Cergy-Pontoise

Cergy-Pontoise is a new town in France, in the Val d'Oise département, northwest of Paris on the Oise River. It owes its name to two of the communes that it covers, Cergy and Pontoise.

Population (2003): 183,430

Area is 77.74 km²

Population density: 2,360 hab./km²

Administration

As of 2005^[update], Cergy-Pontoise is a communauté d'agglomération consisting of twelve communes:

• Boisemont
• Cergy
• Courdimanche
• Éragny-sur-Oise
• Jouy-le-Moutier
• Menucourt
• Neuville-sur-Oise
• Osny
• Pontoise
• Puiseux-Pontoise
• Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône
• Vauréal

Population

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1962	34,050	—
1968	41,576	+22.1%
1975	69,546	+67.3%
1982	102,967	+48.1%
1990	159,168	+54.6%
1999	178,656	+12.2%
2003	183,430	+2.7%

Since the establishment of the new agglomeration, the population has quadrupled over forty years.

History

In the 1960s, faced by the fast development of Paris and its suburbs, it was decided to control and balance it by creating several new cities around Paris.

To the north, the choice was made on the surroundings of Pontoise. The old city was to be integrated in a much larger unit, whose center would be Cergy, at the time not more than a village. From 1965, the establishment of the new city was to be done in several stages:

• April 16, 1969: creation of the publicly owned "Établissement public d'aménagement" (EPA)
• 1971: creation of the Syndicat communautaire d'aménagement (SCA).
• August 11, 1972: official creation of the new city of Cergy-Pontoise, gathering fifteen communes (the eleven current ones, and Boisemont, Boissy-l'Aillerie, Méry-sur-Oise and Pierrelaye).
• 1983: the law Rocard amended the new cities.
• 1984: Syndicat d'agglomération nouvelle (SAN) replaces the SCA, four communes left the structure (the four mentioned above)
• December 31, 2002: end of the mission and dissolution of the EPA, following the completion of the new city.
• January 1, 2004: transformation of the SAN into a communauté d'agglomération.
• 2004: Boisemont becomes the 12th commune of Cergy-Pontoise.

Public transport

Bus services are provided by the Stivo (formerly StAN).

Rail services are provided by both the SNCF and the RATP. Two RER lines begin within the new town.

Economy

Subaru France and Bandai France have their head office in Cergy Pontoise.^[1]

In the media

• I as in Icarus, a 1979 movie by Henri Verneuil^[2]
• Boyfriends and Girlfriends, a 1987 movie by Eric Rohmer^[2]
• Water Lilies, a 2007 movie by Céline Sciamma^[2]

Twinnings

Cergy-Pontoise is a sister city to the planned cities of

• Columbia, Maryland, United States
• Tres Cantos, Spain
• Erkrath, Germany
• West Lancashire, England (Which includes the planned town of Skelmersdale.)

References

1. ^ "Mentoins légales." Bandai France. Retrieved on 6 July 2011. "21-23 rue du Petit Albi, 95808 CERGY-PONTOISE Cedex."
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Most Popular Titles With Location Matching "Cergy, Val-d'Oise, France"". http://www.imdb.com/search/title?locations=Cergy,%20Val-d%27Oise,%20France. Retrieved 2011-08-26. 

External links

Paris portal

• Site of the communauté d'agglomérations (French)
• Accommodation and Travel in Pontoise (English)

Coordinates: 49°02′10″N 2°03′47″E / 49.03611°N 2.06306°E / 49.03611; 2.06306