Conference History

The First Asian Urbanization Conference was held at the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, U.S.A. on 19-20 April 1985. The conference was sponsored and organized by the Department of Geography, The Center for Urban Studies, and the Center for International Programs of the University of Akron. More than 70 scholars from fourteen nations participated in the conference. The conference resulted in the publication of two books and three special issues in professional journals (one in the Geographical Review and two in Urban Geography ) published in the United States. Many participants of the conference felt that there was a need for similar conferences to be held in different countries every three years or so, to enable interested urban scholars and planners to exchange views on recent development in various Asian regions. As a result, the Asian Urban Research Association (AURA) was formally established in January 1986, housed permanently at the University of Akron. The AURA is a non-profit and private research organization whose primary purpose is to promote the study of urbanization, urban growth in Asian regions and to organize Asian Urbanization Conferences.

1st Conference, 1985, University of Akron, Akron, USA

2nd Conference, 1988, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

3rd Conference, 1991, Delhi University, Delhi, India

4th Conference, 1994, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

5th Conference, 1997, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK

6th Conference, 2000, Madras University, Chennai, India

7th Conference, 2003, University of Georgia, Athens, USA

8th Conference, 2005, Ryutsu Kagaku University, Kobe, Japan

9th Conference, 2007, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea