Courbevoie

Courbevoie
Night view of La Défense in the south of Courbevoie
Paris and inner ring départements
Location within Île-de-France region  Courbevoie
Administration
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Hauts-de-Seine
Arrondissement	Nanterre
Canton	2 cantons
Mayor	Jacques Kossowski
Statistics
Elevation	25–56 m (82–184 ft)
Land area1	4.17 km2 (1.61 sq mi)
Population2	85,716  (2006)
- Density	20,555 /km2 (53,240 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	92026/ 92400
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.

Coordinates: 48°53′52″N 2°15′11″E / 48.8977777778°N 2.25305555556°E / 48.8977777778; 2.25305555556

Courbevoie (French pronunciation: [kuʁ.bə.vwa]) is a commune located very close to the centre of Paris, France. The centre of Courbevoie is situated 2 kilometres from the outer limits of Paris and 8.2 km. (5.1 miles) from the center of Paris.

It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe, and ranks as the third-best place to live in the Île-de-France region, directly after the neighbouring communes of Levallois-Perret and Neuilly-sur-Seine.^[1]

La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the tallest buildings in the metropolitan area, spreads over the southern part of Courbevoie (as well as parts of Puteaux and Nanterre).

Name

The name Courbevoie comes from Latin Curva Via and means "curved highway", allegedly in reference to a Roman road from Paris to Normandy which made a sharp turn to climb the hill over which Courbevoie was built.

History

Administration

Courbevoie is divided into two cantons:

• Canton of Courbevoie-Nord: 28,351 inhabitants (40.68% of the total).
• Canton of Courbevoie-Sud: 41,343 inhabitants (59.32% of the total).

Transport

Courbevoie is served by two stations on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line: Courbevoie and Bécon-les-Bruyères.

Courbevoie is also served by Esplanade de La Défense station on Paris Métro Line 1, in the business district of La Défense.

There are also a large number of city buses that come through the bustling La Défense station.

When it comes to air transportation, Courbevoie can be served by Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport as well as Paris-Orly to the south and Beauvais Airport to the north.

Personalities

• Arletty, actress and singer
• Louis de Funès, comedy actor
• Stephane Coquin, footballer
• Colomba Fofana, athlete
• William Remy, footballer
• Mohamed Bourouissa, photographer
• Michel Blanc, actor
• Louis-Ferdinand Céline, writer

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Courbevoie is twinned with:

• Forest-Vorst (Brussels), Belgium
• Enfield Town (London), United Kingdom
• Freudenstadt (Baden-Württemberg), Germany

Mayors of Courbevoie

• Antoine Le Frique (1800–1818)
• Joseph Derbanne (October, 1818 – February, 1826)
• Nicolas Rousselot (February 1826 – April 1830)
• Jean-Baptiste Chevalier (April 1830 – August 1830)
• Constant Grebaut (August 1830 – September 1840)
• Désiré Maurenq (September 1840–1845)
• Constant Grebaut (1845 – 26 August 1865)
• Charles Blondel (26 August 1865 – 7 February 1872)
• Jean-François Durenne (7 February 1872 – November 1873)
• Jean-Baptiste Weiss (November 1873 – 20 February 1874)
• Auguste Colas (20 February 1874 – 12 February 1878)
• Frédéric Bourgin (12 February 1878 – October 1878)
• Auguste Bailly (October 1878 – 19 May 1888)
• Antoine Rolland (19 May 1888 – 15 May 1892)
• Jules Lefevre (15 May 1892 – 27 January 1894)
• François le Chippey (27 January 1894 – May 1896)
• Léon Boursier (May 1896 – May 1908)
• Charles Mering (May 1908 – December 1919)
• Augustin Loiseau (December 1919 – October 1920)
• Joseph Victor (October 1920 – May 1925)
• Pierre Fouquart (May 1925 – September 1927)
• André Grisoni (September 1927 – July 1944)
• Gabriel Roche (September 1944 – 26 October 1947)
• Marius Guerre (26 October 1947 – 20 December 1954)
• Gabriel Roche (26 January 1955 – 15 March 1959)
• Charles Deprez (26 March 1959 – 18 June 1995)
• Jacques Kossowski (since 25 June 1995)

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Courbevoie in 1999 Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France 80.0% 20.0% Born in Overseas France Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants 1.1% 3.8% 3.4% 11.7% 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.

Economy

Total S.A. has its head office in the Tour Total in La Défense and in Courbevoie.^[2] Areva has its head office in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie.^[3] Saint-Gobain also has its head office in Courbevoie.^[4]

Gallery

• 

  Street at the border between Courbevoie and Asnières

• 

  Bridge of Courbevoie, Georges Seurat, 1886–1887

See also

• La Défense business district.
• List of tallest structures in Paris
• Phare Tower, a 300 meter skyscraper now underconstruction
• Communes of the Hauts-de-Seine department

References

• INSEE

1. ^ "L'Encyclopédie des Villes de France." Le Journal du Net, INSEE, Seloger.com, Habitants.fr. Retrieved on December 21, 2010.
2. ^ "Total: Main indicators." Reuters. Thursday October 15, 2009. Retrieved on October 19, 2009.
3. ^ "Legal Notice." Areva. Retrieved on 21 June 2010.
4. ^ "Legal notice." Saint-Gobain. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.

External links

Paris portal

• Courbevoie official website (French)
• Courbevoie Community portal (French)
• blog about Courbevoie (French)