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 of

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

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

's entire

Nyon District Nyon District is a district in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The seat of the district is the city of Nyon. Geography Nyon has an area, , of . Of this area, or 42.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 44.7% is forested. Of the res ...

) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

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

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

and

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...

). 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 metropolitan area 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 Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

network (see

Léman Express The Léman Express is a commuter rail network for the transborder agglomeration of Grand Genève (''Greater Geneva'') in west Switzerland and the French Alps (Haute-Savoie and Ain). Six lines serve Swiss and French towns along 230 km of ra ...

). 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 An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

in the

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

and two French intercommunal councils in the department of

* Departmental council of Haute-Savoie * Departmental council of Ain * Regional council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2 associate members: *

French State Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

Swiss Confederation ). 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 ...

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 Switzerland (553.2 km²) ** entire

(245.8 km²) ** Canton of

's entire

(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

(812.5 km²): **** CA

Thonon Agglomération Thonon Agglomération is the ''communauté d'agglomération'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Thonon-les-Bains. It is located in the Haute-Savoie department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, eastern France. Created in 2017 ...

(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

(630.7 km²): **** CA

Communauté d'agglomération du Pays de Gex Communauté d'agglomération du Pays de Gex is the ''communauté d'agglomération'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the town of Gex. It is located in the Ain department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, eastern France. Created in 19 ...

(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 urb ...

'' ("agglomeration community")
CC: ''

Communauté de communes A ''communauté de communes'' (, "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'' (in ...

'' ("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 Antonio Hodgers (born 7 February 1976 in Buenos Aires) is a Swiss politician and member of the Green Party of Switzerland. He has been Councillor of State of Geneva since December 2013, and president of the Council of State from 13 September 2018 ...

, 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 ...

network within the Canton of Geneva, the

commuter rail system, and the

Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman The ' or Lake Geneva General Navigation Company (commonly abbreviated to CGN) is a public Swiss company operating ships on Lake Geneva connecting towns in both France and Switzerland including Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; g ...

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), 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