Bobigny () is a commune, or town, in the northeastern suburbs of Paris,

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Bobigny is the

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

(capital city) of the

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

department, as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Bobigny. It is the 11th most populous ''commune'' in Seine-Saint-Denis (2019). Inhabitants are called ''Balbyniens''. Bobigny is the seat of the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture. The first

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

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. It belongs to the

urban unit In France, an urban unit () is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a commune alone or a grou ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, an inter-departmental conurbation comprising 407 communes and 10,785,092 inhabitants in 2017, of which it is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

an commune. The commune is also part of the functional area of Paris where it is located in the main population and employment centre of the functional area. This area comprises 1,929 communes.

Transport

Bobigny is served by two stations on

Paris Métro Line 5 Paris Métro Line 5 is one of the 16 lines of the Paris Métro in Paris, France. It crosses the east of Paris from to . It is the eighth-busiest line on the network. History On 15 June 2011 the MF 2000, MF 01 began entering revenue service ...

: Bobigny – Pantin – Raymond Queneau and Bobigny – Pablo Picasso. It can also be reached from the outer terminus of

Paris Métro Line 7 Paris Métro Line 7 is one of sixteen lines of the Paris Métro system. Crossing the capital from its north-eastern to south-eastern sections via a moderately curved path, it links in the north with and in the south, while passing through im ...

La Courneuve La Courneuve () is a commune in Seine-Saint-Denis, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History Inhabited since pre-Roman times, the area is thought to have been a small village up through the Middle Ages. With its proximity to Par ...

Economy

Valeo Valeo is a French global automotive supplier headquartered in France, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange ( CAC Next 20 Index). It supplies a wide range of products to automakers and the aftermarket. The Group employs 113,600 people in 29 countri ...

has management branches (Valeo Transmissions group and Valeo Friction Materials group) here. It was also the manufacturing base used by

Meccano Meccano is a brand of construction set created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, and plastic parts that are connected using nuts and ...

for French ''

Dinky Toys Dinky Toys was the brand name for a range of die-cast zamak zinc alloy scale model vehicles, traffic lights, and road signs produced by British toy company Meccano Ltd. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in ...

'' 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 Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

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 Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigeno ...

''balbh'' = "dumb, silent").

History

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, approximately 20,000 jews were transported Bobigny station to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps. The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1974.

Population

List of mayors

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.Scolarité et enseignements
" Bobigny. Retrieved on 4 September 2016. * Junior high schools: Collège Auguste Delaune, Collège Jean-Pierre Timbaud, Collège Pierre Sémard, and Collège République et SEGPA
" Bobigny. Retrieved on 4 September 2016. *Senior high/Sixth-form: Lycée professionnel Alfred Costes, Lycée Louise Michel, Lycée polyvalent André Sabatier * École, collège et lycée Charles Péguy is a private school from elementary to senior high/sixth-form There is also a school of hotel management, École hôtelière de Bobigny. The Bobigny campus of

Paris 13 University Sorbonne Paris North University () is a public university based in Paris, France. It is one of the thirteen universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1968. It is a multidisciplinary university located in north of Paris, in the munici ...

is its second-largest. It focuses on the medical sciences, and hosts a strong medical degree.

Personalities

Bobigny is the birthplace of: *

Charles Itandje Charles Hubert Itandje (born 2 November 1982) is a retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in France, Itandje represented the Cameroon national team. Club career Lens Born in Bobigny (a suburb of Paris) of Cameroonia ...

(born 1982),

football goalkeeper The goalkeeper (sometimes written as goal-keeper, abbreviated as GK, keeper, keeps, or goalie) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from ...

Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in November 2016. Mon ...

, tennis player * Valentin Courrent, rugby player * Odsonne Edouard, football player Bobigny is the place of death of: • Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter.

Heraldry

International relations

Bobigny is twinned with: *

Serpukhov Serpukhov ( rus, Серпухов, p=ˈsʲerpʊxəf) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Oka River, Oka and the Nara (Oka), Nara Rivers, 99 kilometers (62 miles) south fro ...

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

(Russia) *

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

(Germany)

Notes

References

External links

Official website
(in French) {{Authority control Communes of Seine-Saint-Denis Prefectures in France