Minutes of the PRSCO Council Meeting (Seattle, 13th November, 2004)
Held on Saturday, November 13, 2004
Columbia Room, Renaissance Madison Hotel, Seattle, Washington

PRESENT: Jorge Serrano (PRSCO President and AMECIDER Councilor), Kingsley E.
Haynes (WRSA Alternate Councilor in place of Dr. Stough, and Past President, RSAI),
Chen-Min Feng (President CRSA-Taiwan, and CRSA-T Councilor), Geoffrey J.D.
Hewings (Immediate Past President, RSAI), Takeshi Hiromatsu (JSRSAI Alternate
Councilor in place of Dr. Tawada), Heinrich von Baer (Chilé, Organizer, 2004 Summer
Institute; Friend of PRSCO), Patricio Aroca (Chilé, Friend of PRSCO), Raymond Florax(Editor-in-Chief, Papers in Regional Science), David Plane (WRSA Councilor, and PastPresident, PRSCO), Yoshiro Higano (JSRSAI Councilor and Executive Director,PRSCO), Robert Stimson (Australia-New Zealand Section Councilor and RSAIPresident)

The Meeting was called to order by PRSCO President Serrano at 8:38 AM.
a) Apologies received, roll-call and confirmation of Section representatives
Higano extended apologies from the following Councilors and other invitees whowere unable to attend the meeting: R. Stough, J. M. Quigley, P. Batey, A. Bailly, B.
Resosudarmo, B. Brodjonegoro, D. Edgington, J.H. Choi, J. Poot, J. Madden.
A roll-call of those in attendance was taken. Representation of the member
organizations at the Council Meeting was confirmed. (No representation at theMeeting from: Korea, Indonesia, Canada.)b) Confirmation of Section Representatives.
Higano reported that the new Indonesian Regional Science Association Councilor isBambang Brodjonegoro. He Reported that the new Canadian Regional Science
Association (CRSA) President is Pierre Desjardins. The new CRSA Executive
Director is Mark Brown.
c) Minutes of the PRSCO Council Meeting in Philadelphia, November 21, 2003.
Item 10. A PRSCO Council Meeting was NOT held at the Port Elizabeth WorldCongress.
l) (Note: Due to a Program conflict for Raymond Florax, item l of the agenda was taken
up after c.) Progress Report on Papers in Regional Science.

2Editor-in-Chief Raymond Florax gave a short report on the status and current topics
of interest regarding Papers in Regional Science: Journal of the RSAI. He reported
that submissions are now averaging 80-90 annually with about a 40%, 30%, 20%
breakdown of papers being offered from Europe, North America, and the PacificRegion, respectively. He discussed the transition from publication by SpringerVerlag (last 2004 issue now complete) to Blackwell Publishers – first 2005 issue toappear in March or April. He noted that the Editorial Board has now been expandedand terms are for five years rather than three. He noted that henceforth submissions
would all be channeled through the Editor-in-Chief, changing somewhat the role ofthe “regional” editors. Jessie Poon is being reappointed as North American Editor
and Brigitte Waldorf as Book Review Editor. Jouke van Dijk is being added as a neweditor for Europe with Raymond Florax moving in January 2005 to Purdue University.
Haynes: Asked about representative of PRSCO region on the Editorial Board.
Florax: It was under-represented; now evenly distributed.
Haynes: With more centralized control, must be even more sensitive to regional
distribution of papers; editorial board members and PRSCO members may be at adisadvantage due to language,
Florax: We have an English-language technical editor to work on manuscripts; also,Jacques Poot has been working hard on submissions from the Pacific region.
d) Progress report on the organization of the 19th PRSCO Regular Meeting in Tokyo,
July 25–28, 2005
Higano gave a short report on plans for the upcoming 19th Pacific Conference of theRSAI to be hosted by the Japan Section on the Misaki Campus of Nihon University in
Toyko in the College of Economics. The official hotel will be the Tokyo Dome Hotel,
with a very favorable negotiated room rate (single or double occupancy) of $120US
per night.
A Call for Papers may be found on the web at http://region.hse.tut.ac.jp The
registration form will be added soon and hotel reservations will be able to be made on
the web. An overview of the meeting dates:
Monday: Opening Ceremony; Tuesday: paper sessions and PRSCO Council Meetingin the morning, RSAI Council in the evening; Wednesday: morning paper sessions,afternoon: technical excursion, evening: Banquet; Thursday: morning paper sessions,afternoon closing ceremony.
Deadline for papers: End of March (can be extended to the end of June)e) Report on the 8th PRSCO Summer Institute in Valdivia, Chilé, September 23–24,
2004
Heinrich von Baer presented a lengthy and comprehensive report on the recentlyconcluded “Summer” Institute held in conjunction with the 2nd National Seminar on
Regional Studies in Chilé. He reported that there were 178 participants at the3National Seminar and 35 PRSCO Institute participants, with 10 counties represented.
An extended discussion was held about the feasibility of establishing a Chilean
Regional Science Association for potential admission to the RSAI.
f) Report of the RSAI Council delegatesAmong other matters (new universal membership plan, transition to Blackwell
management of membership and journal, the website, etc.), a short discussion washeld of the proposal put forward by PRSCO Executive Director regarding possible
new “supra-regional organization” structure for the RSAI. The globalization ofregional science was a topic of lively discussion. It was resolved to return to a fuller
consideration of these issues at the next PRSCO Council Meeting next summer inTokyo.
g) Venue and host section of the Summer Institute in 2006
Higano reported that he had been in contact with the Malaysian Section and that they
are willing to host.
Haynes: Mentioned the active section in India, which has never affiliated with aSupra-Regional organization. Suggested that PRSCO should be sensitive todevelopments there and that Higano should coordinate with Peter Nijkamp regarding
developments in India and their potential willingness to host a future international
workshop or conference.
h) Venue and host section of the Regular Meetings in 2007
Higano reported on discussions with David Edgington of the Canadian Regional
Science Association regarding an invitation for CRSA to host the 20th PacificConference of the RSAI, perhaps in Vancouver, in summer of 2007.
It was suggested that Warren Gill at Simon Fraser University, newly added to theWRSA Board, could be a useful collaborator in making arrangements for a Western
Canadian conference.
Higano reported that Indonesia may be a backup if CRSA is unable to accept theinvitation to host.
i) Report on activities of Pacific Rim regional science communities
China: Dr. Feng initiated a discussion of developments in China. The possibilities
and barriers to entry of mainland China as a member organization into PRSCO andRSAI were debated. Feng will hold discussions with the group in Beijing.
Columbia: Serrano reported on developments there.

4Bangladesh: Higano reported on his recent trip, during which he visited a number of
institutes doing regional research. He reported that he has “good feelings” about theprospects for development of a regional science association in the future.
j) Nomination of Friends of the PRSCO
By vote of the Council, Enrique von Baer from Chilé and Jaime Bonet and Henri
Duquet of Columbia were vetted as “Friends of PRSCO.”k) PRSCO Delegate for the RSAI Council
Higano reported that the three current RSAI Councilors appointed by PRSCO are:Serrano, Quigley, and Higano. Quigley will be leaving the Council at the end of 2004
after having served two full terms. WRSA Executive Director Plane was asked tomake a recommendation of a nominee – by the end of the year, if possible – toreplace Quigley on the Council.
l) (Note: This item was taken up earlier; see page 1)m) Any further business
A resolution was passed by unanimous acclaim to thank the other organizers andEnrique von Baer for organizing the 8th PRSCO Institute in Chilé.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 AM. The next PRSCO Council
Meeting will be held July 26, 2005, 10:00 AM to Noon, in Tokyo.