Nantes

City Introduction

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, 50 km from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth-largest in France, with a population of nearly 300,000 in Nantes itself and an urban area of 600,000 inhabitants.  Nantes Métropole is the intercommunal structure replacing the ‘Urban Community’ (communauté urbaine) of Nantes founded in 2001 which gathers 24 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Nantes.

Nantes has been praised for its quality of life, and it received the European Green Capital Award in 2013. The European Commission noted the city’s efforts to reduce air pollution and CO² emissions, its high-quality and well-managed public transport system and its biodiversity, with 3,366 hectars (8,320 acres) of green spaces and several protected Natura 2000 areas.

Main Contact