Built up owing to the merger between the formercommunes ofAscq,Annappes andFlers-lez-Lille, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is anew town and the cradle of the first automatic metro system in the world (VAL).
Its name means "new city of Ascq" inFrench. Ascq is possibly derived from theDutch word for "ash". The name of the city is generally written without the customary (official) hyphen.
The city counts approximately 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) of greenspace, lakes, forests and arable lands. It is located betweenLille andRoubaix, at the crossroads of the principal freeways towardsParis,Ghent,Antwerp andBrussels.
Development on what is now Villeneuve-d'Ascq can be traced back to the CelticGaul era, and are anchored in two feudal mounds, aGallo-Roman site and aCarolingian one.
The area was selected in the 1960s to accommodate anew town then designated the nameLille-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 ofAscq,Annappes andFlers.[4] 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). TheHôtel de Ville was completed in 1977.[5]
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 andHaute Borne) and the proximity to bothBenelux andParis economic regions. Villeneuve d'Ascq notably hosts the headquarters of the food processing companyBonduelle, the financial services providerCofidis, the sporting goods retailerDecathlon, the chocolate manufacturer Bouquet d'Or, the disposable dishes manufacturer Tifany Industrie, the IT security companyNetasq, the restaurant chainsFlunch, Les 3 Brasseurs, Pizza Paï.
Furthermore, Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts theEurope, the Middle East and Africa headquarters of IT consulting company SoftThinks and the European headquarters and R&D center of Canadian frozen foods companyMcCain Foods. It is home to the central buying service of international retail groupAuchan, a R&D center of multinational agri-processorTate & Lyle, and a data processing center of American companyXerox.
Villeneuve d'Ascq also hosts numerous administration and public organizations offices. The Northern headquarters of French national meteorological serviceMétéo-France, large barracks of theNational 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 providerOrange, along with the information computing center ofÉlectricité de France for the Northern and Western France region.
From 1984 to 1994 Villeneuve d'Ascq housed aGroupe Bull factory that developed, manufactured and marketed desktops personal computers; the site is currently used by offices ofDecathlon. There was also aRhône-Poulenc chemical factory, now housing offices of mail order company3 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.
Two huge shopping centers are located in the technopole. The indoor/roofedCentre commercial V2, founded in 1977, which, when created, was the largest shopping center north of Paris and is still the largest in theNord-Pas-de-Calais area. A new outdoor one opened in 2009,Heron Parc, a 13,000 m2 (139,931 sq ft) shopping center located nearV2, hosting numerous stores ofGroupe Auchan and a 12 auditoriums movie theater.
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).
There are 20 publicmaternelles (preschools/nurseries), 17 publicélémentaires (primary schools), and 6 public combined preschools and elementary schools. There are also five publiccollèges (junior high schools): Camille Claudel, Simone de Beauvoir, Molière, Rimbaud, and Triolo. The two publiclycées (senior high schools/sixth-form colleges) in the commune areLycée Raymond Queneau andLycée professionnel Dinah Derycke.[8]
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.[8]
Having succeededGérard Caudron as mayor from 1977 to 2001,Jean-Michel Stievenard and his team wish to maintain balances the environnement and the economic development, the greenery and technology, the daily wellbeing and the great projects, the social one and quality, opening on its internal comfort and rest of the world, its finance and high degree of public utility. The mayors of Villeneuve-d'Ascq since 1977 have been members of theSocialist Party (Parti socialiste).In 2008, the local elections brought back to the city council Gerard Caudron as mayor.
As a part of theMétropole Européenne de Lille, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is connected to Lille city centre by aVAL, a type of fully automatic (driverless) lightrubber-tired metro.The VAL metro line runs through Villeneuve-d'Ascq fromQuatre-Cantons andCité Scientifique stations and drives up to Lille historical city centre and railways stations in about ten minutes.
In fact, while theacronym VAL now officially stands forVéhicule Automatique Léger (automatic light vehicle), it was originally forVilleneuve-d'Ascq à Lille (meaning Villeneuve-d'Ascq to Lille), the route of the first line to be projected, and inaugurated on 25 April 1983. The Villeneuve d'Ascq metro station is under the PlaceSalvador Allende (Salvadore Allende Square) and a shopping centre which includesAuchan as one of its main tenants.
Villeneuve-d'Ascq is also served by the train stationGare d'Ascq, which offers connections to Lille, Orchies and Tournai and Liège in Belgium.
The city received many awards for its sporting activities. In 1994, the newspaper L'Equipe ranked Villeneuve d'Ascq in the five most sportive cities in France. In 1996, Villeneuve d'Ascq was elected the 'most sportive city of France', and in 1999, 'the most disabled sportive city'. It is a logical result because the city invests a lot in sport.
In 2009, 21,700 inhabitants had a sport licence in the sport club of Villeneuve d'Ascq (one third of the global population of the city) ; the city hosts 158 different sport associations, 58 different sports and 14% of the city operating budget is dedicated to sport.
The city has 10.99 hectares ofsoccer andrugby fields, 5,010 m2 (53,927 sq ft) oftrack and field facilities and 30 km (19 mi) of hiking trails.
Villeneuve d'Ascq has twoswimming pools ('piscine du Triolo' and 'centre nautique Babylone') both equipped with a 50m long water slide, an outside grass area, saunas and a training gym.
Villeneuve d'Ascq have 16 soccer fields, 2 rugby fields (stadium E. Théry, Tradition street), 17 municipalgymnasiums plus 8 academic gymnasiums (E.S.U.M.), a sport complex called 'Palacium' (Pont de Bois avenue) and a gymnasium (salle d'Agrees, Breughel street) dedicated to gymnastics.
The city hosts a sailing base, two shooting galleries, a bow and arrow gallery, two golf courses, 12 tennis courts, two athletics facilities (Parmentier street and Lieutenant Colpin street).
Finally, we can find in Villeneuve d'Ascq two dojos, a big wall for wall-climbing (salle Tamise), abourloire inAscq, aboulodrome in Residence and abowling in Hôtel de Ville.
Villeneuve d'Ascq is home to several football teams which play in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais football league, in Flandre district: US Ascq (promotion d'honneur), Villeneuve d'Ascq Métropole (promotion d'honneur) and Flers OS Villeneuve d'Ascq (1ère division de district).
TheStadium Nord hosted two international exhibition games: France - Tunisia in 1978 and France - Armenia in 1996. The Stadium Nord is the official stadium of the Lille Olympique Sporting Club Lille Métropole team (Ligue 1) since the 2004–2005 season, and also the official stadium of the Entente Sportive de Wasquehal team since 1997–1998 season (formerly Ligue 2, today CFA 2). In 1997, Stadium Nord was the home stadium of the Royal Excelsior Mouscron for the UEFA Europa League. The stadium hosted the UEFA Europa League matches of Lille Olympique Sporting Club Lille Métropole, so prestigious clubs such as Fenerbahçe SK, FC Sevilla, Valencia CF and Liverpool FC came to Villeneuve d'Ascq.
In 2010, the Fédération française de football organised in Stadium Nord theFestifoot féminin, an event with 500 feminine soccer player footballeuses. TheFrance women's national football team were there and also some women's international footballers.
In May, 2010Stade Pierre-Mauroy was selected by the Fédération française de football (FFF) to host matches in theUEFA Euro 2016, hosted by France.
Villeneuve d'Ascq is home to arugby union team, Lille Métropole Rugby Club Villeneuvois (ex-Rugby Club Villeneuve d'Ascq), whose senior women's team takes part in France women's rugby union championship. The women's team is in Division 1 since 1999 and in Elite since his victory ath the Challenge Armelle Auclair in 2006.
TheStadium Nord hosted the quarter-final of Rugby World cup in 1991 New Zealand vs. Canada (36 000 spectators). It also hosted the semi-final of European Rugby Cup 2000-2001 Stade français vs. Munster. In 2005, Stadium Nord hosted matches from the under 17 y.o. rugby tournament.
The Stadium Nord frequently hosts exhibition matches of the France rugby A team.
The Stadium Nord hosts every year since 1988 an international meeting oftrack and field (formerly calledmeeting open Gaz de France, thenOpen du Nord and nowmeeting d'athlétisme Lille Métropole). The meeting is part of the national athleticism league since 2007.
In Stadium Nord took place the Track and field European Cup in 1995 and the Disabled Track and field World Cup in 2002.
The city has also anamerican football club, Vikings de Villeneuve d'Ascq (Division 2) and ahandball club, Hand Ball Club Villeneuve d'Ascq (HBCV) (Division 2).
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