La Courneuve

La Courneuve
Town hall
Paris and inner ring départements
Location within Île-de-France region  La Courneuve
Administration
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Saint-Denis
Canton	La Courneuve
Intercommunality	Plaine Commune
Mayor	Gilles Poux
Statistics
Elevation	29–60 m (95–200 ft) (avg. 40 m or 130 ft)
Land area1	7.52 km2 (2.90 sq mi)
Population2	37,539  (2006)
- Density	4,992 /km2 (12,930 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	93027/ 93 120
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

La Courneuve is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.3 km (5.2 mi) from the center of Paris.

History

The history of La Courneuve begins as the rest of the region with the invasion of European tribes and the eventual conquering of the area by the Romans. During the Middle Ages, the area was like many small villages. With its proximity to Paris, the area became a fashionable country destination, with a number of gentry residing there and two notable châteaux, Sainte-Foi and Poitronville. Towards the end of Napoleon's reign, the entire area experienced large population growth. This along with improved methods of farming eventually transformed the area into the major legume producer for the Paris region.

In 1863, the first major industrial enterprise was introduced and the area soon became a strange mix of factories and farmlands. Industrial estates were juxtaposed against bean plantations and that would continue until after World War II.

During the 1960s, as Paris could no longer meet the demands of a further exploding population (largely the result of immigration from former colonies), La Courneuve, like many other suburbs of Paris, was designated as one of the "zones à urbaniser en priorité" (areas to be urbanized quickly) and was built up at a very rapid pace, with the construction of large council estates and tower blocks and other HLM developments. Between 1962 and 1968 the population nearly doubled.

Heraldry

	The arms of La Courneuve are blazoned : Azure, a wall embattled argent masoned sable, open to the field contain a millwheel Or above waves argent
motto: droiture et tendresse (=~righteous and loving)

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of La Courneuve in 1999 Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France 62.6% 37.4% Born in Overseas France Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants 3.1% 3.5% 4.1% 26.7% ¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics. ²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Transport

La Courneuve is served by La Courneuve – 8 Mai 1945 station on Paris Métro Line 7 and by La Courneuve – Aubervilliers station on Paris RER line B.

See also

• Communes of the Seine-Saint-Denis department

References

• INSEE

• (French) Un peu d'histoire. 07 Feb. 2006. La Ville de La Courneuve
• Mayol, Pierre. "The Policy of the City and Cultural Action". Canadian Journal of Communication Vol. 27, No. 2 (2002)
• (French)Van Renterghem, Marion. "La Courneuve, « Rebeus » et « Renois » disent la vie des « 4000 »." Le Monde, 1 July 2005

External links

• (French) Official site