The fourth international event of IdeasCity was IdeasCity Arles, held in partnership with LUMA Arles and the LUMA Foundation. This partnership was an extension of a collaboration that began at IdeasCity Detroit and continued at IdeasCity Athens.

Led by IdeasCity Director, Joseph Grima, IdeasCity Arles took place from May 22 -27, 2017, and featured an intensive five-day residency program with forty-two Fellows, culminating in a public conference featuring Kunlé Adeyemi, Amale Andraos, Michel Bauwens, Raphaële Bidault-Waddington, Bouchra Khalili, Ben Vickers, and Amanda Williams, among others. The public conference, located at the Grande Halle, Parc des Ateliers in Arles, took place on Saturday, May 27, 2017. The event was free and open to the public and featured a keynote lecture by Rem Koolhas.

IdeasCity—the New Museum’s platform to explore the future of cities—worked in partnership with local community organizations in Arles to tackle key issues specific to the region. Building upon discussions initiated in Detroit and Athens, IdeasCity Arles addressed the future city, looking at key forces that shape Arles and the Camargue region today. Working alongside local stakeholders in Arles to investigate the countryside as a place where urban change is accelerating, IdeasCity developed “scenarios for a City in a Bioregion” through the following themes: City of Culture & Agriculture, Twenty-First-Century Factory Town, City as Campus, UNESCO City 3.0, and Global Village. In the coming years, these themes will be followed up by Atelier LUMA and LUMA Days, a three day-long scenario planning workshop led by LUMA Arles focused on the future of Arles and the Camargue region.