Villeurbanne

Villeurbanne is a commune in the Rhône depairtment in eastren Fraunce.

It is situated northeast o Lyon, wi which it forms the hert o the seicont-lairgest metropolitan aurie in Fraunce efter that o Paris. Villeurbanne is the seicont-lairgest ceety in the depairtment.

History
The current location o downtown Villeurbanne is kent tae hae been inhabited as far back as 6000 BC. Its current name comes frae a Gallo-Roman farming aurie, established at aboot the same time as Lyon (then Lugdunum) an kent as the Villa Urbana ("town house"). It wad then acome Urbanum, then Villa Urbane an, ultimately, Villeurbanne.

Villeurbanne haes belonged tae the kinrick o Fraunce syne 1349. It wis then separated frae Lyon bi the river La Rize, a umwhile branch o the Rhône River.

Until the 19t century, the ceety wis merely a patchwork o distinct villages separated bi fields an undeveloped land. Thir villages hae maistly survived, an nowadays form the neighborhoods o Charpennes, Cusset, Croix-Luizet, Maisons-Neuves, etc.

Wi the industrial era, Villeurbanne's economy soared: the textile industry wis the first tae bloom, followed bi mechanical an chemical ones. The factories lured in numerous immigrants, maist notably frae Italy. Transforming frae a rural community tae an industrial toun, Villeurbanne underwent a tremendous demographic boom in the late 1920s. Frae 3,000 indwallers in 1928, its population rocketed tae 82,000 in 1931. Mayor Lazare Goujon (elected 1924) engaged the ceety in a vast public works initiative. Arguably the maist visible heritage o this program is the Gratte-Ciel, a housing complex made up o twa Art Deco touers an annex smawer buildings, lining up alang the Avenue Henri Barbusse. Thir structures are the work o architect Môrice Leroux, an ane o the maist notable Art Deco structures in Fraunce. Haein undergone thorough renovation, the 19-story twin touers hae acome an emblem o the ceety.

Education

Mony colleges an varsities o the Lyon metropolitan aurie are locatit in Villeurbanne. Mony o thir are locatit on the La Doua campus, home tae the Claude Bernard Varsity (Lyon I), CPE Lyon an the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon.

Transport
Villeurbanne is well served bi the Lyon aurie public transit seestem, the TCL (Transports en Commun Lyonnais). The east branch o subway line A runs throu the ceety hert, an the new tramway line T1 connects the La Doua campus tae the Lyon business an commercial destrict o La Part-Dieu an the Presqu'île downtown.

Interniational relations

Twin touns — Sister ceeties
Villeurbanne is twinned wi:

  Abanilla, Spain
  Mahilyow, Belaroushie
  Apovian, Armenie
  Khabarovsk, Roushie Embassy of France in Moscow
  Bat Yam, Israel

Demography

In terms o nummer o indwallers, the ceety o Villeurbanne is the seicont ceety o the Rhône depairtment, the fowert ceety o the region Rhône-Alpes, the 27t ceety o Fraunce. It is an aa the biggest ceety o Fraunce tae be anerlie a chef-lieu o a canton an no tae be a prefecture.

Notable fowk
The leet o notable native Villeurbannais includes:

 Laure Manaudou, French swimmer, warld record haulder, 9 October 1986.
 Henri Cochet, French tennis player, 4 December 1901 († 1987).
 Mourad Benhamida, French fitbawer, 18 Januar 1986.

See an aa

Communes o the Rhône depairtment
Guillaume Bottazzi airt wirk on a skyscraper

References

Notes
INSEE - National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies - France

Freemit airtins

Villeurbanne Message Board 
Villeurbanne blog

Category:Communes o the Metropolis o Lyon
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