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Department of Spatial Planning

René Westerholt presented at COSIT 2026

Logo of the 2026 Conference on Spatial Information Theory © Ed Manley​/​University of Leeds
René Westerholt presented an article on the nexus of place and statistics at the 17th Conference on Spatial Information Theory in York, UK.

In September, Prof. René Westerholt gave a presentation at the 17th Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT) 2026, which took place in York, UK. COSIT is one of the leading conferences in the field of geographical information science and has a distinct focus on theory-building. Within this scope, René presented his paper ‘Towards a statistical approach to humanistic-geographical place concepts’, which was published earlier this year in the journal Progress in Human Geography. The long-standing divide between quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of meaningful places remains a challenge. The paper presented attempts to reconcile both perspectives from a humanistic-geographical standpoint, whilst taking statistical aspects into account. In doing so, it outlines a humanistic-geographical concept of place that is compatible with statistical approaches, highlights the role of randomness in relation to places, and discusses two central elements for a future statistical approach to the concept of place: a suitable epistemological stance towards places, and proposals for stochastic processes relating to places. The aim is to open up the prospect of a future productive statistical methodology for place concepts that avoids the common criticisms of quantitative approaches.

Westerholt, R. (2026): Towards a statistical approach to humanistic-geographical place concepts. Progress in Human Geography, 50 (3), 288–311. DOI: 10.1177/03091325251385581