"Faubourg" (French:[fo.buːʁ]ⓘ) is an ancientFrench term historically equivalent to "fore-town" (now often termedsuburb orbanlieue). The earliest form isforsbourg, derived fromLatinforīs, 'out of', andVulgar Latin (originally Germanic)burgum, 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, this name was given to an agglomeration forming around a throughway leading outwards from a city gate, and usually took the name of the same thoroughfare within the city. As cities were often located atop hills (for defensive purposes), their outlying communities were frequently lower down. Many faubourgs were located outside the city walls, and "suburbs" were further away from this location (sub, "below";urbs urbis, "city").
Faubourgs are sometimes considered the predecessor of European suburbs, into which they sometimes evolved in the 1950s and 1960s, while others underwent further urbanisation. Although early suburbs still conserved some characteristics related to faubourgs (such as the back alleys with doors, little break margins for houses), later suburbs underwent major changes in their construction, primarily in terms of residential density.
Beside many French cities,faubourgs can still be found outside Europe include the province ofQuebec in Canada and the city ofNew Orleans in theUnited States. The cities of Quebec and Montreal contain examples, although Montreal has far greater divergences in terms ofbanlieue, which lead to similarities of manyOntarian andAmerican suburbs.
Faubourgs were prominent aroundParis from the 16th century. At that time, Paris was surrounded by acity wall. But even outside theLouis XIII wall there were urbanised areas, and those were called faubourgs. In 1701, these faubourgs were annexed to the city, and at about the same time, the wall was demolished; where it once stood, there is now the chain ofGreat Boulevards that leads fromPlace de la Bastille viaPlace de la République andPlace de la Madeleine toPlace de la Concorde. The border of the city was transferred a few kilometers outwards, and the new borderline, which was in force until 1860, is now marked by the outer circle of boulevards passing throughPlace Charles de Gaulle in the west andPlace de la Nation in the east.[1]
In 1860, the border of the city was once more transferred a few kilometers outwards to where it still is.Haussmann's renovation of Paris erased many traces of ancient faubourgs and the term banlieue was then coined.[citation needed]
Many Parisian streets have retained their ancient denomination in spite of city growth; today it is still possible to discern pre-1701 delimitations in Paris by marking the point where a thoroughfare's name changes fromrue torue du faubourg. For instance, therue du Faubourg Saint-Denis used to be located outside of the city wall and was an extension of therue Saint-Denis within the walls. Therue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré came about in a similar manner.
The term was also used in the early expansion ofNew Orleans beyond the original city plan, when French was still a common language in the colonial city.Faubourg Tremé andFaubourg Marigny, two of the oldest neighborhoods outside of theFrench Quarter, are persistent examples. Another examples areFaubourg Ste. Marie, originally (late 18th century) a residential area, which was overtaken by commerce, developing into the modernCentral Business District, as well as Duplantier, Saulet, La Course, Annunciation, Nuns, Lafayette, Livaudais, Delassize, Plaisance, Delachaise, Bouligny, Avart, Daunois, Montegut, Montreuil, Duralde, Macarty, Caraby, Lesseps, Andry, and Ursulines[2]
Greater Montreal no longer has any actualfaubourgs onthe main island, as the suburb now refers to theNorth andSouth Shores. However, place names such asle Faubourg St-Laurent are still occasionally used to refer to the sections ofVille-Marie.[3][4]
Furthermore, the termdes faubourgs de Montréal ("the Montreal suburbs") is preserved in some place names in thecity proper, such as the annexes (branches) of theÉcole des Métiers des Faubourgs-de-Montréal. There was also aCaisse des Faubourgs de Montréal inThe Village, which in 2003 was closed down.[5]
The termfaubourg is still alive inQuebec City, where it is mostly used to designate theSaint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood, often calledFaubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste or evenle faubourg by its inhabitants. The term also applies to theSaint-Roch andSaint-Sauveur areas, and the three neighbourhoods were, between the 2001 and 2013 municipal elections,[6] comprised in the municipal district ofles Faubourgs.[7] The term also refers to the particular urbanistic features of these pre-industrial neighborhoods (like very narrow streets), compared to the other central, but much more recent, neighborhoods ofLimoilou andMontcalm, that were mainly developed as 20th centurystreetcar suburbs.