LYON

Lyon (pronounced /ljɔ̃/1 or /liɔ̃/ Listen2) is a French commune located in the southeastern quarter of France, at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers. Seat of the council of the metropolis of LyonNote 1, to which its special status gives both the attributions of a metropolis and a department, it is also the chief town of the arrondissement of Lyon, that of the departmental district of the Rhône and that of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Its inhabitants are called the Lyonnais.

The commune is located at the geographical crossroads of the country, north of the Rhone corridor that runs from Lyon to Marseille. Located between the Massif Central to the west and the Alps to the east, the city of Lyon occupies a strategic position in the north-south traffic in Europe. Former capital of the Gauls during the Roman Empire, it is the seat of an archbishopric whose holder bears the title of primate of the Gauls. Lyon became a very commercial city and a financial center of first order during the Renaissance. Its economic prosperity was also driven at that time by the silk industry and printing, and then by the emergence of industries such as textiles, chemicals and, more recently, the image industry.

Lyon, historically an industrial city, was home to numerous petrochemical activities in the south along the Rhône, in what is known as the chemical corridor. After the departure and closure of the textile industries, it has gradually refocused on high-tech sectors such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies. It is also the second largest student city in France, with four universities and several grandes écoles. Finally, the city has preserved a significant architectural heritage dating from the Roman era through the Renaissance to the 20th century. As such, the districts of Vieux Lyon3 , Fourvière Hill4 , the Presqu’île5 and the slopes of the Croix-Rousse6 are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

In 2020, Lyon is the third largest city in France with 522,228 inhabitants, the center of the second largest urban unit with 1,693,159 inhabitants and the second largest catchment area in France with 2,293,180 inhabitants. It is the prefecture of the Rhône department, of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, of the South-East defense and security zone and the seat of the Lyon metropolitan area, which includes 59 municipalities and 1,416,545 inhabitants in 20207. The city is attractive on a national and European scale. Its importance in the cultural, banking, financial, commercial, technological, pharmaceutical, and arts and entertainment sectors makes it a “Beta-” world city according to the GaWC ranking in 2020, comparable to Osaka, St. Petersburg or Stuttgart8 . The city has also been home to the International Agency for Research on Cancer since 1965 and to Interpol since 1989.