Patial information practices between idealization, cliche, and stigmatization
Salzburg, Austria / 16–18 September 2026
Places can be experienced and conceptualized in very different ways. Personal preferences and behavioural patterns, recurring misunderstandings, and varying influences from institutionalized interests are only some of the reasons for this variation. Not only exist significant differences between places but also in how they are represented. Places are commonly idealized to attract tourists, films frequently reimagine places, faraway places are subject to becoming clichés, and social hotspots are often stigmatized. Salzburg – where PLATIAL’26 will take place – is a prime example of such a place. Loved by tourists, experienced as a place of everyday living and working, and having been subject to an eventful history, Salzburg is often portrayed as a cliché in North American films and idealized in tourist guides due to its Alpine location. Such distortions are not exceptions but the rule when it comes to the communication of place. PLATIAL’26 invites researchers from a wide range of disciplines to explore the various facets inherent to place and platial information. Among other aspects (see below), our chosen theme particularly invites submissions on differences in place perception, forms of place representation in media and art, and ways in which such representations can be unintentionally or deliberately distorted. Submitted research may concern both fundamental, theoretical considerations as well as methodological advances and practical examples.
Additional to this year’s theme, we welcome submissions on the following topics:
- Which approaches of place representation exist in different fields, and how can these be integrated?
- What are suitable strategies for addressing subjectivity in platial information?
- In what ways can platial information theories accommodate the complexity of places?
- How can we account for dynamics, change, and fluidity in platial information?
- What is the role of scale in platial information?
- In which ways can places be visualized, or conveyed in other forms?
- In what ways could platial information inform future applications and technologies, such as question answering systems, scenario-based planning, and virtual/augmented reality?
- Which novel perspectives could a platial lens enable in geographical information science, geography, the (non)digital humanities, philosophy, planning, and cognate fields?
Further topics that fit the overall scope of the symposium are welcome.
- 16–18 September 2026
- Salzburg, Austria
- https://platial26.platialscience.net
- Short Papers (3–5 pages)
- Mini Workshops (1–2 hours each)
- Submission Deadline: 29 May 2026
Important dates
29 May 2026 Submission deadline for both short papers and mini workshops
16–18 September 2026 PLATIAL’26 Symposium
Keynotes
Title to be announced
Alice Butler-Warke, University of Reading, UK
Title to be announced
Andrea Ballatore, King’s College London, UK
How to contribute
We are seeking high-quality contributions on the topics proposed. For this, we offer two different formats: compact mini workshops possibly accompanied by citable, joint recap papers; and short papers that will be orally presented in the regular track of the symposium.
Short papers. Regular short papers submitted to PLATIAL’26 should not exceed 3–5 pages, including abstract, figures, and references. Your papers should be prepared in adherence to the guidelines found in the Overleaf template (https://platialscience.net/overleaf26). Submission of your paper (i.e., the PDF) should be done via Granska: https://platialscience.net/submission26. We will only approach you upon paper acceptance to ask for submission of all finalized files (including the compiled PDF, LaTeX source files, figures). All submissions will be reviewed double- blind by at least two members of the programme committee. Therefore, please prepare your documents in anonymized form (see instructions given in the template). For a MS Word-based template, please check out the website or download here: https://platialscience.net/word26.
Mini workshops. PLATIAL’26 offers the innovative format of mini workshops. Being concise and to the point, these will allow peers to discuss specialized cutting-edge topics in a laid-back, intimate atmosphere. The idea is to have 1–2-hours sessions dedicated to specific platial topics. These sessions will be prepared, organized, and conducted by the workshop convenors who proposed the respective sessions. The format can be chosen freely and purposefully to allow for fruitful and creative interaction. For each mini workshop, the results achieved will ideally then lead to a joint paper of all attendees that will be given a suitable deadline for submission after the event. These contributions will undergo the same rigorous peer review by members of the programme committee as regular short papers. If you are interested in proposing a mini workshop on your topic of choice, please submit an informal one-page proposal in PDF format to mail@platialscience.net by 29 May. You may want to get in touch with the organizers prior to submission in case of any questions about topics you want to propose. We especially encourage early-career researchers to take this opportunity to discuss their ongoing research.
Long-term citability. We value your contributions! Therefore, your work should be visible and sustainably citable long-term after the symposium. All short paper contributions will be published online with individual DOIs as ZENODO Symposium Proceedings, an outlet funded by the European Commission to support publication of high-quality proceedings.
How to register?
Please find information on the registration procedure as well as further information about the event online: https://platial26.platialscience.net.
Programme committee: The programme committee will be announced at a later date.