Bobigny

Bobigny (French pronunciation: [bɔbiɲi]) is a commune, or town, in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France, France. It is located 9.1 km (5.7 mi) from the centre of Paris. Bobigny is the prefecture (capital city) of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Bobigny. It is the 11th most populous commune in Seine-Saint-Denis (2019).^[3]

Bobigny
Prefecture and commune
Prefecture building
Coat of arms
Location (in red) within Paris inner suburbs
Location of Bobigny
Bobigny Show map of France Bobigny Show map of Île-de-France (region)
Coordinates: 48°54′38″N 2°26′23″E
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Bobigny
Canton	Bobigny and Bondy
Intercommunality	Grand Paris
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Abdel Sadi[1]
Area 1	6.77 km2 (2.61 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	55,270
• Density	8,160/km2 (21,100/sq mi)
Demonym	Balbyniens
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	93008 /93000
Elevation	39–57 m (128–187 ft) (avg. 45 m or 148 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Inhabitants are called Balbyniens. Bobigny is the seat of the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture. The first IKEA store in France was located in this commune.

Urbanism

Typology

Bobigny is an urban commune, as it is one of the dense or intermediate density communes, as defined by the Insee communal density grid.^[a][4][5][6] It belongs to the urban unit of Paris, an inter-departmental conurbation comprising 407 communes^[7] and 10,785,092 inhabitants in 2017, of which it is a suburban commune.^[8][9]

The commune is also part of the functional area of Paris^[b] where it is located in the main population and employment centre of the functional area. This area comprises 1,929 communes.^[10][11]

Transport

Bobigny is served by two stations on Paris Métro Line 5: Bobigny – Pantin – Raymond Queneau and Bobigny – Pablo Picasso. It can also be reached from the outer terminus of Paris Métro Line 7 at La Courneuve.

Economy

Valeo has management branches (Valeo Transmissions group and Valeo Friction Materials group) here. It was also the manufacturing base used by Meccano for French Dinky Toys from 1933 until 1970, when the factory was closed and later demolished. Production of Dinky Toys was then transferred to the Meccano factory in Calais until 1972, when the last new model, a Renault 4 la poste, was produced.

Toponymy

Its name is derived from Roman-period Balbiniacum, "the place of Balbo or Balbinus or Balbinius"; or "of the dumb or silent man/men" (Gaulish: Irish Gaelic balbh = "dumb, silent").

History

The Hôtel de Ville

During the Second World War, approximately 20,000 jews were transported from Bobigny station to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps.^[12]

The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1974.^[13]

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 260 —     1800 257 −0.17% 1806 278 +1.32% 1821 231 −1.23% 1831 316 +3.18% 1836 333 +1.05% 1841 351 +1.06% 1846 353 +0.11% 1851 370 +0.95% 1856 363 −0.38% 1861 561 +9.10% 1866 910 +10.16% 1872 889 −0.39% 1876 972 +2.26% 1881 1,173 +3.83% 1886 1,335 +2.62% 1891 1,540 +2.90% 1896 1,678 +1.73%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 1,946 +3.01% 1906 2,438 +4.61% 1911 3,660 +8.46% 1921 6,757 +6.32% 1926 11,412 +11.05% 1931 17,370 +8.76% 1936 17,676 +0.35% 1946 16,547 −0.66% 1954 18,521 +1.42% 1962 37,010 +9.04% 1968 39,453 +1.07% 1975 43,125 +1.28% 1982 42,723 −0.13% 1990 44,659 +0.56% 1999 44,079 −0.15% 2007 48,196 +1.12% 2012 48,496 +0.12% 2017 53,640 +2.04%
Source: EHESS[14] and INSEE (1968-2017)[15]

List of mayors

Start	End	Name	Party
1944	1955	Léon Pesch		PCF
1955	1965	René Guesnier		PCF
1965	1995	Georges Valbon		PCF
1995	2006	Bernard Birsinger		PCF
2006	2014	Catherine Peyge		PCF
2014	2020	Stéphane de Paoli		UDI
2020	2026	Abdel Sadi		PCF

Education

The commune has 14 public preschools (écoles maternelles), 15 public elementary schools, four public junior high schools, three public senior high schools/sixth-form colleges, and one private school.^[16]

• Junior high schools: Collège Auguste Delaune, Collège Jean-Pierre Timbaud, Collège Pierre Sémard, and Collège République et SEGPA^[17]
• Senior high/Sixth-form: Lycée professionnel Alfred Costes, Lycée Louise Michel, Lycée polyvalent André Sabatier^[17]
• École, collège et lycée Charles Péguy is a private school from elementary to senior high/sixth-form^[17]

There is also a school of hotel management, École hôtelière de Bobigny.^[17]

The Bobigny campus of Paris 13 University is its second-largest. It focuses on the medical sciences, and hosts a strong medical degree.

Personalities

Bobigny is the birthplace of:

• Charles Itandje (born 1982), football goalkeeper
• Gaël Monfils, tennis player
• Valentin Courrent, rugby player
• Odsonne Edouard, football player

Bobigny is the place of death of:

• Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter.

Heraldry

Arms of Bobigny

The arms of Bobigny are blazoned : Or, a saltire gules, overall on an inescutcheon azure, a basket filled with fruit and flowers and topped with 7 ears of wheat argent. The village of Bobigny was under Saint Andrew, hence the cross of Saint Andrew (saltire). The small shield in the middle evokes the agricultural nature of the commune, before the spread of built-up Paris surrounded it.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Bobigny is twinned with:

• Serpukhov, Moscow Oblast (Russia)^[18]
• Potsdam, Brandenburg (Germany)^[18][19]

See also

• Communes of the Seine-Saint-Denis department
• Bobigny cemetery

Notes

1. According to the zoning of rural and urban municipalities published in November 2020, in application of the new definition of rurality validated on November 14, 2020 by the Interministerial Committee for Rural Areas.
2. In October 2020, the concept of functional area replaced that of urban area in order to enable consistent comparisons with other European Union countries