LA COURNEUVE

'La Courneuve' is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. In local slang, it is known as "La Cité des Dieux", City of the God. It is located 8.3 km. (5.2 miles) from the center of Paris. It is known for its large zones of high-rise public housing buildings, inhabited mostly by immigrants and their descendents.

Contents

History

Rap and Hip-Hop Influence

Transport

Sources

External links

History

The history of La Courneuve begins as the rest of the region with the invasion of European tribes and the eventual conquering of the area by the Romans. During the Middle Ages, the area was like many small villages. With its proximity to Paris, the country area became a fashionable country destination, with a number of gentry residing there and 2 notable châteaus, Sainte-Foi and Poitronville. Towards the end of Napoleon's reign, the entire area experienced large population growth,this along with improved methods of farming eventually had area become the major legume producer for the Paris region.
1863 was the year of the first major industrial enterprise, and the city would soon become a strange mix of mass producing factories side by side with farmlands, industrial estates juxtaposed against bean plantations and that would continue until after World War II. During the 1960s, as Paris could no longer meet the demands of a further exploding population (largely the result of immigration from former colonies), La Courneuve, like the most other suburbs of Paris, was designated as one of the "zones à urbaniser en priorité" (areas to be urbanized quickly) and was built up at a very rapid pace, with the construction of large tower blocks and other HLM developements. Between 1962 and 1968 the population nearly doubled.
Today the area is one of the most deprived in the country, and is attempting to revitalize itself. The city is plagued by crime and was the scene of the accidental shooting of a young boy in 2005, prompting national outcry, and upon visiting in June 2005, Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, vowed to clean out La Courneuve "with a Kärcher (high water pressure cleaner)". La Courneuve was also an area heavily affected by the riots of November 2005. The city has earned itself a reputation as a crime riden, desolate ghetto, and the local authority is in the course of implementing what it says will be far reaching projects and reforms for the city's economy and civil society. One of the largest housing projects is called " Les 4000" (meaning " the 4000"). It has one of the highest crime rate in the developed countries.

Rap and Hip-Hop Influence

La Courneuve has a very widely spread musical influence mainly involving rap and Hip-Hop.
One of the well known Rappers From la Courneuve is Alibi Montana.
Other rappers From La Courneuve are known to be : Alino , Korozeef , Zone and Kheimer.

Transport

La Courneuve is served by La Courneuve – 8 Mai 1945 station on Paris Métro Line 7.
La Courneuve is also served by La Courneuve – Aubervilliers station on Paris RER line B.

Sources

★ Un peu d'histoire. 07 Feb. 2006. La Ville de La Courneuve

★ Mayol, Pierre. "The Policy of the City and Cultural Action". Canadian Journal of Communication Vol. 27, No. 2 (2002)

★ Van Renterghem, Marion. "La Courneuve, « Rebeus » et « Renois » disent la vie des « 4000 »." Le Monde, 1 July 2005

External links

★ Official site