Invitation to Submit an Abstract for a Contribution to PIA 2013 National Congress

The Planning Institute of Australia’s 2013 National Congress will be held 24 – 27 March at the National Convention Centre, Canberra. Papers from planning and allied professional are now being sought for the 2013 National Congress in order to present a lively and informative exposé under the theme ‘Celebrate the Value of Planning’.

We invite you to submit an abstract for a contribution to the 2013 Congress Program. The deadline for abstract proposals is Friday 28 September 2012.

The Congress also has three key sub-themes which seek to expound the wide range of valued outcomes achieved by diverse contributions of our profession, under the following headings:

1. Making a difference – focuses on the leadership roles and practice of planners in achieving good planning outcomes in all aspects of urban and regional development. Suggested topics include:

Planning makes a difference
Lessons in leadership
Sustainability challenges: roles for planners in the 21st Century
Regions in transition
Planned capitals in transition
Indigenous rights and aspirations: the new planning paradigm

2. Achieving effective planning – focuses on practices and methodologies to achieve the effective planning of communities at all levels from community groups to the Federal Government. Suggested topics include:

Effective urban policies
Best practice case studies
What are our planning futures?
After the Planners – what happens?
How much development control is too much?

3. Collaborative action – focuses on the cross disciplinary structure of the Institute’s Chapters and the opportunities for engagement with our built environment partners. Projects, processes and beneficial outcomes that have relied on multi disciplinary collaboration will be highlighted. Our industry partners are encouraged to propose papers on this sub-theme. Suggested topics include:

Visioning the plan – the art of city making
Resilient urban design
Healthy places and population health
Achieving sustainable communities
Community participation and engagement
New tricks: technology and tools for engagement
Greenfields vs Brownfields – the density debate

Abstracts should generally be limited to the suggested sub-themes and underlying topics. Thought provoking, creative abstracts are highly encouraged to stimulate the interest and participation of delegate throughout the Congress.
We look forward to receiving your abstract and to developing a program that will allow us to better Celebrate the Value of Planning.

Presentation Types

Authors are requested to nominate their preferred length of presentation: short (10 min); sharp (15 min) or shiny (20 min). Please note, authors of accepted abstracts may be offered an alternative presentation format that may better suit the selected topic and the Congress program.

Guidelines

Preparation & Layout

Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words.
Abstracts should be submitted in 12 point Arial font.
The presenting authors name should be underlined and all author affiliations should be included.
The abstract must be single-spaced and a clear line between paragraphs.
Abstracts should be text only. Graphics, pictures or graphs should not be submitted.
Abstracts must be free of typographical and grammatical errors.
Abstracts should comprise of the following elements with each element beginning a new paragraph.

Title
Authors
Address/Affiliations
Abstract text

The abstracts must contain sufficient information so that if it is published, it will be a complete report independent of presentation.
The text should not contain statements alluding to results or conclusions not presented in the text.
Abbreviations: standard abbreviations may be used for common terms only. The abbreviation of uncommon terms should be given in brackets after the first full use of the word.
Special Characters: To avoid character corruption any special characters should be entered using either Times New Roman or Symbol font.

Conditions of Submission

All presenting authors must register and pay to attend the Congress. All authors must register to attend at least the day of their presentation and preferably the full congress
Submission of abstracts implies the author's agreement to publish the abstract and full paper (if submitted) in the final congress program and any other publications associated with the congress including the web site and Australian Planner.
Successful abstracts must be presented by the author/s.
Authors have the option to submit their paper for peer review. Following acceptance of an abstract, authors nominating for peer review will be required to submit a full draft paper (of up to 5,000 words) by Friday 11 January 2013. Papers submitted for peer review will be either accepted as is; accepted pending revision; or accepted only as a non-refereed paper.
It is desirable but not compulsory for authors of non-peer review papers to submit a full paper of their presentation by Monday 25 February 2013.
Acceptance of abstracts does not imply any payment from the Congress Committee. Authors must arrange and pay their own accommodation, travel etc. to attend the conference, unless otherwise stated.
Acceptance or otherwise is at the discretion of the Congress Organising Committee whose decision is final.
All abstracts must be submitted by Friday 28 September 2012.

Key Dates