Urbest · 2027

Agoris analysis · updated September 2026

Key takeaways

• Urbest is the trade show for mayors, local elected officials and decision-makers in public space management across the Grand Est region. It brings together local authorities, technical services, private service providers and institutional partners around town planning, management and animation of local areas.
• Next edition: the 32nd, on Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 January 2027, at Parc Expo Metz. Opening hours are listed as "to be announced" on the official website at the time of writing.
• Access: free entry by invitation, trade show restricted to professionals.
• Organiser: GL events Parc des Expositions de Metz Métropole, which operates under the Metz Événements brand and also runs the exhibition venue. No co-organiser.
• Annual frequency, held in January. The 2027 edition is the first since the 2026 local elections.
• Report from the 31st edition, held 28-29 January 2026: close to 70 exhibitors, according to the organiser's closing press release. No attendance figure has been published.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The presentation press release for the 2026 edition grouped exhibitors into broad families: environment and green spaces, town planning, security and safety, building, health. The archived page for the 2026 edition on the exhibition venue's website details the expected profiles: architects, town planners, landscape architects and consultancies, nurserymen and landscaping companies, specialists in soil, public lighting and street furniture, public works companies and multi-service providers, and players in sports facilities, leisure and tourism.

For 2027, the organiser announces an offer organised around four themed areas, innovation, security, mobility and culture, complemented by a village dedicated to artificial intelligence and by themed villages.

Notable exhibitors

The official website does not publish an exhibitor list for the 2027 edition. Applications to take part go through the registration form on the exhibitor area.

The only companies named in connection with a recent edition are the winners of the 2026 Prix de l'Innovation, presented below.

Visitor quality

The trade show targets elected officials and senior local authority executives, chief executives, deputy chief executives and technical directors, as well as technical departments: roads, green spaces, buildings. The expected audience covers rural and urban municipalities, communities of communes and urban areas, metropolitan authorities, state services and territorial assemblies, as well as local community associations.

Entry is by invitation and the trade show is restricted to professionals. No attendance figure, audited or otherwise, is published by the organiser.

Programme & community

Conference programme

For 2027, the official website announces conferences centred on artificial intelligence, with two named speakers: Laurence Devillers, professor of artificial intelligence and researcher at the CNRS, on Wednesday 13 January, and Yann Fergusson, scientific director of LaborIA and sociologist specialising in the impact of AI on work, on Thursday 14 January. The detailed programme has not yet been published.

The 2026 closing press release set out the themes due to shape the 2027 programme: collaboration between local authorities, dialogue between public and private players, digital solutions and inclusion, sport, culture and local appeal. The 2027 website also lists 20 conferences and workshops.

The 2026 edition was themed around cybersecurity in municipalities. Its programme included two talks by the UNEP, on de-sealing school playgrounds and on managing tree heritage, a talk by Technigazon on maintaining natural-turf sports pitches without plant protection products, and the signing of a partnership agreement between GRDF and the Association des maires ruraux de Moselle. The 3rd edition of the Ateliers de l'Intelligence Numérique was held there on the Wednesday.

Prix de l'Innovation

The Prix de l'Innovation is awarded in partnership with the newspaper La Semaine. Its 7th edition, in 2026, had eight categories. 2026 winners: GEOSEC for its Groundfix technology (building and public works), Laglasse France for its Etioak oak street furniture range (town planning, roads, energy), Glutton for its Glutton Select urban vacuum cleaner (environment, green spaces, maintenance equipment, vehicles), Filieris for its rehabilitation technical platform (children, health, social), CHR Metz-Thionville for its Scan y Tuto app (ICT and information systems), MonVéloo (sport and leisure) and SAS PAF for its LorLock latch (prevention, security, safety). The jury also awarded two special mentions: CHR Metz-Thionville's drone-based transport of laboratory samples and Hammer Arrosage's HydroSave connected irrigation system.

Whether an 8th edition of the awards will be held in 2027 is not announced at the time of writing.

Community & networks

In 2026, the institutional partners listed were the Région Grand Est, SODEVAM, MATEC, CAUE and UNEP. For 2027, the organiser announces a dedicated app and website for networking before, during and after the trade show.

The trade show addresses the same audience as the Salon des Maires et des Collectivités Locales, but at Grand Est regional scale: it gives access to the region's local decision-makers, where the Paris event plays the national card.

On site: what you need to know

For detailed access, parking and accommodation information, see the venue listing: Parc Expo Metz.

Specific to the trade show: two days, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 January 2027. Opening hours have not yet been published; in 2026, the trade show opened from 9am to 7pm on the Wednesday and 9am to 6pm on the Thursday. Free entry by invitation, restricted to professionals. The exhibitor guide, available from the exhibitor visit-preparation page, brings together the access map, nearby hotels and the venue's internal regulations.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For exhibitors

• Submit a request early via the exhibitor area form: it is the only published entry point for 2027.
• Tailor your pitch to the political calendar: by January 2027, new municipal teams will have been in place for a few months and will be building their first investment budgets.
• Use the official media kit, with visuals, logos, poster and email signature, to invite clients and prospects: entry is by invitation only.
• Fill in your exhibitor listing in the dedicated area, with products, logo and documentation, to be visible on the announced networking app.
• Watch for the opening of a possible 8th edition of the Prix de l'Innovation, which showcased the 2026 winners.

For the decision-making visitor

• Request your invitation in advance: the trade show is free but restricted to professionals.
• Choose your day based on the conference programme, as each announced speaker is tied to a specific day.
• Prepare a list of ongoing projects, roads, green spaces, security, sports facilities, to target the relevant stands and themed areas.

CSR policy & initiatives

Urbest does not publish a dedicated Commitments page for the event: the "Politique RSE" link in the site's footer leads to the legal notice, which contains no section on the topic. The trade show does not display its own certification.

The verifiable groundwork sits at venue and organiser level. Metz Expo states that its site is ISO 20121 certified, the responsible management standard applied to event activity, and engaged in an ISO 14001 process covering energy, waste and water consumption management.

At group level, the CSR policy published by Metz Événements is organised around three pillars: Planet, for reducing carbon footprint, the circular economy and water management; People, for staff safety, training and diversity; Communities, for local economic development, ethics and responsible purchasing. GL events states that all its event venues in France are ISO 20121 certified.

On the content side, environmental themes feature in the programme, for example de-sealing school playgrounds or managing tree heritage in 2026. These belong to the editorial programme, not to an organisational commitment specific to the trade show.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

Urbest is a long-standing trade show, reaching its 32nd edition in 2027, which has tightened its format. The 2019 edition ran for three days, Wednesday to Friday; recent editions run over two days.

The published figures also show a recalibration. The 2026 presentation press release highlighted 300 brands exhibited over 12,000 sqm; the closing press release reports close to 70 exhibitors. The 2027 edition's website now shows 120 exhibitors and 6,000 sqm of exhibition space, without specifying whether this is a target or a past reference point. Brands and exhibitors are not counted the same way, but the gap is reason enough for an exhibitor to ask the organiser how many exhibitors are actually expected in 2027.

The real driver for 2027 is political. The organiser says so itself: the edition that follows municipal elections is always promising. It is using this to reposition the trade show, with more differentiated visitor journeys, more appointment-setting, a strengthened conference programme and a shift towards artificial intelligence. For a supplier to Grand Est local authorities, this is the moment to meet incoming municipal teams.

Dates for the 2028 edition are not announced at the time of writing.

All data not attributed to a source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (urbest.fr).