Grand Genève ("Greater Geneva" in English) is a Local Grouping of Transnational Cooperation (in French: ''groupement local de coopération transfrontalière'', or GLCT), a public entity under Swiss law, in charge of organizing cooperation within the cross-border

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

(in particular metropolitan transports). The Grand Genève GLCT extends over

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(entire

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...

and the canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms ...

's entire Nyon District) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(''Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français'', literally "Metropolitan hub of the French Genevan territory", a federation of eight French intercommunal councils in the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Ain and Haute-Savoie). The Grand Genève GLCT covers a land area of (27.7% Swiss territory, 72.3% French territory) and had a population of 1,025,316 in Jan. 2019 (Swiss estimates and French census), 58.5% of them living on Swiss territory, and 41.5% on French territory.

History

The city centre of Geneva is located only from the border of

. As a result, the

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

and the

largely extend across the border on French territory. Due to the small size of the municipality of Geneva () and extension of the urban area over an international border, official bodies of transnational cooperation were developed as early as the 1970s to manage the cross-border Greater Geneva area at a metropolitan level. In 1973, a Franco-Swiss agreement created the ''Comité régional franco-genevois'' ("Franco-Genevan Regional Committee", CRFG in French). In 1997 an 'Urban planning charter' of the CRFG defined for the first time a planning territory called ''agglomération franco-valdo-genevoise'' ("Franco-

-Genevan urban area"). 2001 saw the creation of a ''Comité stratégique de développement des transports publics régionaux'' ("Strategic Committee for the Development of Regional Public Transports", DTPR in French), a committee which adopted in 2003 a 'Charter for Public Transports', first step in the development of a metropolitan, cross-border

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

network (see Léman Express). In 2004, a public transnational body called ''Projet d’agglomération franco-valdo-genevois'' ("Franco-Vaud-Genevan urban area project") was created to serve as the main body of metropolitan cooperation for the planning territory defined in 1997, with more local French councils taking part in this new public body than in the CRFG created in 1973. Finally in 2012 the ''Projet d’agglomération franco-valdo-genevois'' was renamed ''Grand Genève'' ("Greater Geneva"), and the following year it was transformed into a Local Grouping of Transnational Cooperation (GLCT in French), a public entity under Swiss law, which now serves as the executive body of the ''Grand Genève''.

Organisation

Membership

The Grand Genève GLCT comprises 8 members and 2 associate members. 8 members: *

* City of

* Canton of

* Region of Nyon (a federation of all the communes in the Nyon District to coordinate regional planning; note: the Nyon District is only a deconcentrated subdivision of the Canton of Vaud, and as such is not a legal person and is not member of Grand Genève, whereas the coterminous Region of Nyon is a legal person member of the Grand Genève GLCT) * ' (literally "Metropolitan hub of the French Genevan territory"), a '' syndicat mixte'' (federation) of six French intercommunal councils in the department of Haute-Savoie and two French intercommunal councils in the department of Ain *

Departmental council ''Departmental'' is a 1980 Australian TV movie based on a play by Mervyn Rutherford. It was part of the ABC's Australian Theatre Festival.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p43 Reviews were poor ...

of Haute-Savoie * Departmental council of Ain *

Regional council Regional Council may refer to: * Regional Council (Hong Kong), disbanded in 1999 ** Regional Council (constituency) Regional council may refer to: * Regional council (Cameroon) * Regional council (France), the elected assembly of a region of Fran ...

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

2 associate members: * French State * Swiss Confederation

Territory

The territory over which the Grand Genève GLCT exercises cross-border cooperation and metropolitan planning, formerly known as ''agglomération franco-valdo-genevoise'' ("Franco-Vaud-Genevan urban area"), and now simply ''Grand Genève'' (although the former name is still used as a subtitle), is made up of the following areas: * in

(553.2 km²) ** entire

(245.8 km²) ** Canton of

's entire Nyon District (307.4 km²) * in

(1443.2 km²): ** ''Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français'' (literally "Metropolitan hub of the French Genevan territory"), made up of: *** six intercommunal councils in Haute-Savoie (812.5 km²): **** CA Thonon Agglomération (238.9 km²) **** CA Annemasse - Les Voirons Agglomération (78.2 km²) **** CC (99.3 km²) **** CC (93.9 km²) **** CC (150.7 km²) **** CC (151.5 km²) *** two intercommunal councils in Ain (630.7 km²): **** CA Communauté d'agglomération du Pays de Gex (404.9 km²) **** CC (225.8 km²) Abbreviations:
CA: ''

communauté d'agglomération An agglomeration community (french: communauté d'agglomération) is a government structure in France, created by the Chevènement Law of 1999. It is one of four forms of intercommunality, less integrated than a métropole or a communauté u ...

'' ("agglomeration community")
CC: '' Communauté de communes'' ("community of communes")

Governance

The Grand Genève GLCT is governed by an assembly (''assemblée du GLCT'') made up of 24 members (12 Swiss members and 12 French members), appointed by the local Swiss and French councils making up the Grand Genève, and an executive board (''bureau de l'assemblée'') made up of 8 members chosen among the 24 assembly members. The 8 members of the executive board each represent one of the 8 public entities which form the Grand Genève GLCT (4 Swiss entities: Canton of Geneva, City of Geneva, Canton of Vaud, Region of Nyon; 4 French entities: ''Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français'', departmental councils of Haute-Savoie and Ain, regional council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes). One member of the executive board, since 2018 Antonio Hodgers, representative of the Canton of Geneva, is the president of the board and of the Grand Genève GLCT, while the 7 other board members are all vice-president of the board and Grand Genève GLCT. The assembly of the GLCT meets three times a year, and is co-chaired by the Canton of Geneva, the Canton of Vaud and the ''Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français''. The executive board meets three to four times a year, and is in charge of overseeing the various initiatives of the GLCT and of preparing the assembly meetings.

Transportation

The territory of Grand Genève is served by various forms of public transport, including the

Transports Publics Genevois Geneva Public Transport (french: Transports publics genevois, TPG) operates most of the public transportation system in canton of Geneva, Switzerland, including the city of Geneva. The agency's head office is in Grand-Lancy, Lancy. The TPG o ...

network within the Canton of Geneva, the Léman Express commuter rail system, and the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman boat network. The Léman Express, a cross-border metropolitan rail network which links the suburbs of Geneva in France and in the canton of Vaud via tunnels under the city of Geneva (see

CEVA rail CEVA (Cornavin‒Eaux-Vives‒Annemasse) is an orbital rail line designed to connect the main railway station of Geneva, Switzerland ( Gare de Cornavin) on the north of Lake Geneva with the Gare d'Annemasse in Annemasse, France, to the south of ...

), entered service in 2019 after more than 7 years of work and is a symbol of transnational urban cooperation in the Grand Genève territory.

References

External links

*
Politique d'agglomération, site fédéral ARE (Switzerland)

Annemasse Agglomeration: the Greater Geneva
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Geneve Geography of Geneva Divided regions Metropolitan areas of Switzerland Transborder agglomerations Metropolitan areas of France Geography of Ain Geography of Haute-Savoie Geneva