17th International NECTAR Conference

Brussels, Belgium, 3 - 5 July 2024

Stakeholder involvement in transport: Who, why, how and with what impact?

General Call for Papers

The involvement of stakeholders is key in the planning and regulation of transport systems, services and infrastructure, the design and deployment of innovations and in the evaluation of transport activities. However, the diversity of stakeholders, their roles and responsibilities and their degree of willingness to participate in research and planning vary greatly across the different transport domains and at different stages of transport planning. Therefore, new methods, approaches, tools, and insights are needed to better understand why stakeholder involvement is important, who are the key actors that should participate, how they can be involved, and what impacts transport has on them. Stakeholder involvement is not only relevant for transport infrastructure projects, but also for supporting the long-term transition of transport towards a low-carbon and sustainable future.

The focus of the conference is on how transport and communications research can support the different roles stakeholders take in transport planning. Stakeholder involvement is understood in the broader sense.  We invite papers discussing the following specific topics of interest:

• advancements in the fields of transport and communication in the context of stakeholder involvement,
• development of regulatory approaches and policies,
• stakeholder-based decision support,
• citizen engagement,
• quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the impact of transport on different stakeholder groups.

In addition to these topics, we welcome papers on topics in the fields of transport, communications, and mobility at large. General topics of interest include transport and infrastructure evaluation, transport policy and environment, logistics and freight, tourism, recreation and leisure, housing and labour markets, accessibility analysis, social and health issues, and ICT.

The different NECTAR clusters will also organize specific thematic sessions. Calls for papers for these sessions will be posted on the conference website and the NECTAR website.

The deadline for abstract submission has been extended to February 15, 2024. Abstracts should be submitted electronically, using the form available on the conference website and following the instructions found there:

https://mobilise.research.vub.be/nectar-conference-2024-general-call-for-papers

Criteria for acceptance

Criteria for acceptance are scope, scientific quality, NECTAR membership and the possibility to fit the presentation in a coherent conference session. We allow one paper presentation per participant.

Venue

The NECTAR conference will be organized by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and hosted on its campus.

Participation and NECTAR membership

Registration, meals, and accommodation for one night will be offered to NECTAR members, for only one author per paper. One night of hotel accommodation will be offered to participants who have confirmed their participation before April 30, 2024. One night of hotel accommodation might be charged in case of late cancellations. All practical details will be communicated through the conference website. In order to participate in the conference, a consecutive and current two-year NECTAR membership is necessary (2023-2024). Non-members can find details of how to join the association on the “Membership” page of NECTAR’s website: www.nectar-eu.eu/membership.

Important dates:

Abstract submission: Jan 31, 2024

Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2024

Confirmation of attendance: April 30, 2024

We look forward to seeing you in Brussels!

Cathy Macharis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Imre Keserü, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Karst Geurs, NECTAR chair

NECTAR is a European-based scientific association. The primary objective is to foster research collaboration and exchange of information between experts in the field of transport, communication and mobility from all European countries and the rest of the world. It is a multidisciplinary social science network bringing together a wide variety of perspectives on transport and communication problems and their impacts on society from an international perspective. For further information on NECTAR, use the link: http://www.nectar-eu.eu.

Investigaciones Regionales - Journal of Regional Research has published the 58^th Issue, the first volume corresponding to 2024.

Below you will find the summaries of the papers published in this volume, which can be accessed at https://investigacionesregionales.org/en/revista/issue-58/ 

We invite authors to submit papers at https://investigacionesregionales.org/en/envio-de-articulos/submission-of-papers-and-others-contributions/

On the other hand, we want to share with you the Call for editor in chief of our journal. You have all the information in the following link: https://aecr.org/es/novedad/call-for-applications-editor-in-chief-investigaciones-regionales-journal-of-regional-research-iirr-jorr/  Letters of interest must be received within February 28th, 2024.

Issue 58

European Regional Policy

Diego Sande Veiga

Do the Structural Funds in innovation influence the growth of companies? Analysis through the ERDF-Innterconecta programme in Andalusia differentiating by business size and role in the projects

As a Convergence Objective Autonomous Community of the European Union, Andalusia was a beneficiary of the significant volume of European resources for regional innovation mobilised by the 2007-2013 Technological Fund and the 2014-2020 Smart Growth programme. The Andalusian productive fabric is mostly made up of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). For this reason, we evaluate the impact of the ERDF-Innterconecta programme financed through the previous operational programmes on the main indicators of business growth. The proposed analysis seeks to identify whether there has been an impact for Andalusian companies that have participated in the subsidised projects on three indicators (revenue, GVA, number of employees), further differentiating these companies by size, participation in innovation and role taken in the funded projects. This impact varies according to the characteristics of the companies, being more positive for Large Enterprises (LE), leaders of the projects and for those that had not previously registered research investments in the accountancy.

Keywords: Structural Funds; Regional Innovation Systems; business growth; Policy impact analysis; Large enterprises and SMEs

Articles

Miguel Ángel López García

Housing Subsidies to Low-Income Households: A Survey

This paper reviews a variety of issues related to the design of low-income housing subsidies. We discuss project-based assistance (i.e., public housing and privately-owned subsidized projects) and tenant-based assistance (i.e., rent vouchers and rent certificates), as well as the empirical evidence concerning their effects.

Keywords: Housing policy; low-income housing programs; public housing; rent vouchers.

Rubén Amo Cifuentes, Rafael Granell Pérez, Amadeo Fuenmayor Fernández

Regional impact of the new Tax on Great Fortunes: A microsimulation analysis

The Temporary Solidarity Tax on Great Fortunes came into force in Spain at the end of 2022. This tax managed at state level and complementary to the Wealth Tax, will seek to harmonise the taxation of wealth in all the autonomous communities under the common regime. In this paper the taxation of wealth in Spain is analysed, as well as the reform proposals put forward to date. The new state tax is estimated using microsimulation techniques for the year 2022, with the aim of obtaining the main revenue effects that its implementation will have. Its impact will be unequal between autonomous communities due to the existing differences in the regional regulations of the Wealth Tax.

Keywords: Taxation; wealth; autonomous communities; microsimulation

Felipe Livert, Raymundo Mogollón, Pablo Herrera

Distributive politics and decentralisation in Chile and Peru

The paper presents evidence that decentralisation increases partisan influence in the allocation of non-programmatic resources. The model employs a panel data and fixed effects analysis using data corresponding to intergovernmental transfers from the national level, passing through the regional level and earmarked for investment for local governments in Chile (2008-2018) and Peru (2004 – 2013). The results indicate political influence on the distribution of resources. The distribution of resources is used tactically in both countries in presidential election years. The implementation of laws increasing political decentralisation in Chile and Peru increased the political bias in resource distribution. The results have policy implications and provide a comparative perspective on the development of fiscal institutions in both countries. In a continental scenario, in which Latin American countries are undergoing a strong decentralisation process, it is suggested to advance in reforms that increase transparency, accountability and citizen participation. In addition, it is advisable to limit non-programmatic allocations and provide stability in the distribution of public resources.

Keywords: Distributive politics; decentralisation; Pork barrel; Chile; Peru.

Rafael González-Val, Miriam Marcén

Growth in small cities: The case of Aragon (Spain)

In this paper, we analyse the effects of productive specialisation and diversity on population growth at the local level in Aragon, a NUTS 2 region in Spain. This region is characterised by a highly uneven population distribution, with numerous small cities, and a large proportion of small businesses. We estimate panel data models considering data from 2000 to 2015 at the local level, encompassing 577 municipalities. Our results show that both localisation and urbanisation have a statistically significant positive effect on growth in Aragonese municipalities but only in cities with a population threshold of 3,000 or more inhabitants.

Keywords: Population; agglomeration economies; small and medium-sized enterprises; small cities; Aragon.

Nuria Porras Bueno, María Ángeles Plaza Mejía, David Flores Ruiz

Clustering residents of a Spanish mining site: when attitudes towards tourism are not linked to perceptions

This study uses a segmentation framework to categorize the residents of Minas de Riotinto, a mining town in Andalusia, Spain, based on their perceptions of the personal and community effects of tourism. These segments were then classified according to their tourism attitudes, utilizing a three-dimensional approach encompassing affective, cognitive, and behavioral elements. For this purpose, a cluster analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis test were successively applied to the responses of 346 residents. The results revealed three main groups of residents: “interested and enthusiastic supporters”, “disinterested and moderate supporters” and “incongruous and impulsive residents”. Contrary to our expectations, all groups showed favorable affective attitudes towards tourism development in their region. However, significant differences emerged between groups concerning the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of their attitudes.

Keywords: Tourism impact; resident perceptions; resident segmentation; mining tourism

Manuel Gómez-Zaldívar, Fernando Gómez-Zaldívar

Economic structure and business cycle synchronization: Evidence from Mexico’s states

According to recent studies, the growing economic integration between Mexico and the United States, that resulted from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), heterogeneously transformed the economic structure of Mexico’s states. is study provides evidence that this, in turn, altered the degree and nature of economic synchronization among them. Furthermore, it shows evidence of an increasingly significant positive relationship from 1994 on between economic synchronization and the level of sophistication of states’ economic structures [measured by the Economic Complexity Index (ECI)]. As
economic integration increases, it becomes easier for shocks to be transmitted between state economies with similar economic structures, either because their characteristics make them more sensitive to the same kinds of shocks or simply because they are so closely linked. Our results help provide a greater understanding of the states’ economic evolution during the period analyzed.

Keywords: Synchronization and Economic Integration; Economic complexity index.

José Daniel Buendía Azorín, Rubén Martínez Alpañez, María del Mar Sánchez de la Vega

Efficiency in the estimation of technical coefficients and inter-regional multipliers: the Jahn methodology versus the GRAS and Gravity-RAS methodologies

The use of location quotients for the estimation of regional input‑output tables has been found to be a useful and efficient tool to estimate intra-regional production multipliers. Building on this tool, more complex procedures have been developed that simultaneously estimate inter-regional coefficients. This paper assesses the capacity of this extended methodology (called the Jahn methodology) to obtain both intra-regional and inter-regional multipliers for the Spanish case, using the Input-Output Table (IOT) of Spain 2015 to estimate those corresponding to the Spanish regions of Andalusia, the Basque Country and Navarra for the same year and whose results are available via survey. In order to contrast their reliability, efficiency and accuracy, the results obtained with this procedure are then compared with other methodologies widely used for their recognised efficiency, the GRAS and Gravity-RAS methodologies.

Keywords: Location quotients; FLQ; non-survey method; regional input‑output tables; RAS; output multipliers

Call for Conference Papers and RSPP Special Issue on

Rethinking the Regional Development Opportunities and Challenges in Southern Africa

Regional Science Policy & Practice (RSPP)

Call for Papers Special Issue: Cost Benefit Analysis for Regional Sustainable Development Projects

The Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) and the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) are excited to announce the first “YSI- ERSA Workshop: Young Scholars At The Edge Of Regional Science”. This event will be held in-person on the 26th and 27th of August preceding the on-site part of the 63rd ERSA Conference (28^th – 30^th August, 2024), that this year will take place in the amazing scenario of Terceira Island, in Azores, Portugal.

Every year, the ERSA congress gathers around 800 participants from all over the globe, and it has become the largest academic congress in regional science worldwide. With this new joint collaboration between ERSA and YSI, the two associations aim to bring together a dynamic group of young scholars with common background (mostly Urban and Regional Economics, Economic Geography and related disciplines) and give them the opportunity to present and discuss their latest work while receiving useful comments and advices from both senior discussants and peers, thus creating a rare occasion of full confrontation and deep dialogue. By this event, ERSA and YSI contribute to reinforce a community of young scholars and future researchers able to learn from one another, to collaborate and to build an inclusive and supportive academic network.

Besides offering the opportunity to present their work and receive comments from renowned mentors and peers, the program includes lectures from guest professors on their latest researches, presenting to young participants an overview on the most cutting edge research in Regional Science.

ERSA dedicates its 63rd conference to “Regional science dialogues for peace and sustainable development”; accordingly, we encourage the submission of innovative contributions on sustainable and inclusive regional development and in particular on the following research themes:

• Peace, Regional and Urban Sustainable Development
• Segregation, Social and Spatial Inequalities
• Twin transitions (Digital & Green)
• Innovation and Regional Development
• Cities, Regions and Digital Transformations
• Climate Adaptive and Resilient Regions and Cities
• Regional and Urban Labour Markets and Entrepreneurship
• Urban-Rural Relationships
• Local and global impacts of conflicts
• Migration and Integration in a Global World
• Quality of government and rise of political discontent

and other related topics.

We particularly encourage the application from young scholars committed to interdisciplinary research, truly believing in the benefits of collaboration among different disciplines.

Application Process

Step 1: PhD Students and Early Career Researcher (5 years from PhD) are invited to submit an extended abstract (between 800 and 1200 words) of their research before 15th February 2024. Please submit your abstract via the application button on this homepage.

Abstracts will be selected based on clarity, relevance and originality, outlining the research question, method and (preliminary) results. We will inform selected applicants by mid-March and subsequently invite them to proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: The selected young scholars are expected to submit a full working paper version before June 1st, 2023 (via email, instructions will follow). Only participants who submit a full paper (draft version is okay) will be able to join the initiative.

Financial support

The workshop is free of charge. Moreover, YSI offers financial support for selected participants, specifically:

• Two-night accommodation in shared apartments or shared hotel rooms (August 26thto August 28th)
• partial travel support, co-financing your own resources.

Please note that admission to the pre-conference workshop does not include the participation to the main ERSA annual conference. We do however encourage workshop participants to exploit the opportunity to attend the main ERSA conference after the workshop. Abstract submission and registration to ERSA Annual Conference are available at this link: https://ersa.eventsair.com/ersa2024/call-for-abstracts

Further information: https://ysi.ineteconomics.org/event/ysi-ersa-workshop-young-scholars-at-the-edge-of-regional-science/

The 28th Pacific Conference of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) will be hosted by the Korea Regional Science Association(KRSA) in partnership with the Regional Science Association International, at EXCO, Daegu, South Korea, on August 5-7, 2024. 

The overarching theme of the conference is: “Sustainability of the Region in the Era of Great Transformation”. This theme reflects the need to address the challenges and opportunities that arise from the Great Transformation in the region. The conference aims to explore ways in which the region can adapt and thrive in the face of these changes in a sustainable way. This includes examining the economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainability, and identifying strategies and solutions that can contribute to the long-term well-being and resilience of the region.

The conference will bring together experts, scholars, and practitioners from various fields to share their insights and experiences, fostering meaningful discussions and collaborations to drive positive change. Together, we can work towards a more sustainable future for the region.

The conference committee calls for papers on various topics related to this overall theme in regional science for presentation at the conference. The committee will welcome papers on any aspect of regional science, and would particularly welcome papers reporting research or case studies on the following topics:

1. Regional economics and development
   2. Income inequality and regional disparities
   3. Infrastructure, basic utilities and regional management
   4. Public services and human development
   5. Trade, investment and economic growth
   6. Decentralization and regional fiscal policies
   7. Regional macro and financial policies
   8. Local government innovation and governance
   9. Economic shocks and social safety nets
   10. Culture, land and village development
   11. Environmental and climate change
   12. Big data, artificial intelligence, and regional analysis
   13. GIS and spatial econometrics

The paper abstract of about 500 words should be submitted online via this link by Mar 15, 2024:

https://prsco2024.krsa83.or.kr/

Abstract should consist of background, data and methodology, potential contributions, and keywords. Abstracts must be submitted in English. Paper sessions are seminar-style for each paper and given ample time for discussion so that participants may provide constructive feedback to authors. Paper presentations will be made in English.

Important dates:

Dec 1, 2023 : Abstract submission opening
Mar 15, 2024 : Abstract submission deadline
Apr 15, 2024 : Early bird registration open
Apr 15, 2024 : Notification of abstract acceptance
Jun 1, 2024 : Full Paper submission deadline
Jun 15 2024 : Early bird registration end
Jun 30, 2024 : Paper presenter registration deadline
Aug 3–4, 2024 : Pre-conference training
Aug 5–7, 2024 : Conference date

In Partnership with:

Regional Science Association International (RSAI)

Hosted and Organized by:

Pacific Regional Science Conference Organization (PRSCO)

Korea Regional Science Association (KRSA)

Daegu Policy Institute

Gordon Mulligan lunching in Squamish, B.C., in 2010 with WRSA's 52nd President, Warren Gill

The Western Regional Science Association is deeply saddened by the loss of Professor Gordon F. Mulligan, who passed away at home in British Columbia on November 12, 2023, after a short period of hospice care. Gordon lived a week and day past his 76th birthday, having been born on November 4, 1947.

Growing up in the company-owned mill town of Woodfibre, British Columbia, accessible to the outside world only by boat, Gordon's wide-ranging polymath attributes and mathematical acumen became apparent at an early age. He attended Howe Sound Secondary in the nearby central place of Squamish, B.C., where he excelled in both academics and sports.

As an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia (UBC) beginning in the mid-1960s, Gordon discovered the focus of his scholarly interests, economic geography and mathematical models, as well as a passion for academia. He loved UBC so much that he spent a full decade there. He produced a 1972 M.A. thesis, City Size Distributions: Foundations of Analysis, and a 1976 Ph.D. dissertation, Structure and Processes in the Christallerian System, that set the stage for a distinguished and prolific career in regional science. Following a pair of visiting positions at the University of Washington and Queens University, Gordon joined the faculty of the Department of Geography and Regional Development at the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1978, where he taught until he retired in 2006.

Throughout his time in Arizona, Gordon remained personally connected to small-town British Columbia, returning each summer to visit his parents. The Woodfibre pulp mill, where his father had worked until shortly before his death and Gordon had held summer jobs, was closed by its owner, Western Forest Products, in 2006. The mill and townsite were razed and put up for sale. Today it is the location of Woodfibre Liquid Natural Gas, a large hydroelectric-powered facility. Its parent company plans to open it in 2027 to supply growing markets in Asia, touting the environmental benefits of displacing coal and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Post-retirement, Gordon moved back up to Squamish, where he kept up an active agenda as an independent scholar and continued on as Book Review editor of the WRSA's official journal, The Annals of Regional Science. An avid movie buff, he was also extremely well-read in fiction and literature. He segued from his long-time University of Arizona faculty-staff bowling career into throwing the rock on a senior curling team, and, as part of providing care for his aging mother, he no doubt raised the level of play of her bridge group.

Gordon's theoretical and empirical research contributions to regional science directly reflected the locational circumstances of his upbringing.  He listed his disciplines on ResearchGate as Transport Economics, Real Estate Economics, and Economic Geography, and among his skills and expertise, Regional Development, Regional Science, Regional and Urban Economics, Cities, and Place. The faculty group he joined in 1978 at Arizona was the last geography department at a major U.S. university to be housed within a business college. Gordon's research interests in the economic base of communities, settlement-size distributions, central place theory, transportation, regional development (in particular, the "chicken-and-egg" connections between economic and population growth), and the structure of small-town and micropolitan area economies, which were kindled in his childhood and in grad school, would be further enflamed and greatly expanded thanks to his career-long academic home base. 

As part of both its unique and highly popular business school undergraduate major in regional development (originally area development) and its geography master's degree, the University of Arizona's department offered a six-week summer traveling field camp course. Co-directed by Professors Richard Reeves (Gordon's closest Tucson personal friend) and Lay Gibson, the camp's unique curriculum featured and integrated projects in both physical and economic geography. Student teams each year carried out studies in Arizona's diverse ecosystems and in small, often remote, small-town communities. There student teams would census and then interview and assemble micro transaction and trade figures from all local businesses.  Gordon was fascinated by the potential of these nearly comprehensive data to expose the workings of functionally specialized economies and to benchmark models. Together with student and colleague collaborators, he deployed this unique Arizona community data base in a series of papers evaluating the accuracy and proposing extensions to traditional economic base multiplier methods.

In 1980–81, the Arizona department would add its third active regional scientist, David Plane from the regional science department at Penn, and in the subsequent year, under the tenure of Lay Gibson as Department Head, the geography department would leave the College of Business and Public Administration to join a fledging College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.   Gibson at this time was also assuming the leadership position (replacing Robert Monahan of Western Washington University) of the Western Regional Science Association, with Mulligan and Plane beginning what would become lifetime involvements with the Association.

In 1985, the departmental headship passed to Gordon. During his five-year term he would lay substantial groundwork for, and touch off the upcoming rise in prominence of Arizona as one of the U.S.'s top-20 geography doctoral programs and as a world-renowned center of regional science.  (Gordon would later come back to serve one-year stint as Acting Head). Gordon increased the visibility of geography and regional development on campus and externally by extending courtesy joint and adjunct faculty appointments to geographers and faculty with geographic expertise who had been hired in other units across the university.

During the 1990s, the core group of internationally active regional scientist scholars at Arizona was expanded with the hirings of University of Illinois Ph.D.'s, Adrian Esparza and Brigitte Waldorf in Geography and Regional Development, and University of Washington Ph.D., John Carruthers in the M.S. program in Planning, a group whose faculty also included Penn Regional Science Ph.D., Arthur Silvers.

The department's regional development undergraduate major numbers rose dramatically during Gordon's administration after the degree program was moved from Business and Public Administration to Social and Behavioral Sciences, and then during Plane's subsequent headships when it peaked at more than 300. Gibson, Mulligan, and Plane served as student faculty advisors and taught the majority the core curriculum. Gordon's staple, highly enrolled undergraduate courses were titled, Economic Geography, Urban Geography, Locational Analysis, and Regional Analysis. The 1980s and 1990s would also see Gordon mentoring and carrying out collaborative research with increasing numbers of graduate students.

After stepping down as Head in 1990, Gordon's extramural professional service commitments increased in 1994 when Plane was asked by longtime Journal of Regional Science Managing Editor, Ronald Miller, to move the journal's office from Philadelphia to Tucson.  Plane agreed, on the condition that Mulligan join him as Co-editor.  Their efficient working arrangement and happy tenure guiding the JRS would extend through 2002, when the editorial team reins were passed to Marlon Boarnet and Andy Haughwout.  Marlon recalls that, during the transition, Gordon told him that he and Dave had worked hard to maintain the JRS as a "classy" operation. 

Though Gordon formally retired in 2006, he did not stop his work in regional science or his devotion to it: he remained a prolific author and a stalwart mentor to junior members of the field. In February, 2010, a celebratory dinner and a series of special sessions were held in his honor at the WRSA's annual meeting in Sedona, Arizona, yielding a special (2012) issue of The Annals of Regional Science.

The year 2010 also saw Gordon's election as a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International.  Although this honor is usually conveyed at a major international conference, he chose to receive his plaque, presented by David Boyce, while hiking in Glacier National Park. The "Meet the Fellows" autobiographical article that Gordon wrote in 2015 for the RSAI Newsletter is a lively and interesting read, with the piece beginning: Imagine if you can an Allan Stilltoe novel set on a Norwegian fjord and you might have some idea about my childhood years!  

In recognition of Gordon's corpus of intellectual accomplishments and his four decades of contributions to WRSA, he was named a WRSA Fellow at the 2014 Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Up through last summer, Gordon continued to travel the globe and to present and participate at regional science conferences, in particular those of the WRSA and the British and Irish Section (BIS). At the July, 2023 BIS meeting in Newcastle, he gave a talk on the legacy and central place research contributions of John Parr in the Regional Science Academy's Great Minds session.

At the upcoming February 11–14, 2024, WRSA Annual Meeting in Monterey, California, Professor Neil Reid, University of Toledo, will present a Regional Science Academy, Great Minds in Regional Science talk on Gordon Mulligan's scholarship.

While Gordon gave talks and tended to various duties at academic meetings, he played another, very special role: he was a hub of activity, both socially and professionally. Whether it was the (late) morning, afternoon, evening, or wee hours of the night, he was with friends and colleagues, launching new projects and revisiting past explorations. His generosity with ideas was infectious, fun, and inspiring, particularly to junior colleagues. A man of tall stature, Gordon was informed and passionate about big concepts in all realms, not just those of geographic location and economic theory about which he was especially expert.

Like so many members of our field, Gordon loved models—especially gravity models and models of spatial equilibrium. It seems fitting, then, to end this description of his life and career with an analogy to a model. In the mid-1500s, the great mathematician Copernicus advanced a model of heliocentrism, placing, for the first time, the Earth and other celestial objects in orbit around the sun. A Copernican model of WRSA might well place Gordon at a central (albeit far from stationary!) location, with those of us lucky enough to be in his orbit drawn close by his gravity and warmed by the bright light of his intellect, humor, and enduring smile.

John Carruthers and David Plane