Place Marketing Forum 26 program | APRIL 15th, 16th & 17th
WEDNESDAY,
APRIL 15TH
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
EDUCTOUR | REGISTRATION REQUIRED*
1 – Guided tour of the streets of Aix-en-Provence｜Registration via annie.delanghe@univ-amu.fr and sarah.djalal@univ-amu.fr
THURSDAY,
APRIL 16TH
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM |
Official Opening of #PMF26 Edition & ICE BREAKER SESSION
Welcome coffee organized for participants at the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud – 380 avenue Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
09:15 - 10:00 AM |
Official opening of #PMF24 & ICE BREAKER SESSION
An Ice Breaker session will be organized at the beginning of the day. This will give all participants the opportunity to interact, get to know each other, and better understand the topics to be discussed during the conferences.
10:30 AM – 10:30 AM | Overview of the PMF26 Program & INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST PLENARY SESSION
10h30- 11h15 |
OPENING CONFERENCE ON THE REGENERATIVE APPROACH
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
In 2022, during the Grenoble edition of the Place Marketing Forum, we explored concrete cases of sustainable attractiveness in major international metropolitan areas. Sustainability had become the primary objective within which the different fields of attractiveness were reinventing themselves: tourism, MICE, investment, and talent attraction.
Today, this sustainability objective is being overtaken by an even stronger ambition: triple regeneration of living environments, societies, and economies. Within these ecosystems, where public territorial attractiveness stakeholders and companies interact, the challenge is no longer merely to reduce negative impacts, but to generate a net positive impact. We are therefore moving from “sustainable attractiveness” to “regenerative attractiveness”
The plenary conferences of this 13th edition of the Place Marketing Forum in Aix-en-Provence will analyze how companies are becoming structuring levers of this regenerative shift, in close connection with territorial organizations. They will highlight the central role of businesses in advancing this regenerative ambition, linked to territorial attractiveness understood as both anchoring and attracting resources.
CONFERENCE
11:15 AM – 12:45 PM | CONFERENCE: The Contribution of Regenerative-Oriented Companies to Territorial Attractiveness
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
Complementary to traditional impact mitigation models and economic adaptation strategies, regenerative models aim to produce positive impacts by restoring social and environmental resources.
This implies moving from a logic of impact reduction (the “classic” transition approach) toward a logic of net positive contribution for territorial ecosystems socially, environmentally, and economically.
Regenerative organizations seek to continuously renew the human, environmental, and economic resources already present in a territory. In doing so, they strengthen local anchoring while attracting new resources. This attractiveness particularly concerns target audiences in place marketing who are drawn to strong regenerative commitments and who themselves become actors of regeneration through residential settlement, investment, or tourism.
Achieving this requires a more systemic and less sectoral approach. New structuring actors are emerging to support this transition by bringing together companies and territorial attractiveness stakeholders such as the Convention des Entreprises pour le Climat (CEC) and mission-driven companies.
Businesses, coalitions of actors, and local authorities are experimenting with regenerative approaches: ecosystem restoration, local production loops, new relationships with living systems, inclusive governance, and innovative economic models.
This plenary will highlight the organizational and territorial implications of this systemic approach, present inspiring innovations, and question the success conditions of such initiatives.
- Lunch break
12:45am - 13:55pm
THINK TANKS
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | CHOICE OF PARTICIPANTS: 2 SIMULTANEOUS THINK TANKS
1- "Governance and Partnerships in Attractiveness Strategies"
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
The PACTE Law of May 2019 introduced the concept of a “mission-driven company”, whereby a public or private organization formally incorporates a purpose as well as social and environmental objectives into its statutes or operational practices. Attractiveness agencies are increasingly drawing inspiration from this approach by broadening their objectives beyond purely economic performance to include the well-being of residents and local stakeholders, ecological transition, and territorial solidarity.
This evolution is leading them to clarify their organizational purpose, and in some cases even transform their legal status in order to open their governance to a wider range of stakeholders. As a result, territorial attractiveness is increasingly approached as a cross-cutting public policy, connecting fields such as the economy, tourism, culture, housing, mobility, healthcare, and education.
This Think Tank will feature presentations from organizations that have already adopted—or are currently exploring, the integration of these new governance models and attractiveness strategies.
This desire to live in smaller towns and less urbanized environments—driven by a search for tranquility, nature, and safety—often runs into a major barrier: the difficulty of finding suitable housing. Many of these newly attractive territories offer appealing job opportunities but lack the housing capacity to accommodate newcomers eager to start a new chapter in their lives. This gap can be explained, in part, by a mismatch between local real estate markets and these evolving expectations.
This think tank session will highlight various initiatives in France and internationally aimed at reducing the gap between housing supply and demand. We will showcase innovative solutions implemented by local authorities or housing operators, such as:
Dedicated housing for temporary newcomers,
Renovation of vacant homes or office spaces,
Intergenerational housing,
Co-housing initiatives,
Solidarity-based real estate leases,
Mixed-use leases, and more.
2- Think Tank "Health & demography"
Available in french only 🇫🇷
In 2024, six million French citizens did not have a designated primary care physician, and 87% of the national territory was classified as a medical desert, with some areas facing multiple and overlapping vulnerabilities. Local authorities did not wait for the National Pact to Combat Medical Deserts (2025) to address this issue. From municipalities to regions, they have implemented proactive policies and initiatives to strengthen the attractiveness of their territories for healthcare professionals: students, residents, temporary practitioners, and physicians already in practice.
In 2026, people aged over 65 represent 22% of the French population, and this proportion is expected to continue increasing until 2050, according to projections from the French National Institute of Statistics (INSEE). In this context of an ageing population—contributing both to growing healthcare needs and the retirement of many practitioners, medical workforce demographics have become a major challenge for territories. This Think Tank will explore how agencies seek to attract healthcare professionals and innovate to improve access to care, enhance residents’ quality of life, and ultimately strengthen residential attractiveness.
- Coffee break
15:30 pm - 15:55 pm
CONFERENCE
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | CCONFERENCE ON BUSINESSES AND TERRITORIAL TOURISM / EMPLOYER BRANDING
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
Regenerative tourism is also structured around this triple objective of regeneration. This plenary session will examine the deep transformation of the tourism sector through the lens of how companies and Destination Management Organizations contribute to regenerative ambitions.
From the perspective of triple regeneration, it will analyze the relationships between tourism activity and:
- Living environments (ecosystem and biodiversity preservation)
- Human beings (well-being, global health)
- Companies (job quality, professional evolution)
Through concrete case studies presented by speakers and panelists, the session will show how public and private stakeholders are rethinking their strategies to achieve regenerative objectives.
Examples will include:
- Respect-based destination preservation initiatives
- Cooperative governance models such as SCIC structures
- Regenerative tourism projects rooted in local know-how
5:30 PM | End of the first day of conferences and think tanks at #PMF26
7:00 PM – 11:00 PM | Networking Evening – Stade Maurice David – Presidential Lounge
Maurice-David Stadium is the main rugby stadium in Aix-en-Provence and the home ground of the Provence Rugby club. Inaugurated in 1975 and located in the Jas-de-Bouffan district, it has been gradually modernized to support the growth of professional rugby. Its current capacity is approximately 8,700 seats, with several stands built or renovated in recent years. The stadium primarily hosts Provence Rugby’s Pro D2 matches, as well as occasional national and international sporting events.
It will be the venue for our iconic networking evening starting at 7:00 PM.
Address: 20 Avenue Marcel-Pagnol, Aix-en-Provence, from 7:00 PM.
FRIDAY,
APRIL 17TH
08:30 - 09:00 |
Coffee reception for participants and networking at the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud
CONFERENCE
09:00 - 10:30 |
CONFERENCE : Renewing Territorial Attractiveness Through Reindustrialization and Industrial Sovereignty
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
This plenary will explore how reindustrialization strategies, industrial and territorial ecology, and the decarbonization of production systems contribute to renewing territorial attractiveness understood as both anchoring and attraction.
Drawing on concrete case studies (low-carbon business parks, industrial-port zones, brownfield reconversion, “Territoires d’Industrie” initiatives), speakers and panelists will demonstrate how these projects reshape territorial attractiveness challenges, spatial planning strategies, value chains, and local cooperation between public actors, private stakeholders, and civil society.
Through these large-scale industrial projects, the session will examine the key conditions for successful transitions:
- multi-level governance
- territorial engineering capacity
- blended financing
- social acceptability
- territorial equity
It will also address tensions between climate urgency, reindustrialization, and residents’ quality of life. Finally, it will explore the new regenerative models made possible by these major operations through the lens of triple regeneration: environmental, residential, economic, and balanced tourism attractiveness.
THINK TANKS
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM |
CHOICE OF PARTICIPANTS: 2 SIMULTANEOUS THINK TANKS
1- MICE & Sport
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
Sport and the hosting of major sporting events are powerful drivers of image and attractiveness for territories. Through their intangible impacts, sport and sporting events can become catalysts for territorial projects, fostering social cohesion, inclusion, and a sense of belonging and pride among residents. Some territories have even made sport a key component of their attractiveness strategies, closely linked to quality of life and the well-being of local communities.
This Think Tank will showcase inspiring initiatives such as the impact-driven programs of the Fondation 13ème Homme (Olympique de Marseille) in the fields of education, social cohesion, sports participation, and environmental protection; rugby as a driver of identity, pride, and quality of life in Toulouse; and the international visibility of the Festival des Templiers in Aveyron, which offers around ten trail races for all levels and attracts nearly 10,000 participants from around the world.
2- Artificial Intelligence
Available in french only 🇫🇷
Territorial attractiveness stakeholders (investment promotion agencies, tourism boards, development agencies, etc.) are increasingly using artificial intelligence to optimize their strategies: flow management, personalization of customer journeys, qualification of economic projects, residential mobility, and more. These applications aim to strengthen the sustainability and responsibility of their actions by encouraging eco-responsible choices and a better distribution of economic and image-related benefits across the territory.
Ethical considerations, particularly data protection and transparency in data processing, remain essential and call for a responsible use of these technologies. This Think Tank will therefore present a range of AI applications in place marketing, branding, and sustainable attractiveness, illustrated through practical cases from France and abroad.
12h - 12H30 | Closing of the Conference - Crossed Views
Available in french and english 🇫🇷🇬🇧
Conclusion of the discussions ! Crossed perspectives on the various themes addressed during this 2026 edition.
- Lunch break