Grenoble | |
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Population | 155637 |
Grenoble ( grə-NOH-bəl, French: [ɡʁənɔbl] (listen); Francoprovençal: Grenoblo) is the prefecture and largest city of the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. A significant European scientific centre, the city advertises itself as the "Capital of the Alps", due to its size and its proximity to the mountains.
The population of the commune of Grenoble was 158,180 at the 2016 census, while the population of the Grenoble metropolitan area (French: aire urbaine de Grenoble or "agglomération grenobloise") was 687,985 which makes it the largest metropolis in the Alps, ahead of Innsbruck and Bolzano. The residents of the city are called "Grenoblois". The many suburb communes that make up the rest of the metropolitan area include three with populations exceeding 20,000: Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Échirolles, Fontaine and Voiron.Grenoble's history goes back over 2,000 years, to a time when it was a small Gallic village.
Joensuu | |
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Population | 74279 |
Joensuu (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjoensuː]; lit. "river's mouth"; Karelian: Jovensuu) is a city and municipality in North Karelia, Finland. It was founded in 1848. The population of Joensuu is 76,334 (July 31, 2020), and the economic region of Joensuu has a population of 115,000. The nearest major city, Kuopio in North Savonia, is located 136 kilometres (85 mi) to the west. As is typical of cities in Eastern Finland, Joensuu is monolingually Finnish.
Joensuu is a lively student city with a subsidiary of the University of Eastern Finland, which has over 15,000 enrolled students, and a further 4,000 students at the Karelia University of Applied Sciences.