Villeneuve-d'Ascq

Coat of arms

Villeneuve-d'Ascq (which means New city of Ascq in French) is one of the main cities of the metropolis of Lille, in France. It is between Lille and Roubaix, at the crossroads of the principal freeways towards Paris, Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels,

Demography

Villeneuve-d'Ascq has more than 65,000 people and attracts 50,000 students. The average age of people there is 29 years.

Geography

The city has about 10 km² of greenspace, lakes, forests and farmland.

History

The roots of the city go back to Celtic Gaul, and are anchored in two feudal mounds, a Gallo-Roman site and a Carolingian one.

Its site was selected in the 1960s to accommodate the new town of Lille-Est. It was made to channel the development of the agglomeration. The commune of Villeneuve-d'Ascq was created in 1970 by combining three communes (Ascq, Annapes and Flers). Its name reminds people at the same time the new city and the memory of Ascq, martyr city of April 1, 1944, date on which the Nazis killed 86 men.