Since 1 January 2001, the Urban Community of Nantes, now Nantes
Métropole, has been acting in the service of 590,000 inhabitants
of 24 municipalities in the Nantes urban area. Twenty-four
municipalities which, in creating Nantes Métropole, joined
forces for greater solidarity between their residents and for
development that would respect natural balances. What is an
urban community? It is a grouping of several municipalities to
form a whole consisting of more than 500,000 inhabitants. It is
the highest degree of cooperation between municipalities,
focusing on a shared goal of regional development. Nantes
Métropole is a Public Institution of Intermunicipal Cooperation
(EPCI) comprising 24 municipalities, representing a territory of
52,336 hectares and 590,000 inhabitants. The urban community is
governed by an assembly of 113 elected officials appointed by
the municipal councils of the 24 individual towns in the area.
The President of Nantes Métropole is Jean-Marc Ayrault, MP and
Mayor of Nantes. An institution