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Uw zoekacties: International New Towns Association

0017 International New Towns Association

beacon
 
 
History
Formation
Born in the UK
Villes Nouvelles * 
The USA: Real Estate and the Free Market
Conflict of Interests
Founding
Development
Organisation
The organization was and is simple: INTA takes pride in its compact, non-bureaucratic structure. *  There is a General Assembly of all paying members. This meets at the annual congress and determines the general policy.
The Governing Board, composed of representatives of the various countries and chosen by the General Assembly, is the most important general administrative body. Every two years, it chooses a president *  and an Executive Committee, consisting of 15 members. In addition, there is a General Secretariat led by a General Secretary with executive tasks.
There are several different categories of members: ‘national members’ (1991: 3.5 per cent), ‘corporate members’ (1991: 63.3 per cent) and ‘individual members’ (1991: 33.2 per cent). *  The members come principally from the public sector (1991: 61.6 per cent), but the private sector is also relatively well-represented (1991: 13.9 per cent). In 1991, the proportion of designers was 11.9 per cent, but academics formed at that time only 3.8 per cent of all members. * 
Information about member numbers is difficult to retrieve. At an election in 1994, there were seven national members (Egypt, Israel, the Netherlands, Turkey, France, Taiwan and the UK) registered, 95 institutional, 50 individual and 14 honorary members; in total 740 voting members from 35 countries. *  An acquisition letter from 1999 refers to 1000 members in 47 countries.
Activities
Annual Congresses
0017 International New Towns Association
Activities
Annual Congresses
Shortly after INTA was founded, the first congress ‘How to build a new town’ was organized in Tehran. The annual congresses, dedicated to a current theme relating to new towns and, later, urban development, remained the core activity of INTA. *  They were always preceded by a meeting of the General Assembly and Executive Council. The congresses were made ready by the Annual Conference Committee.
Time after time, new, principally European cities were prepared to sponsor the congresses, also because many influential politicians and business people met each other in INTA. In the 1990s, the new Asian Tigers also appeared on the scene: Hong Kong, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur. For INTA, it was an ideal propaganda medium and a means of making widespread contacts. An active search was made for the sponsoring of travelling and accommodation costs for INTA members from Third World countries, who could not afford the expensive participation in the congresses.
The initiative was sometimes led by INTA, and sometimes by a city administration or other organization. The host city bore practically all the costs, through subsidies and sponsoring. The theme and programme were usually determined in consultation. The INTA secretariat developed into a slick congress machine. It supervised a local organization committee – Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) – that worked on the basis of a standard INTA scenario. The congress results were published by INTA itself.
The congress themes reflect not only the changing circumstances of time and architectural fashions, but also a change of focus at INTA itself. When INTA began its activities, the new town concept was losing significance, particularly in Western Europe. It has already been described how, due to stagnating growth in population and several economic crises, the need for new towns reduced dramatically and attention shifted to urban regeneration. As a reaction to this development, INTA also began to focus more on urban regeneration (INTA 7 New Life for Old Cities, Barcelona; and INTA 8 Strategies for Urban Revival, Rotterdam). Attention subsequently shifted in the 1980s to urban renewal and urban management in general, and the design faded increasingly from the picture (INTA 9 New Partnerships in Urban Development, Strathclyde; and INTA 13 Urban Strategy and Economic Development, Paris).
Although this was partly a phenomenon of the times, this development can probably also be explained by the influence of Lester Gross, the first president of INTA (1979-1987), who came from the world of property developers himself. *  Gross was also a prominent member (‘national trustee’) of the previously mentioned Urban Land Institute, which was an important institutional model for INTA. At ULI, the annual congresses also occupied a central position at continuously changing locations.
Advisory Panels
Other Activities
Archive
Origins, Size and State
Treatment
Consulted Literature
F. Schaffer, The New Town Story, London, 1970
J. Roullier et al., Vingt-cinq ans de villes nouvelles en France, Paris, 1989
M. Provoost, ‘New Towns on the Cold War Frontier’, http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-06-28-provoost-en.html.

Kenmerken

Datering:
1976-2004
Omvang in m.:
18,5
Auteur toegang:
Beaten, J.-P.
Auteur:
Beaten, J.-P.
Openbaarheid:
Openbaar