Faubourg
"Faubourg" (French: [fo.buːʁ]) is an ancient French term historically equivalent to "fore-town" (now often termed suburb or banlieue). The earliest form is forsbourg, derived from Latin forīs, 'out of', and Vulgar Latin (originally Germanic) burgum, 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, this name was given to an agglomeration forming around a throughway leading outwards from a city gate, and usually took the name of the same thoroughfare within the city. As cities were often located atop hills (for defensive purposes), their outlying communities were frequently lower down. Many faubourgs were located outside the city walls, and "suburbs" were further away from this location (sub, "below"; urbs urbis, "city").
Faubourgs are sometimes considered the predecessor of European suburbs, into which they sometimes evolved in the 1950s and 1960s, while others underwent further urbanisation. Although early suburbs still conserved some characteristics related to faubourgs (such as the back alleys with doors, little break margins for houses), later suburbs underwent major changes in their construction, primarily in terms of residential density.
Beside many French cities, faubourgs can still be found outside Europe include the province of Quebec in Canada and the city of New Orleans in the United States. The cities of Quebec and Montreal contain examples, although Montreal has far greater divergences in terms of banlieue, which lead to similarities of many Ontarian and American suburbs.
Paris
Faubourgs were prominent around
In 1860, the border of the city was once more transferred a few kilometers outwards to where it still is. Haussmann's renovation of Paris erased many traces of ancient faubourgs and the term banlieue was then coined.[citation needed]
Many Parisian streets have retained their ancient denomination in spite of city growth; today it is still possible to discern pre-1701 delimitations in Paris by marking the point where a thoroughfare's name changes from rue to rue du faubourg. For instance, the
New Orleans
The term was also used in the early expansion of
Montreal
Furthermore, the term des faubourgs de Montréal ("the Montreal suburbs") is preserved in some place names in the
Québec City
The term faubourg is still alive in Quebec City, where it is mostly used to designate the Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood, often called Faubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste or even le faubourg by its inhabitants. The term also applies to the Saint-Roch and Saint-Sauveur areas, and the three neighbourhoods are comprised in the municipal district of les Faubourgs.[6]
See also
- Vorstadt, the German equivalent
References
- ^ "Les quartiers de Paris". Atlas Historique de Paris (in French). Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ISBN 1-56554-991-0
- ^ Ville de Montréal, Le Quartier latin et le Faubourg Saint-Laurent
- ^ "Association des résidants et des résidantes des Faubourgs de Montréal". Archived from the original on 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
- Quartier-Latinas of 2003.
- ^ "Ville de Québec" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-12-17.