The Sixth Annual Conference of the International Place Branding Association (IPBA) will be hosted on 12-14 October 2022, by the Institut de Management Public et Gouvernance Territoriale in Aix-en-Provence, France.

The conference invites scholars and practitioners to submit abstracts and cases for inclusion in the conference programme; doctoral candidates to submit presentations to the doctoral colloquium; and scholars, researchers, practitioners, students and artists to submit Place Branding-inspired artistic work for presentation at a special session called the ‘IPBA Art Gallery’.

The conference intends to be inclusive of good quality papers and presentations that cover a wide range of topics, but particularly welcomes contributions that:

Advance the theoretical understanding of the field incorporating cross-disciplinary knowledge.
Use multiple, comparative case studies that reflect on cross-case conclusions.
Advance the clarification of major concepts (e.g. place marketing vs. place branding vs. place promotion vs. diplomacy).
Explore and analyse the differences between major application fields (e.g. tourism vs. resident attachment vs. investment attraction) and/or major place scales (cities vs. regions vs. nations).
Critically examine the use and potential of digital technologies and social and mainstream media in place branding.
Elaborate on the role of identity, history and heritage in the branding of places.
Examine the role of creativity and innovation in place branding strategies.
Analyse the significance of stakeholder engagement for effective place branding and methods to facilitate it.
Detail a potential future research agenda for place branding.
Branding local food and culture; geographical indications; gastronomy in destination branding; culinary and cultural diplomacy.
Country of origin effects; destination branding; soft power; branding for talent attraction and investment promotion.
Place branding and cross border areas.
Place branding and sustainable development.
Place branding and the arts: discussing creativity and converging artistic and social vision(s) by listening to the plurality of voices during the times of crisis.
Practitioners’ learnings (from policy makers or consultants) based on cases or applied research.