Villeurbanne, France
Villeurbanne is a city and commune (roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities/cities in the United States or Canada) in eastern central France, being directly to the northeast of Lyon. It is the heart of the second largest conurbation in France after Paris, having about 130,000 inhabitants.
Villeurbanne is the second largest city in the Rhône département (like American States, or Canadian Provinces).The current location of downtown Villeurbanne is known to have been inhabited as far back as 6000 BC.
Its current name comes from a Gallo-Roman farming area, (established at about the same time as Lyon) and known as the Villa Urbana (”town house”). It would later become Urbanum, then Villa Urbane, then eventually, Villeurbanne.
Villeurbanne has belonged to the kingdom of France since 1349. It was then separated from Lyon by the river La Rize (a former branch of the Rhône River).
Until the 19th century, the city was merely a patchwork of distinct villages separated by fields and undeveloped land. These villages have mostly survived, and nowadays form the neighborhoods of Charpennes, Cusset, Croix-Luizet, Maisons-Neuves, and so on.
With the industrial era, Villeurbanne’s economy soared: the textile industry was the first to bloom, followed by mechanical and chemical ones. The factories lured in numerous immigrants, most notably Italians.
Transforming from a rural community to an industrial town, Villeurbanne underwent a tremendous demographic boom. From 3,000 inhabitants in 1928, its population rocketed to 82,000 in 1931, to approximately 130,000 today.
At this point in its growth, Villeurbanne is a bustling metropolis, best negotiated by rental car.
Many colleges and universities usually listed as part of the “Lyon area” are actually located in Villeurbanne. This is most notably the case with the La Doua campus, (home to the Claude Bernard University - Lyon I), CPE Lyon, and the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon.
Villeurbanne is well served by the Lyon area public transit system, the TCL (Transports en Commun Lyonnais). The east branch of “subway line A” runs through the heart of the city , and the new tramway line T1 connects the La Doua campus to the Lyon business and commercial district of La Part-Dieu and the Presqu’île downtown.. To avoid traveling with business commuters, however, you would be best served to hire a car for your sightseeing to avoid the “rush times” on the subways.