Programme

Authors: Seraphim Alvanides (TU Dortmund University), Loukas Zonas (independent researcher)

Abstract: We mostly take street names as given and rarely question their origin or even their legitimacy. Past sociological, linguistic and geographical studies have focused on areas experiencing political turbulence and territorial change, resulting in various raptures in the spatial and temporal continuity of street names. These raptures have been well studied as they are depicted on the ideological tapestry of the cities. Very few studies have looked into odonymic continuity, the factors resisting change and the potential effect on the platial identity of the areas and their residents. We analyse two areas in the Western and four areas in the Eastern parts of Attica (Greece), with very strong local politics influenced by international and national events. We conclude that the spatial patterning of the street names reflects historical events at the local-global nexus that transcend competing ideologies and result in resilient platial identities for the areas and their residents.

Authors: Isabelle Buchstaller (University of Duisburg-Essen), Evelyn Ziegler (University of Duisburg-Essen), Maida Kosatica (University of Duisburg-Essen)

Abstract: Our project explores coal mining semiotics in the public landscape of Essen, in the Ruhr Area. We focus on a process of material preservation we refer to as “bijouification”, the artistic reproduction of industrial semiotics into chic and aesthetically appealing objects in rarified spaces of consumption. Photographs of such memorabilia as well as interviews with shop owners and customers lead us to conclude that commemorative tokens of the industrial past, via their indexical semiotics, serve place-making purposes. Owning, consuming and gifting tokens indexical of the heavy industry is a way to keep alive and celebrate the local industrial heritage. Engagement in bijouified commemoration seems to be especially relevant for people whose family histories contain no credible ties to Germany’s Ruhr Area, allowing wider publics to claim a place in the collaborative commemoration of local heritage while semiotically affirming their belonging in the ideological landscape of the here and now.

Author: Víctor Cobs-Muñoz (TU Dortmund University)

Abstract: Sacrifice zones are territories subjected to severe environmental degradation and social injustice, where harm persists despite the presence of formal governance frameworks. Scholarship on place-based stigma has shown how negative reputations are produced, consolidated, and sustained through representational processes. This paper argues that sacrifice zones involve a different and undertheorised form of platial distortion: governance institutions do not stigmatise affected territories but actively constitute them as governable objects through thresholds, plans, jurisdictions, and categories, rendering harm administratively manageable whilst delegitimising community knowledge of the same territory. Platial divergence is introduced as a concept for naming the structural gap between this governance-produced place and the place as experienced, documented, and contested by affected communities. Drawing on the Critical-realist Environmental Justice framework, the paper demonstrates that four real-domain structural categories function as place-constituting operations. The argument is illustrated through Quintero-Puchuncaví, Chile, and a mechanism-oriented research agenda is proposed.

Authors: Jonas Faria Costa (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg), Franz-Benjamin Mocnik (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)

Abstract: There exist many texts, photographs, maps, and further artefacts that are about places; they represent them. In many cases, such representations do not merely refer to a place but actively frame it, shaping or even co-constituting what the place is understood to be. This is particularly the case when it comes to stereotypical representations. This paper investigates how such back-reference comes into being and how it functions, using the Netflix series Emily in Paris as a central example. We argue that the series reinforces and circulates the stereotype of Paris as a ‘city of romance’, thereby influencing tourism, public discourse, and place-making more broadly. We then argue that the underlying mechanism is facetted and observable across a range of cases, for which we propose four categories, and discuss how this mechanism may be approached using different theoretical frameworks.

Authors: Stella Harden (Simon Fraser University), Nadine Schuurman (Simon Fraser University)

Abstract: Individual runner experiences provide insight on environmental factors conducive for running. This study demonstrates a novel application of mixed methods to a crowdsourced data set of runners to explore collective sentiment and intimate associations with place. Users of the fitness app Strava (n = 137) were recruited to share activity history, including every run recorded on the platform and associated descriptions. Sentiment analysis quantified the underlying emotion expressed by runners for each activity, where -1 indicated extremely negative affect and +1 indicated extreme positive affect. The most polarised runs (< -0.5 and > +0.5) were aggregated into hexagonal bins and visualised in a GIS environment. Bivariate maps compare concentrations of highly positive and highly negative sentiment during weekday mornings and evenings for men and women, respectively. Selected geo-narratives are displayed alongside aggregated sentiment to contextualise some of the preliminary findings. The methods presented are generalisable to diverse crowdsourced data sets.

Author: Andreas Koch (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)

Abstract: This contribution discusses the growing importance of social-geographical places as local arenas of participation, resistance, inclusion, and socio-ecological transformation. Against the backdrop of commodification, political centralization, and territorialization, places are conceptualized not as static containers but as relational assemblages constituted through material, social, and discursive practices. Drawing on theories of the commons, municipalism, communitarianism, and participatory economies, the paper argues that local places can foster collective autonomy, interdependence, and democratic commitment through decentralized, commons-oriented forms of organization. Commons are understood as practices of collective self-management that partially detach social reproduction from market logics while strengthening solidarity and participation. The theoretical framework is empirically illustrated through agritourism initiatives in Albania, which demonstrate how locally embedded yet trans-locally connected networks can contribute to sustainable rural development. The article concludes that places function as micropolitical laboratories in which alternative forms of living, producing, and governing can be experimented with and institutionalized.

Author: Jaeah Lee (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)

Abstract: Diasporic place has predominantly been theorized in spatial terms, as a gap negotiated between homeland and host society. Whether place is fixed to a ground or set in motion between grounds, such framings remain spatial, depending on coordinates given in advance to fix its meaning. This paper reframes diasporic place through time rather than space, proposing stickiness: a singular, unset adhesion in which the diasporic individual makes a place by holding to a world already made, present only as it is performed. The moving image, an art of duration rather than of instant, is shown to be the medium proper to this account. Through Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Mouth to Mouth and Pedro Costa’s In Vanda’s Room, the paper traces how cinematic operations embalm stickiness in time.

Authors: Franz-Benjamin Mocnik (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg), Miriam Althammer (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)

Abstract: Understanding how places form requires analytical tools adequate to its complexity, yet the corresponding methodological repertoire remains underdeveloped. This paper proposes that place ballet – the interweaving of body ballets and time-space routines through which individuals collectively constitute place – can be understood as a discourse. Drawing on established approaches to discourse
analysis, we examine the structural parallels between linguistic discourse and place ballet to then argue that discourse-analytical frameworks can be applied to the latter. On this basis, we outline a preliminary taxonomy of analytical dimensions – synchronic, diachronic, and structural – that capture the aspects of place ballet most pertinent to understanding how place is formed and experienced. We conclude by identifying two key questions for future work: the development of appropriate data elicitation strategies and a more precise account of how place ballet and place mutually constitute one another.

Author: Joey Pexa (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)

Abstract: In analytic philosophy, definitions of what constitutes meaning in life have traditionally centred around agency. This article, in contrast, argues that putting emphasis on projects, contributions and similar acts of either shaping the world according to specific values or understanding the world’s intelligible structure, overlooks at least one fundamental type of meaning-making which is best understood by reference to place. Following German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, I reframe slightly the concept of resonance, accounting for non-agential yet meaningful human-environment interactions and thus bringing attention to a previously neglected matter. Moreover, to illustrate this point and show its placial dimension convincingly, I discuss the decisive influence Tipasa exercised on Albert Camus’s life trajectory when he visited its Roman ruins. Acknowledging these moments may, in addition to their intrinsic value, help narrative theories concerned with meaning-making and those who are interested in concepts like anti-meaning gain an interesting puzzle piece capable of filling some gaps in-between.

Author: Garika Ujianik Pristiwati (TU Dortmund University)

Abstract: Urban digital twins (UDTs) are increasingly developed to support urban decision-making and address complex urban challenges. However, UDTs primarily rely on quantitative data and methods to create digital replicas and simulate “what if” scenarios, which is insufficient for urban decision-making. Integrating platial, which reflects human experiences and meanings associated with places, can help address this limitation. This paper examines how platial information can be integrated into UDTs through several ways and diverse place representations, drawing on use cases from the UDT Munich project. The findings identify practical modalities to integrate platial information, including VR, AR, gamification, and multimodal digital participation platforms. These approaches can enhance urban decision-making by enabling more inclusive participation, more focused and effective communication, as well as a richer and better understanding of urban issues.

Author: Markus Schaffert (Mainz University of Applied Sciences)

Abstract: With the growing popularity of generative artificial intelligence, place-based narratives of cities produced by large language models are gaining traction. However, it remains unclear how such algorithmically developed representations relate to human perceptions and experiences of urban space. Against this background, this paper compares “typical places” generated by large language models with data collected through participatory mapping by university students, using the city of Mainz as a case study. The analysis reveals a distinct difference: While large language models tend toward reproducing a stereotypical “postcard city” based on iconic landmarks, the students’ depictions are more grounded in lived experience. Iconic landmarks are also present in their responses, but they appear alongside places shaped by everyday use and socially assigned meanings. These findings underline the need to critically examine algorithmically generated urban images and to explore how they could be more closely connected with lived urban realities. In this way, future applications of AI in the field of city branding could go beyond simplified and selective representations of cities and contribute to a more inclusive urban environment.

Author: Liudmila Slivinskaya (TU Dortmund University)

Abstract: The paper presents reflections on the use of a photo elicitation method in our empirical study on place activities in a large prefabricated housing estate (‘Großwohnsiedlung’). We conducted walking interviews with long-term residents of Marzahn housing estate, located in Berlin, Germany, and collected pictures taken by the residents in the course of our walks. Our participants were asked to take pictures of physical settings linked with their activities in places. We share our conceptual and methodological reflections of using pictures to talk about place activities, and our notes on interpreting pictures together with open responses from the participants based on our experience of conducting the empirical study. We make a case how place experience can be approached through visual depictions of place settings, and how such depictions can be used in a methodologically sound way in qualitative in-depth studies on place experience from a phenomenological perspective.

Authors: Ashley Tegart (Simon Fraser University), Nadine Schuurman (Simon Fraser University), Kevin Hu (University of British Columbia), Amanda Slaunwhite (University of British Columbia, Provincial Health Services Authority), Hana Larson (Simon Fraser University), Benjamin Nii Badu Lartey (Simon Fraser University), Geoff Bardwell (University of Waterloo), Valorie Crooks (Simon Fraser University)

Abstract: People who use drugs are among the populations most vulnerable to the intersecting impacts of natural disasters and the ongoing overdose crisis. Wildfires and evacuation events may compound overdose vulnerability through displacement, disrupted access to harm reduction services, and psychological distress. Reliance on unfamiliar or increasingly toxic drug supplies during and following evacuation may further increase overdose risk, particularly within rural and remote communities with limited healthcare and harm reduction infrastructure. This study examined the spatiotemporal distribution
of opioid overdose events associated with the 2021 wildfire evacuations across 28 municipalities in British Columbia, Canada. Results identified increases in overdose events following evacuation in seven communities, with most events clustered in urban centres. These findings suggest that wildfire evacuations may amplify existing overdose vulnerabilities and highlight an important intersection between the climate and overdose crises. Overdose increases were primarily urban but also observed in smaller communities, highlighting place-based variation.

Author: Aveline Thomas (independent researcher)

Abstract: Vision-based object detection systems increasingly shape how urban places become legible in planning and design contexts. In informal environments, the spatial configurations that give places their social meaning fall outside what such systems can register. This paper introduces algorithmic backgrounding to describe this condition: socially significant place configurations remain visually present yet analytically absent in machine vision outputs. The outcome is a specific form of platial distortion, one produced not by bias or misclassification but by the structural limits of object-based vision. A four-stage framework responds to this condition by repositioning detection outputs as partial place readings requiring community-informed interpretation. Two cases, Istanbul and Bengaluru, show how gaps between detection outputs and community-recognised place significance become productive entry points for analysis.

Author: Eugen Unterberger (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)

Abstract: Open-air museums generate a powerful illusion of historical authenticity through immersive place-making, yet their commitment to empirical factuality poses a critical dilemma. Traditional archives can hardly avoid silencing marginalized groups, given that they reflect historic power structures. Consequently, a strict adherence to archival ‘facts’ inadvertently materializes this erasure within the physical space. To resolve this, this paper proposes a methodological framework bridging Italian microhistory and Hartman’s critical fabulation. Rather than camouflaging structural gaps with unverified fiction or reproducing them through silent compliance, museums must curate the absence itself. By staging verified archival traces alongside transparently speculative narratives, institutions can dismantle systemic biases, transforming static exhibits into inclusive, self-reflexive places.

Authors: Paula Wood (Wrexham University), Alec Shepley (Wrexham University)

Abstract: This paper examines how the Lle Llais (Place of Voice) project contributes to place-based research by focusing on children’s lived experiences of place, contrasting them with dominant narratives that often depict idealisation, clichés, or stigmatisation. Through mixed-methods data from 253 children on the Isle of Anglesey, it investigates how children perceive place across cultural, linguistic, environmental, and social aspects. The results show that children develop complex, emotional understandings of place, highlighting feelings of belonging, safety, happiness, and a sense of quietness inside, which challenge overly simplistic external portrayals. The research highlights the importance of social and cultural capital, demonstrating how trauma-informed approaches through arts, and nature-based activities foster connection, friendship, wellbeing and collective identity. By integrating creative expression and place-based analysis, this study positions children as active contributors to platial knowledge and calls for more socially inclusive and grounded ways of representing place.