Vélizy-Villacoublay

French commune
nomcommune=Vélizy-Villacoublay
map_size=270px
adjustable_

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mapcaption=Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
région=Île-de-France
département=Yvelines
arrondissement=Versailles
canton=
insee=|cp=
maire=
mandat=|intercomm="none as of 2005"
longitude=
latitude=
alt moy=|alt mini=
alt maxi=|km²=9.09
sans=
20,700
20,342
date-sans=Jan. 1, 2005 estimate)
(March 8, 1999 census
dens=2,277|date-dens=2005|

Vélizy-Villacoublay is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located convert|13.9|km|mi|1|abbr=on from the center of Paris and convert|3.2|km|mi|1|abbr=on east of Versailles. Its inhabitants are called Véliziens.

Geography

Established on the Parisian plateau, the town of Vélizy-Villacoublay borders Meudon in the north-east, Clamart in the east, Bièvres in the south-east, Viroflay in the north-west, and Chaville in the north.

Vélizy-Villacoublay is a very urbanized town bordering the Meudon forest, which spans over convert|300|ha|acre|0 of communal land.

There are six districts: Mozart, le Clos, le Mail, Louvois, la Pointe Ouest et Vélizy-le-Bas (with l'Ursine and le Bocage).

History

The word "Vélizy" comes from the Latin word villa. "Villacoublay" is formed from the word "villa" combined with the Gallo-Roman patronym "Escoblenus".Originally called simply Vélizy, the name of the commune became officially Vélizy-Villacoublay in 1938.The territory was formed from three distinct manors: Vélizy, Villacoublay, and Ursine, established in the 11th century.The domains were progressively annexed into the royal estate beginning in the 12th century (Vélizy was annexed at the end of the 13th century).The airline base in Villacoublay was built in 1911. In 1974 the Vélizy 2 shopping mall was opened.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Vélizy-Villacoublay is blue with two silver wings in the shape of a "V", one beneath the other and topped by a golden star. Also in gold color are two cinquefoils situated below the "V"s, and two sheaths of wheat are drawn between them.

Architecture

*The Saint-Denis church
*The Saint-Jean-Baptiste church, in modern style.
*The barracks of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS).
* [http://londe.fr l'Onde Cultural Center] , finished in December 2000 and designed by the architect Claude Vasconi, which is composed of one hall with 670 seats, a multidisciplinary room of 200 seats, two large dance halls, an orchestra room, 12 studios, 4 classrooms, a recording room, and a percussion room.

Government

Transport

Vélizy-Villacoublay is served by no station of the Paris Métro, RER, or suburban rail network. The closest station to Vélizy-Villacoublay is Chaville–Vélizy station on Paris RER line C. This station is located in the neighboring commune of Viroflay, convert|1.7|km|mi|1|abbr=on from the town center of Vélizy-Villacoublay.

The town is also serviced by the A86 autoroute, the 118 national route (RN118), and the RN286.
*Two-leveled tunnel under construction between Rueil-Malmaison and Vélizy-Villacoublay (a section of the A86)
*Covering of the A86
*The Veolia Transport bus line (Connex), of the RATP,
*Line 8 of the Paris tramway

Economy

*Numerous companies and offices:
**Aeronautic: EADS, MBDA, Messier-Dowty, Messier-Bugatti
**Agricultural: Kraft Foods
**Automotive: manufacturing plants of PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault Trucks
**Building and Public Works Sector: Eiffage
**Electronics: Thales
**Telecommunications: Alcatel-Lucent, Bouygues Télécom, Transcom, Sagem
**Information technology: Sun Microsystems, Dassault Systemes
**Video Games: Blizzard (Vivendi-Universal Games)
*Shopping Center Vélizy-2
*Airline Base 107
*Group 61 of the CRS

ister Cities

*flagicon|Germany Dietzenbach, Germany

*flagicon|UK Harlow, United Kingdom

External links

* [http://www.ville-velizy-villacoublay.fr/ Official website] (in French)