Communauté urbaine
Name Seat Number of communes Population ( 2016 )
CU Alençon Alençon 31 58,699
CU Angers Loire Métropole Angers 29 302,001
CU Arras Arras 46 110,005
CU Grand Besançon Métropole Besançon 68 198,540
CU Caen la Mer Caen 47 271,472
CU Creusot Montceau Le Creusot 34 97,135
CU Dunkerque Dunkirk 17 201,332
CU Grand Paris Seine et Oise Aubergenville 73 415,647
CU Le Havre Seine Métropole Le Havre 54 273,568
CU Limoges Métropole Limoges 20 212,161
CU Le Mans Métropole Le Mans 19 210,627
CU Perpignan Méditerranée Métropole Perpignan 36 272,800
CU Grand Poitiers Poitiers 40 196,844
CU Grand Reims Reims 143 300,699
List of communautés urbaines
Communauté urbaine (French for urban community) is the second most integrated form of intercommunality in France, after the Metropolis (). A communauté urbaine is composed of a city (commune) and its independent suburbs (independent communes). The first communautés urbaines were created by the French Parliament on 31 December 1966. Originally there were only four, found in the metropolitan areas of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg. Later, others were created in other metropolitan areas. The purpose of the communautés urbaines was to achieve cooperation and joint administration between large cities and their independent suburbs. This step often followed failed attempts to merge the communes within a metropolitan area. The status of the communauté urbaine was modified by the Chevènement Law of 1999. Since the creation of the métropoles in 2011, several former communautés urbaines have become métropoles, for instance Nice, Strasbourg, Marseille, Nancy and Dijon. Unlike the case in either a communauté d'agglomération or communauté de communes, communes cannot leave a communauté urbaine freely. As of April 2018, there are 11 communautés urbaines in France (all in metropolitan France), with a combined population of 2.43 million inhabitants (as of 2015, in 2018 limits). All of the urban areas in France with more than half a million inhabitants are a communauté urbaine or a métropole.