Val d'Europe (; lit. ''Valley of Europe'') is the eastmost part of the

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Marne-la-Vallée Marne-la-Vallée () is a new town located near Paris, France. Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park, Val d'Europe, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, ESIEE Paris, and École des Ponts ParisTech are located in Marne-la-Vallée. Statu ...

, located around to the east of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

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 ...

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

created the town near

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...

resort. The final area of the district is currently in development.

Description and history

Val d'Europe is made up of five communities, which have grouped together to form a town council. The five districts are: *

Bailly-Romainvilliers Bailly-Romainvilliers () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants of the town of Bailly-Romainvi ...

* Chessy *

Coupvray Coupvray () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. People Coupvray was the birthplace and home of Louis Braille. Braille's home is now a museum. Braille's hands are buried in Coupvray ...

Magny-le-Hongre Magny-le-Hongre () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is part of Val d'Europe Agglomération together with the communes of Bailly-Romainvilliers, Chessy, Coupvray and Serris. Its ...

* Serris The area is primarily given over to

Disneyland Park Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

, as per the contract between the government and The Walt Disney Company. One of the terms was that the ''Euro Disney Resort'' (now Disneyland Paris) immediately got of land to build ''Festival Disney'' (now named

Disney Village Disney Village is a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex in Disneyland Paris, located in the town of Marne-la-Vallée, France. Originally named Festival Disney, it opened on April 12, 1992, covering an area of approximately inside what wa ...

). The Walt Disney Company is the only company within France that has had such a large say in the development of an urban area of this scale. The government was represented by an EPA (governmental development company). Disney has also contributed to the development of the

. The building work started in 1987, after

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

(then French prime minister) and Disney signed the contract. Val d'Europe was to be opened with the ''Euro Disney Resort'' in 1992. It was not until the start of 1998 that Val d'Europe saw the opening of its shopping centre, which included a

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including ...

and boutiques. However, a garden centre, Delbard, was opened in 2004 in a building to the south of the shopping centre. As of 2005, Val d'Europe has a population of 19,700 people, but this is expected to eventually increase to 40,000 people and 60,000 employees. out of is set aside for development by Disney.

has spent €5 billion ($5.93 million/£3.42 million), compared to €500 million ($595,326,686/£342,080,667) from the French government. The architectural style takes inspiration from the "neo-traditional" style of

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

, who supervised the construction of many buildings in Paris in the 19th century. The town plan, by the firm of a

Driehaus Prize The Driehaus Architecture Prize, fully named The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame, is a global award to honor a major contributor in the field of contemporary traditional and classical architecture. The Driehaus Prize was ...

winner,

Cooper, Robertson & Partners Cooper Robertson is an international architecture and urban design firm, headquartered in New York City, founded by Alex Cooper and Jaquelin T. Robertson. History Cooper Robertson was founded in 1979 by Alex Cooper under the name Alexander C ...

of New York City, was designed based upon traditional French town planning principles consistent with the

New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually inf ...

, a design philosophy which is frequently used in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and used with the intent to plan new cities based upon known working principles studied by architects. Disney had previously created a New Urbanist city in Florida, known as Celebration, also designed by

. It is believed that Val d'Europe and Celebration are descendants of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

's 1960s plans for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), which was Walt Disney's original plan for a city of the future.

Shopping centre

At the

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

there is a large

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% s ...

hypermarket, 190 shops, and a food court known as "Les Terrasses." There is also a

Sea Life Sea Life is a chain of commercial sea life-themed aquarium attractions. there are 53 Sea Life attractions (including standalone Sea Life centres, mini Sea Life features within resort theme parks, and Legoland submarine rides) around the world ...

aquarium indoors with about 300 species of marine creatures.

Description and history

Shopping centre

See also

References

External links