page_title: Lyon-Part-Dieu Business District
section_title: Farmlands
hierarchical_section_title: Lyon-Part-Dieu Business District / History / Farmlands
caption_attribution_description: English: Remains of the Part-Dieu farm estate in 1860
context_page_description: La Part-Dieu is the Central Business District and beating heart of Lyon Metropolis, inside an urban area of more than 2.2 million inhabitants. It is also the second largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Greater Paris, with over 1,150,000 m² of office and service space, along with 45,000 service sector jobs, 2,500 companies, affordable rents and a 97% occupancy rate. A major European nerve centre, La Part-Dieu high-speed train station is a leading interchange rail station on the continent, welcoming 120,000 travellers everyday, while its multimodal hub deals with 500,000 daily commuters, by means of public transport such as métro, tram and bus lines, taxi and bike services, including the Rhônexpress shuttle connecting La Part-Dieu directly with Lyon-Saint-Exupéry International Airport.
  Located on the Left Bank of the Rhône river, this urban centre also provides major entertainment and cultural facilities, including one of the largest urban shopping mall of all Europe, 800 shops, Paul Bocuse indoor food market, café terraces, the Auditorium concert hall, Bourse du Travail theatre, Municipal Library, Departmental Archives and Montluc Fort.
context_section_description: Before the 1850s, La Part-Dieu was composed of rural flood-zones. It was ceded by the Mazenod-Servient family to the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon Public Hospitals in 1737. The embankment of the Rhône river and construction of bridges ( see Bridges of Lyon ) led to the management of flood risk and urbanization of the eastern Rhone bank from 1772 onwards. By the end of the 18th century, La Part-Dieu domain was a large estate bordered by the Brotteaux and Guillotière districts.
  Lafayette bridge erected in 1872 accelerated the eastward urbanization process, while cleansed farmlands gave way to wheat production. From 1830 to 1848, the city erected walls to protect itself from foreign invasions. Montluc Fort saw life in 1831. La Part-Dieu, thus becoming a fort, acquired a military function. Because of the administrative, urban and geological complexity of Lyon, rail transport brought multiple train stations to existence. The Part-Dieu one was solely dedicated to freight transport.
caption: Remnants of the Part-Dieu farm estate around 1860
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