The 2016 Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (26 March – 2 April) was the the first meeting since the official change in name (from the ‘American Association of Geographers’). The attendance certainly reflected that reality with a very international blend of audience and participants.
On arrival, a bunch of us from the Global Production Networks Centre (GPN@NUS) went on a boat trip courtesy of the Global Development Institute (University of Manchester). It was a beautiful (if bracing!) boat tour around the harbour and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Many thanks to Rory Horner and Uma Kothari for the invitation!
My schedule was rather hectic with organising and chairing sessions, presenting a paper and speaking on two panels, but it was all great fun to be part of such stimulating sessions and debates. The GPN Centre organised a panel and 3 paper sessions (plus 3 more sessions on GPN and the environment, in collaboration with Stefano Ponte and Aarti Krishnan). The opening panel drew together a stellar group of scholars who gave their insights into future trends for the remaking of the global economy along the domains of retail and consumption, advanced business services, urban transformation, innovation and regional development, and governance. My thanks to Andrew Jones, Alex Hughes, Michael Storper, Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, and Eric Sheppard for accepting the panel invitation and for kicking off such stimulating discussion.
Karen P.Y. Lai 