Chavannes-près-Renens is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Ouest Lausannois.

History

The eastern part of Chavannes-près-Renens was already inhabited during the time of the Romans. A bronze figurine, an axe, knives and several iron items have been found from that period. From the Middle Ages until the 18th century it was a rural town focused on agriculture.

Chavannes-près-Renens is first mentioned in 1224 as Chavanes. In another document from October 1272 the former bisschop of Lausanne Jean de Cossonay talks about the territory of Chavannes as well as its mills.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 27.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 18.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 14.5%. Out of the forested land, 6.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 10.3% is used for growing crops and 9.1% is pastures, while 4.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the industrial region westward of Lausanne.

Flag and coat of arms

The flag and coat of arms of the town consists of an arched bridge and a cherry branch on an argent (silver) and gules (red) background.

The flag and the coat of arms were adopted in 1905 but got their final forms in 1930. The bridge and the background colors represent the bridge in Lausanne under which the inhabitants of Chavannes had to walk in the Middle Ages. The cherries symbolize the importance of orchards for the town at the beginning of the 20th century. A special type of dark cherries, called "Noire de Chavannes" was cultivated during that time.

The coat of arms shows red cherries instead of dark ones, probably for aesthetic reasons.

Demographics

Chavannes-près-Renens has a population () of . , 50.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 18.2%. It has changed at a rate of 7.4% due to migration and at a rate of 12% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population () speaks French (4,454 or 73.5%), with Italian being second most common (387 or 6.4%) and German being third (277 or 4.6%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.

, there were 2,729 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,778 married individuals, 207 widows or widowers and 349 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 2,611 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household.

there were 2,824 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 1,138. There were 228 single room apartments and 209 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 2,603 apartments (92.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 134 apartments (4.7%) were seasonally occupied and 87 apartments (3.1%) were empty.

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bar:1950 from:start till:1162 text:"1,162"

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Heritage sites of national significance

The Cantonal Archives of Vaud in Chavannes-près-Renens is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

thumb|right|The town hall of Chavannes-près-Renens (2020)

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 31.36% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.07%), the Green Party (13.31%) and the FDP (9.27%). In the federal election, a total of 924 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 37.7%.

Economy

, Chavannes-près-Renens had an unemployment rate of 6.6%. , there were 2 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 1 business involved in this sector. 151 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 30 businesses in this sector. 2,684 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 152 businesses in this sector.

, there were 1,180 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2,659 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 1.4% of the workforce coming into Chavannes-près-Renens are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 31.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 49.5% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 803 children of which 502 children (62.5%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 513 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 345 students in those schools. There were also 18 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 540 students in Chavannes-près-Renens who came from another municipality, while 575 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

  • Sergei Aschwanden - Swiss professional judoka born in 1975 - also attended the Collège de la Planta in his teens.

References

  • Official site