Award Speech by Vice President Paolo La Greca:

This is the 8th edition of Gerd Albers Award.
The Award was established in 1999 in honour of our distinguished member Gerd Albers on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Professor Albers is co-founder and past President of the Society and he has always strongly emphasized the importance of sounded publications as a valuable means to further the aims of the Society.

Members of the jury for the 2008 edition were:
Estefanía Chávez de Ortega (Mexico); Peter Robinson (South Africa); Ric Stephens (USA); Didier Vancutsem (Germany).
As Vice President for publications I had the honour to chair the jury and I have the privilege today to announce the results of 2008 Award selection.

In 2006 edition we had only two submissions. Last year in Antwerp nine papers and two books were submitted. As you may recall on that occasion I warmly invited you all to encourage other ISOCARP members, including yourself, to submit papers for GAA 2008.

I would really like to thank you all for the positive answer to that call.
This year we received 21 publications: 14 papers and 7 books. This is very encouraging and the answer that ISOCARP deserves.

Entries:
1 Castello, Lineu Brasil The Perception of Place October 2007 Book in Portuguese – English summary
2 Dercon, Bruno Indonesia Anchoring Homes lug-07 Book
3 Fabian, Lawrence USA Driverless we go Elevator World, Sept. 2007 Article
4 Fleming, Ronald Lee USA The Art of Peacemaking apr-07 Book
5 Gossop, Chris UK Toward a more compact city- the plan for London disP, June 2008 Article
6 Harashina, Sachihiko Japan Development of Studies on Environmental Planning … gen-07 Book in Japanese – English summary
7 Hemel, Zef Netherlands Happiland Stedenbouw & Ruimtelijke Ordening no.4, August 2007 Article
8 Heyning, Chaya Netherlands Parkstad Limburg Practise Book Regional Strategies, Dec. 2007 Article
9 Klaasen, Ina Netherlands A scientific Approach to urban and regional Design Design Research, vol5, no.4, 2007 Article
10 Minnery, John Robert Australia Stars and their supporting Cast Urban Policy and Research, vol.25, no.3, Sept. 2007 Article
11 Minnery, John Robert; Greenhalgh, Emma Australia Approaches to Homelessness Policy in Europe, the USA and Australia Journal of Social Issues, vol.64, no.3, Sept. 2007 Article
12 Nan, Shi China Space of urban & rural Planning Administration China City Planning Review, March 2008 Article
13 Nan, Shi China Concerning China’s Urban Development set-08 Book
14 Ortiz Jasso, Eduardo Mexico Plan Estrategico Cancun giu-07 Book
15 Schaap, Ton Netherlands Urban Reports mar-08 Articles
16 Shaheed, Asad UK Planning for the international City feb-08 Book
17 Stupar, Aleksandra Serbia The magic mirror of sustainability Sustainable spatial Development of Towns and Cities, Dec. 2007 Article
18 Stupar, Aleksandra Serbia Hatching the ugly Ducklings of Globalization Working paper Berlin Roundtables, June 2008 Article
19 Thierstein, Alain Switzerland The Image and the Region gen-08 Book
20 Vreeswijk, Elvira Netherlands Metropolizing Amsterdam Professional report Dienst Ruimtelijke Ordening, April 2008 Article
21 Yuen, Belinda Singapore Squatters nor more: Social Housing in Singapore Land and urban policies for poverty reduction, June 2007 Article

The papers and books submitted have been assessed according to the following criteria:
1. How does the book/paper fit into the broader context of urban theory and practice.
2. What is the relevance of the book/paper within the major current debates in urban planning.
3. How does the book/paper illustrate the variety of problems and solutions related to the new challenges cities or regions of different sizes and nature are facing.

This year we had a large number of entries of high quality. All are relevant to current debates and at, or close to, the cutting edge of professional practice and research. The entries varied in scope from focused conference papers and journal articles to books covering a broad spectrum and professional report. In this framework it was difficult to rank them all and select a single winner for at least 10 out them would have been worthy winners.
But eventually the jury has reached a unanimous decision and accordingly the jury decided to attribute the Award by sharing it to an article and a book.

The winners of the 2008 edition of GAA are:

For Article:
Aleksandra Stupar, Serbia, for The Magic Mirror of Sustainability:
Glittering Ideas, Gloomy Reality, published in Proceedings of International Scientific Conference “Sustainable Spatial Development of Towns and Cities”, Institute of Architecture and Urban&Spatial Planning of Serbia, Beograd, 2008. ISBN 978-86-80329-51-2

Motivation:
The paper focuses on numerous discrepancies between “sustainable” ideas, concepts, actions and their outcome in the urban spaces. The outcome is an interesting, illustrative and provoking article and a challenging critique of implementation of “sustainable” development projects. Its high quality is testified by the good observations and it reflects scholar research fitting the main purpose of the Award.
Short summary of paper by Alexandra Stupar

For Book:
Shi Nan, China, Co-author of the Book Some Observations Concerning China’s Urban Development, published by China Architecture and Building Press, 2008. ISBN 978-7-112-09686-2

Motivation:
The book is a major contribution in revealing the complex array of urban planning and development issues in China, with creative proposals as to how these could be addressed. It provides a wide, clear and comprehensive overview on urban planning and instruments for China. Its good quality is testified by the broad observations encompassing theoretic and practical issues and it reflects applied research fitting the main purpose of the Award.
Short summary of book by Shi Nan

Eventually the jury unanimously decide to attribute an honourable mention to: Alain Thierstein, Switzerland, Editor of the Book: The Image and the Region
The book is about Mega-city regions the emerging new large-scale urban phenomenon. It is a seminal study based on the hypothesis that getting a picture of mega-cities regions requires an ample and multi-scaled process and it is a prerequisite to establish large-scale metropolitan governance.
Short summary of paper by Alain Thierstein

Paolo La Greca
ISOCARP VP for Publication
Chair of the Jury

Powerpoint Presentation as pdf