Grand Genève


Grand Genève is a , a public entity under Swiss law, in charge of organizing cooperation within the cross-border metropolitan area of Geneva. The Grand Genève GLCT extends over Switzerland and France.
The Grand Genève GLCT covers a land area of and had a population of 1,046,168 in Jan. 2021, 58.3% of them living on Swiss territory, and 41.7% on French territory.

History

The city centre of Geneva is located only from the border of France. As a result, the urban area and the metropolitan area largely extend across the border on French territory. Due to the small size of the municipality of Geneva and extension of the urban area over an international border, official bodies of transnational cooperation were developed as early as the 1970s to manage the cross-border Greater Geneva area at a metropolitan level.
In 1973, a Franco-Swiss agreement created the Comité régional franco-genevois. In 1997 an 'Urban planning charter' of the CRFG defined for the first time a planning territory called agglomération franco-valdo-genevoise. 2001 saw the creation of a Comité stratégique de développement des transports publics régionaux, a committee which adopted in 2003 a 'Charter for Public Transports', first step in the development of a metropolitan, cross-border commuter rail network.
In 2004, a public transnational body called Projet d’agglomération franco-valdo-genevois was created to serve as the main body of metropolitan cooperation for the planning territory defined in 1997, with more local French councils taking part in this new public body than in the CRFG created in 1973. Finally in 2012 the Projet d’agglomération franco-valdo-genevois was renamed Grand Genève, and the following year it was transformed into a Local Grouping of Transnational Cooperation, a public entity under Swiss law, which now serves as the executive body of the Grand Genève.

Organisation

Membership

The Grand Genève GLCT comprises 8 members and 2 associate members.
8 members:
2 associate members:

Territory

The territory over which the Grand Genève GLCT exercises cross-border cooperation and metropolitan planning, formerly known as agglomération franco-valdo-genevoise, and now simply Grand Genève, is made up of the following areas:
Abbreviations:

Governance

The Grand Genève GLCT is governed by an assembly made up of 24 members, appointed by the local Swiss and French councils making up the Grand Genève, and an executive board made up of 8 members chosen among the 24 assembly members. The 8 members of the executive board each represent one of the 8 public entities which form the Grand Genève GLCT.
One member of the executive board, since 2018 Antonio Hodgers, representative of the Canton of Geneva, is the president of the board and of the Grand Genève GLCT, while the 7 other board members are all vice-president of the board and Grand Genève GLCT.
The assembly of the GLCT meets three times a year, and is co-chaired by the Canton of Geneva, the Canton of Vaud and the Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français. The executive board meets three to four times a year, and is in charge of overseeing the various initiatives of the GLCT and of preparing the assembly meetings.

Transportation

The territory of Grand Genève is served by various forms of public transport, including the Geneva Public Transport network within the Canton of Geneva, the Léman Express commuter rail system, and the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur [le lac Léman] boat network.
The Léman Express, a cross-border metropolitan rail network which links the suburbs of Geneva in France and in the canton of Vaud via tunnels under the city of Geneva, entered service in 2019 after more than 7 years of work and is a symbol of transnational urban cooperation in the Grand Genève territory.
The territory is served by Geneva Airport, which provides most domestic and international travel for the territory.