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 *[[Roman villa|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 
*  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