Minutes of the PRSCO Council Meeting(Approved by the PRSCO Council Meeting in Philadelphia, 21st November, 2003)
Held on Wednesday 2 July 2003
Roqueta Room, Hyatt Regency HotelAcapulco, Mexico
Commencing at 1:15 PM
The meeting was preceded by the PRSCO Councilors lunch, 12.15-1.15 PM, sponsoredby the PRSCO secretariat.
1. Apologies received, roll-call and confirmation of Section representatives
Apologies received:
A. Bailly (President RSAI), J.-H. Choi (KRSA), D. Edgington (CRSA), C. Feng (CRSAT), P. Gonzares (PRSCO friend), J. Guilhoto (PRSCO friend), Y. Miyata (JSRSAI), P.
Nijkamp (PRSCO friend, former RSAI President), B. Resosudarmo (IRSA)
Present:G. Clarke (Executive Director RSAI); K. Donaghy (Immediate Past Executive DirectorRSAI); L. Gibson (WRSA); K. Haynes (PRSCO friend, former RSAI President); Y.
Higano (JSRSAI, Executive Secretary PRSCO); T.-I. Lee (President KRSA, representing
J.-H. Choi); S.O. Park (KRSA, Immediate Past President PRSCO); D. Plane (WRSA,President PRSCO); J. Poot (ANZRSAI); J. Quigley (WRSA); Y. Sakai (President JRSAI,representing Y. Miyata); J. Serrano (AMECIDER, Vice-President PRSCO); R. Stimson(ANZRSAI, representing J. Madden); R. Stough (WRSA); K. Tanaka (JSRSAI); M.
Tawada (JSRSAI)
Confirmation of section representatives, as at 1 July 2003:
AMECIDER: J. Serrano (Vice-President), R. Wences
ANZRSA: J. Madden, J PootCRSA: D. Edgington, R. Shearmur
CRSA-T: C.-M. Feng, C. Mai
IRSA: B. Brodjonegoro, B. Resosudarmo
JSRSAI: Y. Higano (Executive Secretary), Y. Miyata, K. Tanaka, M. Tawada
KRSA: J.H. Choi, S.O. Park (Immediate Past President)
WRSA: L.J. Gibson, D. Plane (President), J.M. Quigley, R. Stough2. Minutes of the PRSCO Council Meeting in San Juan, Porto Rico, 15 November
2002
The minutes were approved as a correct record of the meeting.
3. Report on the 18th PRSCO Conference, Acapulco, 2003
J. Serrano reported that the number of participants in the conference had been very
encouraging: 492 names appeared in the program (with some double counting of people
presenting or discussing more than one paper); 389 participants presented 275 papers. In1

addition, there were 96 Mexican student participants. Important issues in planning theconference were: (i) the mixture of English and Spanish language sessions; and (ii) themixture of theoretical and applied sessions. D. Plane moved a motion of thanks to all theorganizers of the conference, specifically AMECIDER and the Autonomous Universityof Guerrero. This was carried with acclamation. One major aim at the conference had
been to increase participation from South American countries. This has proved partiallysuccessful, with participants from e.g. Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil, but the cost of travel
remains a big issue.
4. Report on preparations for the 19th PRSCO Conference in Tokyo, Japan 25-28
July, 2005
Y. Higano reported on the plans for this conference, which will be held at Nihon
University, which has a suitable new building in central Tokyo. The conference theme
will be “diffusion of knowledge and cooperation of scientific disciplines for sustainabledevelopment”. Plenary sessions would be organized by PRSCO, JSRSAI, RSAI, andpossibly other co-organizers. There would also be a symposium on the main theme, andposter sessions on “Knowledge about environmental evaluation technologies”. Besides
RSAI, other sponsors would include the Science Council of Japan, and five or soJapanese associations with links to JSRSAI.
The registration fee would be 30,000-35,000 yen, but the registration fee may be waived
for participants from developing countries.
Participants would be recommended to stay at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, which will offer a
10,000 yen room rate.
The broad outline of the programme includes a PRSCO Council dinner on Monday night
July 25; the conference opening, RSAI Council meeting and reception on Tuesday; andthe conference dinner on Thursday. The technical excursion was still to be planned.
There will be an option of a full-day excursion on Friday July 29 to e.g. Nikko orKamakura.
The first call for papers would be distributed in Philadelphia.
During discussion, it was suggested that –as meals can be expensive in Tokyo – theconference organizers might include Japanese lunch boxes (obento) in the registration fee.
5. Report on preparations for the 8th PRSCO Summer Institute in Chile in 2004
Dr Ramon Antonio Gutierrez, is the organizer of this Summer Institute. Unfortunately, hewas unable to come to Acapulco to report on progress. He is also involved in organizing
the APEC summit meeting in Chile in 2004. The Summer Institute would preferably beheld during the first two weeks of July 2004. Potential locations are the capital Santiago
or the beach resort Vina del Mar.
6. PRSCO delegate for the RSAI, 2004-2006
The current PRSCO delegates on the RSAI Council are:Hirotada Kohno (2001-2003), John Quigley (2002-2004), Jorge Serrano (2003-2005).
It was proposed that Yoshiro Higano would replace Hirotada Kohno. This was agreed.

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7. Short reports from member organizations (membership trends, annual
conference plans, current issues of interest to other PRSCO memberorganizations)Y. Serrano (AMECIDER) noted that this section has about 170 members. Ensuringcontinuity of membership is one current issue. The number of persons involved at theinternational level is also still rather small. Nationally, co-ordination across regions issometimes problematic. AMECIDER would hold its 10th anniversary meeting in 2004.
R. Stimson (ANZRSAI) noted that ANZRSAI has about 200 members among whom20% are members of RSAI. The next Australasian conference would be held in Perth,Sunday 28 September to Wednesday 1 October 2003. A significant characteristic ofANZRSAI is that the majority of members are regional development practitioners andpolicymakers. The section publishes two journals, Australasian Journal of Regional
Studies catering for academic research and Sustaining Regions for practitioner casestudies.
D. Edgington (CRSA) reported by e-mail that an annual meeting of the Canadian section
was held May 30-31 at the University of Victoria. The meeting had 45 participants.
No reports were obtained from Taiwan and Indonesia.
Y Higano (JSRSAI) reported that the Japanese section now has 830 members, amongwhom 300 were also members of RSAI. The next local meeting would be held in
Okinawa, 1-3 November 2003.
S.O. Park (KRSA) noted that Korean membership was stable, around 350 members. One
issue is that is hard to attract young scholars, and also more applied researchers. Thesection holds two conferences every year. Unbalanced development is a major theme.
D. Plane (WRSA) noted that membership peaked at 370, and was now around 300. TheFebruary 2003 meeting was held in Rio Rico (Arizona). The 2004 meeting would be on
Maui (Hawaii). One notably successful activity of WRSA is the annual competition for
the Charles M Tiebout Prize in Regional Science (for the best paper submitted by afulltime graduate student).
8. Progress report on regional science groups in the Pacific Rim area
Contacts with colleagues in the Philippines, mainland China, Malaysia, Brazil and theCaribbean were mentioned. It was hoped that there would be participants from thesecountries at the RSAI world congress, to be held in Port Elizabeth (South Africa), April
14-17, 2004.

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9. Papers in Regional Science
J. Poot (Pacific Editor) noted that the rate of Pacific manuscripts submissions had been
increasing in 2002, but was again declining in 2003. Volume 82, no. 3 (July 2003) was aspecial issue of Papers in Regional Science on “Regional integration, trade andinvestment expansion in the Asia Pacific”, edited by Zhaoyong Zhang (NationalUniversity of Singapore). It was also noted that Vol. 83, no. 1, 2004 would be the Golden
Anniversary issue of PiRS. Several Pacific authors contributed to this issue, which would
be given to all participants of the 50th Anniversary meeting of the RSAI (at theDoubletree Hotel in Philadephia, November 20-22, 2003).
10. RSAI matters
G. Clark, the Executive Secretary of RSAI, briefly outlined the plans for changes in theorganization and membership structures of RSAI that are currently being developed.
Further details can be found in RSAI News. It was noted that the support and input ofPRSCO would be crucial to the future wellbeing of RSAI.
11. Other business
The next Council meeting would be held at the NARSC meeting of RSAI in theDoubletree Hotel in Philadelphia sometime on Friday 21 November 2003. Note: theRSAI Council meeting will now be held that same day, commencing at 2 pm.
D. Plane closed the meeting at 3:15 pm, after which participants went on a conference
excursion of the Acapulco area.

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