel repeats the image within, to show, without graphic elegance, that the land on which Universe Man sits is regional at another scale, as determined by other boundaries, and another area that's local. A territory is both local and regional, depending upon the perspective.

Communities of communities, “regional communities” are greater communities organized to solve a problem, be it managing a watershed, strengthening an economic cluster or ensuring peer competition for school sports. Regional boundaries can be imposed for administrative purposes within states, but for these to be a basis for effective cooperation, a greater community sense is needed for that geography among the people. This is true for multi-state and multi-national regional communities as well. The leaders with such a vision can build a regional community by finding that which is already in place.

This is not to suggest that community is easy to build in order to solve problems. In a crisis, humans of any culture, belief or politics can quickly come together and self-organize to save themselves and others. It was the on-the- ground response to the 9/11 attacks that demonstrated to me the deep responsiveness of human community, as well as the fundamental importance of security. Community is how humans have always survived. This, I think, extends to all life forms.

The "community motive" comes into play when there is a problem to be solved. In a monetized civilization, the "profit motive" may be an incentive for some action, but most of the problems of life don't have a check at the end for their solution. They are things that must be done. Because this is the case, humanity has been able to perpetuate. ©

For more on Regional Community and Scale, see the Slideshare box below.

To learn about bridging and bonding social capital, read Chapter 1 of Bowling Alone: the collapse and revival of American community By Robert D. Putnam

Community Motive 🌎🌍🌏Think Local Planet, Act Regionally!

CALL FOR PAPERS Sustaining Regional Futures. RSA Global Conference, 24-26 June 2012, Beijing Conference Center, China

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"Community Motive" - What is it?

Prototype for Global Coding of Political Geographies Library and Data Management – Wikipedia Example

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Earth ( we know its a spherical whole)

Universe Man at the Boundary

Local Planet - Regional Space

Our Local Planet has systems of Political Geographies which combine as Regional/Greater Communities

Community Motive – Three Thoughts by Tom Christoffel, FeRSA, 3/16/09-revised 9/29/09; 9/26/11

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Financial Crisis - New Necessity for Cooperation

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Regional "Communites of Practice"

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