History
After much deliberation, the university administration agreed on a building site near the town of Ottignies, in the French-speaking part of the province of Brabant. They bought a 9 square kilometre plot of beetroot farmland, which became the site from which the new city would arise. Construction started on 20 January 1969.
The first inhabitants arrived in 1972. At this time, there were only around 600 permanent residents of the city, who were joined during the day by some students of Applied Sciences, the first faculty to open. With the completion of university buildings and the ongoing residential development, the city experienced rapid growth, with 10,477 inhabitants recorded in 1981. The final goal is to reach 30 000 inhabitants, in addition to the 15 000 thousand students living in town during the academic year.
The town was created with the sole purpose of hosting the Université de Louvain. As such all the grounds are property of the University.
Consequently, the University was able to play an important role in the conception and planning of the town. They decided that city should not be only inhabited by students, but rather draw a diverse community as is found in any classic city. Moreover, one of the main points of the urban design of Louvain-la-Neuve was to make it people rather than automobile centred. As a consequence, the city center is built on a gigantic concrete slab, with all motorized traffic travelling underground. This allows most of the ground level of the city center to be car free. Most buildings are built on the slab (la dalle), and the pedestrian area is expanding even far from the city centre.
The city is clustered around this center in four districts: Biéreau, Lauzelle, Hocaille and Bruyères. A fifth district, Baraque, that was not planned by the University has expanded on the north side of the city. It is distinct from the rest of the city in the willingness of its inhabitants to live outside of the common architectural framework (small cobblestoned and pedestrian streets) used in the other parts of the city.
Louvain-la-Neuve's location 30 km (19 mi) south of Brussels at the crosspoint of several important roads makes it easily reachable by car. Moreover, a train extension has been built from the nearby station of Ottignies, which allows passengers to travel to or from Brussels in under an hour.
Louvain-la-Neuve is now a thriving, growing city. Construction work is constant as many more of the characteristic small two to five floor buildings made of red bricks are erected.
Due to the large student population that leaves the city during week-ends and holidays, Louvain-la-Neuve can be quite empty during those periods. Nevertheless, the student life both day and night is well developed, centered around Student Unions, "project flats", regional pubs...
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