CONTENTS LyOn: Quality of life………………………………………………………… p.4 Architectural heritage... ………………………………… p.6 WhErE aNyThiNg A taste of pleasure... …………………………………… p.10 Festive delights …………………………………………… p.12 A passion for sport …………………………………… p.14 iS pOSSiBlE A vocation for fashion ………………………… p.18 Green living ………………………………………… p.20 Lyon is a dynamic city, Dynamic economy …………………………… p.24 where economic competitiveness Striving for excellence ……………… p.26 and quality of life go hand in hand. …………… p.28 The race for innovation With a vast range of resources The industrial imprint …………… p.30 and mechanisms across the urban area, Open to international …………… p.32 Lyon has a rich and varied business community, providing substantial employment opportunities. Lyon is the number one location in France (outside the Greater Parisian region) for business start-ups, and the third most popular location in France for international companies*, including major names such as Apicil, BioMérieux, Boiron, Cegid, Mérial, Centre Européen de Virologie et d’Immunologie, CNR, Danone, Euronews, Renault Trucks, Sanofi Pasteur, Seb, and TNT Express. The city has created five competitiveness clusters - recognized as some of the best of their type - in order to strengthen its expertise in its sectors of excellence. Lyon’s 130,000 students and 11,500 researchers work closely with local businesses, making the urban area a location for innovation and experimentation on an international scale. Lyon is located at the intersection of all major European cities and boasts extensive transport infrastructures, providing an exceptional living environment along the banks of the city’s twin rivers. It is a historic city and a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site. With its famous cuisine, cultural events and festivals, and substantial parks and green spaces along the banks of the Rhône and Saône, it is a great place to live. Lyon truly is a city without compromise, where anything is possible.. *Barometer Cushman & Wakefield 2011 p.2 p.3 The LyOn wAy OF LiFe lyon is the city that never sleeps, bustling with activity all year round. its streets teem a gaTE to ThE world with thousands of people hurriedly going about their business or taking a leisurely lyon is ideally located at the heart of Europe with road, rail and air links to all major destinations, browse through the city’s many stores. despite this constant movement, injecting vibrancy making it the ideal place to start your journey. in and energy into the city, lyon still remains an awe-inspiring place with its imposing just 2 hours, you can find yourself on the alpine architecture. The old neighborhoods, with their uNESCO-listed heritage, tell the story of the ski slopes. in just 3 hours by road or 90 minutes by city’s past as the former capital of the gauls. The “presqu’île” (the downtown area between high-speed rail, you can take a dip in the clear blue the rhône and Saône rivers) features grand haussmann-style buildings standing side-by- waters of the Mediterranean! and if you’re looking to go further afield, you can get a direct flight to side with modern constructions. and then, all of a sudden, the incessant activity stops. réunion, Mauritius or the dominican republic from Time seems to come to a standstill in the city’s parks and along the banks of the rhône, lyon-Saint Exupéry international airport. which have been transformed into a giant promenade. With their green spaces, cycle paths and pedestrian walkways, everything appears to slow down here, creating the ideal place to relax. lyon strikes the perfect balance between activity and tranquility, providing the 1h35 ideal quality of life for residents and visitors alike. 1h45 1h35 MILAN QuALiTy OF LiFe 1h15 parkS aNd gardENS... LyOn rAnkeD in The top 40 ciTieS in The wOrLD FOr (1) lyon is positively teeming with greenery, from its QuALiTy OF LiFe in 2010 . numerous gardens (Jardins du rosaire, Jardins de la Bonne Maison, Jardins de perrache, Jardins de rosa Mir, Jardins LyOn, The ArcheTypAL tourist ciTy... des Chartreux, Jardins du Musée Saint-pierre, Jardins de la p 2.7% increase in the hotel occupancy rate from January to October WhErE EaCh district Cerisaie, etc.), squares, Caluire green walkway and mini- 2011(2). haS a SOul beach by the rhône, to its vast, open green spaces (parc p 3.5 million hotel nights per year. de la Tête d’Or, parc de gerland, parc de parilly and parc du in lyon, every arrondissement has its own, unique p 500,000 visitors assisted by the Tourist Office in 2010, st nd Vallon). Swimming enthusiasts will also love the vast parc personality. in the 1 and 2 arrondissements, de Miribel-Jonage, with its lake and beaches, just a few 53% of whom were from abroad. at the heart of the presqu’île, the artistic flair short miles from lyon. of the slopes of the Croix-rousse meets the chic of the ainay district. The 3rd arrondissement is well- known for its modern architecture and non-stop activity. The 4th arrondissement has all the warmth and atmosphere of a small village, where the spirit cOnnecTeD to The wOrLD: of the Canuts lives on. in the 5th arrondissement, the narrow streets, traboule alleyways and p ancient theater reveal the history of lugdunum. 1 international airport The 6th arrondissement, meanwhile, combines p 120 national and international destinations haussmann-style and modern architecture, with from lyon Saint-Exupéry international airport famous stores and the exquisite rose garden p 1 business airport in parc de la Tête d’Or. The 7th arrondissement p 3 high-speed rail stations serving paris, Marseille, geneva, teems with student life day and night, from the universities to the houseboats along the banks of london, Brussels, etc. th p the rhône. in the 8 arrondissement, you’ll find Freeways linking lyon to major cities in France and Europe a place that architect Tony garnier imagined as p Over 300 miles of navigable waterways on the the ideal city, where the Maison de la danse fills rhône-Saône axis. the air with its magical choreography. Finally, the 9th arrondissement is undergoing major changes (1) Mercer survey. to become a pleasant place to live along the banks (2) Compared with the same period in 2010; source: lyon Chamber of Commerce Tourism Center. of the Saône. p.4 p.5 ArchiTecTurAL p 6 MiLLiOn viSitorS per yeAr The Musée des Beaux-arts, with its 70 exhibition rooms p Place Bellecour and the monumental statue of the Sun king The Journées du patrimoine (architectural heritage days) p The Chapelle de la Trinité, an iconic example of Baroque 2011 attracted 14,000 viSitorS to the hôtel de Ville, architecture heritage... 12,000 to The MuSée DeS BeAuX-ArTS, p The Cathédrale Saint-Jean and its astronomical clock 6,589 to the Opéra, 7,100 to the Musée gadagne-Musée p The Basilique de Fourvière with its golden Virgin d’histoire de lyon, and 750 to the Tassinari et Chatel silk p The flamboyant Eglise Saint-Nizier workshop. p The traboule alleyways of Old lyon p The ancient Fourvière theater, which hosts the Nuits A SucceSSFuL MiXTure OF LyOn’S heritage Must-SeeS de Fourvière festival each summer p The hôtel de Ville p The amphithéâtre des 3 gaules, the oldest roman MODerniTy AnD nature p The Opéra, rebuilt in 1993 amphitheater in gaul as a major international metropolis, lyon is a source of inspiration for p place des Terreaux and the Bartholdi fountain the world’s most talented architects, who create powerful symbols of the city’s influence. at the confluence of the rhône and Saône, world-famous architects have created a futuristic neighborhood, where modernity and quality of life come together. On lyon island, a series of “container” buildings have sprung up, echoing the activities of the harbor that they overlook. This image of a bustling river port is both highly realistic and an artistic device that strengthens the location’s poetic nature. By combining different shapes, materials and colors, against the backdrop of the city’s lights, these modern architectural designs are transformed into living, breathing, habitable sculptures. They underline lyon’s ambition to become the city of the future, becoming genuine symbols that are immediately recognized worldwide. uNESCO WOrld hEriTagE SiTE The historic center of lyon has been listed as uNESCO World heritage Site since 1998, placing it on the same level as australia’s great Barrier reef, the angkor Wat temple in arChitecturE: Cambodia and the Venetian lagoon. The site is bordered by the city’s ancient fortifications, including the Fourvière hill, a SyMBOl OF ThE METrOpOliS... the historic center of lyon and a substantial portion of the For many years, lyon has been a place where architects can experiment presqu’île. The historic center of lyon is an exceptionally with their vision of the metropolis of the future. it has become the “ideal beautiful renaissance neighborhood, with its narrow streets, city”, with its sky-scrapers and slaughterhouses built by Tony garnier, the fountain at place Saint-Jean dating back to 1844, the and the rebuilt Opéra designed by Jean Nouvel, and an “international Saint-Jean Cathedral, which took three centuries to build, city”, with its red-brick constructions designed by renzo piano and the the Manécanterie (parish choir school), which is the oldest la Confluence district, the work of several well-known designers. as a building in the old city, and around a hundred renaissance- result, the lyon of today is an elegant mixture of unrivaled rich historical style homes. although the historic center of lyon has around heritage and the architectural design of the future, some examples of 200 traboule alleyways, only a portion of these remain open which have already become well-known symbols of the city.