Métropole in the context of "Seine-Saint-Denis"

Marseille (French: Marseille; Provençal Occitan: Marselha; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mouth of the Rhône river. Marseille is the second-most populous city in France, after Paris, with 877,215 inhabitants in 2022 (Jan. census) over a municipal territory of 241 km (93 sq mi). Together with its suburbs and exurbs, the Marseille metropolitan area, which extends over 3,972 km (1,534 sq mi), had a population of 1,900,957 at the Jan. 2022 census. The cities of Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, and 90 suburban municipalities have formed since 2016 the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, an indirectly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues, with a population of 1,922,626 at the Jan. 2022 census.

Founded c. 600 BC by Greek settlers from Phocaea, Marseille is the oldest city in France, as well as one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited settlements. It was known to the ancient Greeks as Massalia and to Romans as Massilia. Marseille has been a trading port since ancient times. In particular, it experienced a considerable commercial boom during the colonial period and especially during the 19th century, becoming a prosperous industrial and trading city. Nowadays the Old Port still lies at the heart of the city, where the manufacture of Marseille soap began some six centuries ago. Overlooking the port is the Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde or "Bonne-mère" for the people of Marseille, a Romano-Byzantine church and the symbol of the city. Inherited from this past, the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille (GPMM) and the maritime economy are major poles of regional and national activity and Marseille remains the first French port, the second Mediterranean port and the fifth European port. Since its origins, Marseille's openness to the Mediterranean Sea has made it a cosmopolitan city marked by cultural and economic exchanges with Southern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. In Europe, the city has the third largest Jewish community after London and Paris.

The Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis (French: métropole d'Aix-Marseille-Provence, pronounced [metʁɔpɔl dɛks maʁsɛj pʁɔvɑ̃s]) is the métropole, an intercommunal structure, centred on the cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. It is located in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Vaucluse departments, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. It was created in January 2016, replacing the previous Communauté urbaine Marseille Provence Métropole and five communautés d'agglomération. Its area is 3149.2 km. Its population was 1,889,666 in 2018, of which 868,277 in Marseille proper and 143,097 in Aix-en-Provence.

Toulouse (/tuːˈluːz/, too-LOOZ, French: [tuluz] ; Occitan: Tolosa [tuˈluzɔ] ) is a city in Southern France, the prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea, 230 km (143 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km (420 mi) from Paris. It is the fourth-largest city in France after Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, with 511,684 inhabitants within its municipal boundaries (2022); its metropolitan area has a population of 1,513,396 inhabitants (2022). Toulouse is the central city of one of the 22 metropolitan councils of France. Between the 2014 and 2020 censuses, its metropolitan area was the third fastest growing among metropolitan areas larger than 500,000 inhabitants in France.

Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the SPOT satellite system, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. It hosts the CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST) which is the largest national space centre in Europe, but also, on the military side, the newly created NATO space centre of excellence and the French Space Command and Space Academy. Safran, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, Collins Aerospace and Liebherr-Aerospace also have a significant presence in Toulouse.

Communauté urbaine (French pronunciation: [kɔmynote yʁbɛn] ; French for "urban community") is the second most integrated form of intercommunality in France, after the Metropolis (French: métropole). A communauté urbaine is composed of a city (commune) and its independent suburbs (independent communes).

The first communautés urbaines were created by the French Parliament on 31 December 1966. Originally there were only four, found in the metropolitan areas of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg. Later, others were created in other metropolitan areas. The purpose of the communautés urbaines was to achieve cooperation and joint administration between large cities and their independent suburbs. This step often followed failed attempts to merge the communes within a metropolitan area. The status of the communauté urbaine was modified by the Chevènement Law of 1999. Since the creation of the métropoles in 2011, several former communautés urbaines have become métropoles, for instance Nice, Strasbourg, Marseille, Nancy and Dijon.

An agglomeration community (French: communauté d'agglomération, pronounced [kɔmynote daɡlɔmeʁasjɔ̃]) is a consortium of communes (municipalities) in France, created as a government structure by the Chevènement Law of 1999. It is one of four forms of intercommunality, less integrated than a métropole or a communauté urbaine but more integrated than a communauté de communes. Agglomeration communities consist of a commune of at least 15,000 inhabitants (or a prefecture with less than 15,000 inhabitants) and its independent suburbs.

As of January 2025, there are 230 agglomeration communities in France (214 in metropolitan France and 16 in the overseas departments). The population (as of 2022) of the agglomeration communities ranges from 364,744 inhabitants (CA Roissy Pays de France) to 28,318 inhabitants (CA Grand Verdun).

A communauté de communes (French: [kɔmynote də kɔmyn] , "community of communes") is a federation of municipalities (communes) in France. It forms a framework within which local tasks are carried out together. It is the least-integrated form of intercommunalité (intercommunality).

As of 1 January 2007, there were 2,400 communautés de communes in France (2,391 in metropolitan France and 9 in the overseas departments), with 26.48 million people living in them. Since then many communautés de communes have been merged or have joined a communauté d'agglomération, a communauté urbaine or a métropole. Whereas there were 2,409 communautés de communes in January 2010 and 1,842 in January 2016, there were only 989 communautés de communes left in January 2025. The population of the communautés de communes (2022 population data, 2025 borders) ranged from 106,433 inhabitants (Communauté de communes Le Grésivaudan, covering the area between Grenoble and Chambéry), to 3,986 inhabitants (Communauté de communes du Causse de Labastide-Murat, Lot department).

The Metropolis of Greater Paris (French: Métropole du Grand Paris, pronounced [metʁopɔl dy ɡʁɑ̃ paʁi]), also known as Greater Paris, is a métropole covering the City of Paris and its nearest surrounding suburbs that was created from Sarkozy's renovation of the city.

The métropole came into existence on 1 January 2016; it comprises 130 communes, including Paris and all 123 communes in the surrounding inner-suburban departments of the Petite Couronne (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne), plus seven communes in two of the outer-suburban departments, including the communes of Argenteuil in Val-d'Oise, Savigny-sur-Orge, Juvisy-sur-Orge, Viry-Châtillon and Paray-Vieille-Poste in Essonne, the last of which covers part of Orly Airport. Part of the métropole comprises the Seine department, which existed from 1929 to 1968.

The Metropolis of Lyon (French: Métropole de Lyon, pronounced [metʁɔpɔl də ljɔ̃] ), also known as Grand Lyon ([ɡʁɑ̃ ljɔ̃], "Greater Lyon"), is a French territorial collectivity in the east-central region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is a directly-elected metropolitan authority, encompassing both the city of Lyon, and most of its suburbs. It has jurisdiction both as a department, and as a metropolis, which excludes its territory from direct responsibility to the French government department of Rhône. It had a population of 1,424,069 in 2021, 36.7% of whom lived in the city of Lyon proper.

It replaced the Urban Community of Lyon on 1 January 2015, in accordance with the MAPAM law (fr) enacted in January 2014. The first direct metropolitan elections were held in March (1st round) and June (2nd round) 2020, leading to a victory by The Ecologists. The president of the metropolitan council has been Green Party leader Bruno Bernard, since July 2020.