thumb|Saint-Sébastien d'Annappes church

Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Lille metropolitan area (Métropole Européenne de Lille) and the largest in area (27.46&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) after the city of Lille itself. It is also one of the main cities of the Hauts-de-France region.

Built up owing to the merger between the former communes of Ascq, Annappes and Flers-lez-Lille, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is a new town and the cradle of the first automatic metro system in the world (VAL).

Villeneuve-d'Ascq is nicknamed the 'green technopole' thanks to the implantation of many researchers, including two campuses of the University of Lille and many graduate engineering schools, and companies in a pleasant living environment. Owing to its activity centres, its Haute Borne European scientific park and two shopping malls, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is one of the main economic spots of the Hauts-de-France region; multinational corporations such as Bonduelle, Cofidis and Decathlon have their head office there.

Outside its academic, scientific and business facilities, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is known for its sporting events, boasting two stadiums (Stade Pierre-Mauroy and Stadium Lille Métropole) and some top division sports teams, its museums, e.g. the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art), its green spaces, and its facilities for disabled people.

Name

Its name means "new city of Ascq" in French. Ascq is possibly derived from the Dutch word for "ash". The name of the city is generally written without the customary (official) hyphen.

Geography

The city counts approximately of greenspace, lakes, forests and arable lands. It is located between Lille and Roubaix, at the crossroads of the principal freeways towards Paris, Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels.

History

thumb|The [[Hôtel de Ville, Villeneuve-d'Ascq|Hôtel de Ville]]

Development on what is now Villeneuve-d'Ascq can be traced back to the Celtic Gaul era, and are anchored in two feudal mounds, a Gallo-Roman site and a Carolingian one.

The area was selected in the 1960s to accommodate a new town then designated the name Lille-Est, which was to channel the growth of the agglomeration of Lille city and development of institutions based in the area. The commune of Villeneuve-d'Ascq was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the communes of Ascq, Annappes and Flers. Its name evokes at the same time the new (neuve) and the old: former commune Ascq and its memory as martyr town of 1 April 1944, date on which the Nazis massacred 86 men (Ascq massacre).

The city's merger with Lille was contentious and failed twice (1972 and 1976). The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1977.

Population

Data before 1970 in the table and graph below refer to the old commune Annappes, before the merger with Ascq and Flers-lez-Lille. and INSEE (1968-2023)

| graph-pos = bottom

|1793 |1221

|1800 |1161

|1806 |1185

|1821 |1356

|1831 |1650

|1836 |1664

|1841 |1821

|1846 |1943

|1851 |1962

|1856 |2050

|1861 |2118

|1866 |2232

|1872 |2307

|1876 |2357

|1881 |2651

|1886 |2713

|1891 |2858

|1896 |2860

|1901 |3014

|1906 |2956

|1911 |3026

|1921 |3020

|1926 |3127

|1931 |3221

|1936 |3350

|1946 |3553

|1954 |3751

|1962 |5373

|1968 |11618

|1975 |36769

|1982 |59527

|1990 |65320

|1999 |65042

|2007 |61630

|2012 |62308

|2017 |63408

|2023 |62868

Economy

Businesses and public organizations

Different kinds of businesses have their headquarters in Villeneuve d'Ascq because of the availability of land, the presence of researchers (in particular in the Cité Scientifique and Haute Borne) and the proximity to both Benelux and Paris economic regions. Villeneuve d'Ascq notably hosts the headquarters of the food processing company Bonduelle, the financial services provider Cofidis, the sporting goods retailer Decathlon, the chocolate manufacturer Bouquet d'Or, the disposable dishes manufacturer Tifany Industrie, the IT security company Netasq, the restaurant chains Flunch, Les 3 Brasseurs, Pizza Paï.

Furthermore, Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts the Europe, the Middle East and Africa headquarters of IT consulting company SoftThinks and the European headquarters and R&D center of Canadian frozen foods company McCain Foods. It is home to the central buying service of international retail group Auchan, a R&D center of multinational agri-processor Tate & Lyle, and a data processing center of American company Xerox.

Villeneuve d'Ascq also hosts numerous administration and public organizations offices. The Northern headquarters of French national meteorological service Météo-France, large barracks of the National Gendarmerie (450 gendarmes and their family), the Northern headquarters of the Regional Center for Traffic Information and Coordination (:fr:Centre régional d'information et de circulation routière). Since 1998, there are large offices of the mobile network operator and Internet service provider Orange, along with the information computing center of Électricité de France for the Northern and Western France region.

From 1984 to 1994 Villeneuve d'Ascq housed a Groupe Bull factory that developed, manufactured and marketed desktops personal computers; the site is currently used by offices of Decathlon. There was also a Rhône-Poulenc chemical factory, now housing offices of mail order company 3 Suisses.

Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts the Northern head office of Textile and Clothing French Institute (IFTH) which assist industry for their technological and economical development. Finally, 2000 businesses are implanted in the city.

Shops and trade

Two huge shopping centers are located in the technopole. The indoor/roofed Centre commercial V2, founded in 1977, which, when created, was the largest shopping center north of Paris and is still the largest in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais area. A new outdoor one opened in 2009, Heron Parc, a shopping center located near V2, hosting numerous stores of Groupe Auchan and a 12 auditoriums movie theater.

Education and science

Villeneuve d'Ascq is the first academic pole of the metropolitan area. Numerous academic and scientific facilities are located there (around 42,000 students and 2,500 researchers).

Universities and tertiary institutions

The city hosts two main campuses of the University of Lille : "Cité Scientifique" (Science and Technology); and "Pont de Bois" (Social sciences, Humanities, Literature and Arts). Those two campuses count a half of the Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France students.

Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts also a University Institute for Technology (IUT A), the school in architecture École nationale supérieure d'architecture et de paysage de Lille, along with five graduate schools : École centrale de Lille, École nationale supérieure de chimie de Lille, Polytech'Lille (formerly EUDIL), École des Mines-Télécom de Lille-Douai (IMT) (formerly ENIC, TELECOM LILLE), École supérieure des techniques industrielles et des textiles (ESTIT).

Primary and secondary education

There are 20 public maternelles (preschools/nurseries), 17 public élémentaires (primary schools), and 6 public combined preschools and elementary schools. There are also five public collèges (junior high schools): Camille Claudel, Simone de Beauvoir, Molière, Rimbaud, and Triolo. The two public lycées (senior high schools/sixth-form colleges) in the commune are Lycée Raymond Queneau and Lycée professionnel Dinah Derycke.

There is one combined private elementary through high school, École Saint-Adrien. There is also a private junior high school, Collège privé communautaire; and four private combined preschool and elementary schools, Notre-Dame, Saint-Pierre d'Ascq, Cardinal Liénart, and Saint-Henri.

  • Haidari, Greece
  • Iași, Romania
  • Leverkusen, Germany
  • Ouidah, Benin
  • La Possession, Réunion, France
  • Racibórz, Poland
  • Stirling, Scotland
  • Tournai, Belgium

See also

  • Communes of the Nord department

References

  • Museum of modern art
  • Forum des sciences (Centre François Mitterrand)
  • Office of tourism