Villeneuve d'Ascq
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Located between Lille and Roubaix, at the crossroads of the principal freeways towards Paris, Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels, Villeneuve-d'Ascq (which means New city of Ascq in French) is one of the principal cities of the metropolis of Lille, in France
[edit] Demography
Villeneuve d'Ascq counts more than 65,000 inhabitants and attracts 50,000 students. The median age of the population is 29 years.
[edit] Geography
The city counts approximately 10 km² of greenspace, lakes, forests and arable lands.
[edit] History
The roots of the city go up in 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, which was to channel the development of the agglomeration. The commune of Villeneuve d'Ascq was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the three communes (Ascq, Annapes and Flers). Its name evokes at the same time the new city and the memory of Ascq, martyr city of April 1, 1944, date on which the Nazis massacred 86 men.
