Draveil, Essonne Département, Île-de-France Region, France

🇫🇷 Draveil is a commune in the department of Essonne in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 19.1 km (11.9 mi) from the centre of Paris.

With a score of 7.16/10, Draveil ranks 49th among the 100 best French towns with a population of over 20,000 inhabitants. This result is a survey conducted permanently among the French population and takes into account the following factors: environment, security, medical facilities, cultural events, sports, shops and transport.

History Human presence in Draveil during the Neolithic period is suggested by the discovery of a menhir called the "Pierre à Mousseaux" dating from the fourth millennium BC and confirmed by the presence of tools and weapons in flint cut found in the Mainville quarter of Draveil. The Gauls named the place Dracvern meaning "the spirit of the Alder". The Romans called it Dravernum. In the Merovingian period a money minting facility was installed here, which minted one-third of a gold sol called "Draverno".

Geography Draveil is situated between the right bank of the Seine and the Forest of Sénart which gives the whole town a very green environment. In fact, the official motto of the town in Latin is "Inter undas et arbores", which can be translated into English as "between water and trees", a reference to its location between the Seine and the Forest of Sénart. Hardly a third of Draveil's area has been developed, thus offering a preserved environment to its inhabitants. Draveil also hosts a large green park called the "Base de loisirs du Port-aux-Cerises" that covers over 175 hectares including trees, lakes and activity areas including a horse-riding club, an amusement park for children, an open-air swimming-pool, football field, tennis courts, acrobranche rope park, a small marina with berthing space for about thirty boats, etc.

Draveil consists of the main town Draveil, the former villages Champrosay and Mainville, and several newer housing developments. Champrosay was home to several artists in the 19th and early 20th century, including painters Marie Laurencin and Eugène Delacroix and writer Alphonse Daudet.

Administration Draveil is part of the arrondissement of Évry, the canton of Draveil and the communauté d'agglomération Val d'Yerres Val de Seine.

Economy The municipality of Draveil, mostly residential, is integrated by INSEE into the Orly employment area, which in 2006 included thirty municipalities and 469,279 inhabitants, with the Draveillois representing 6.12% of the total. This employment pool is characterized by its relatively sustained activity with only 7.2% of the population unemployed and 211,488 people recorded in the employed working population. The municipal situation is relatively similar with an established unemployment rate of 8.8% and 12,508 employed employees out of the 13,636 active people in the municipality. Nevertheless, it had only 6,498 jobs on its territory, forcing 79.2% of the population to go to another municipality to carry out their activity. An activity area is located in Mainville and constitutes the only concentration of economic activities, elsewhere scattered throughout the territory. In 2000, six farms were still active in the municipality on an area of one hundred and fifty-one hectares devoted to large-scale cultivation and still employed eight people. Only one hotel had thirty-two rooms and no campground was located in the municipality despite the presence of the important regional leisure base. A market is held on Thursdays and Sundays in the city center.

The distribution of the population of Draveil is distinguished from the rest of the area by a higher presence of craftsmen and traders and especially of employees and significantly lower workers and managers. In 2007, 80.8% of the population held the public service or an indefinite contract under private law. In the same year, the average net taxable income of households was €28,043 and only 30.4% of households were not subject to income tax, constituted in 71% of wage income cases. In 2006, the median tax income per household was €21,653, which placed the municipality at 1,605th place among the 30,687 municipalities of more than fifty households in the country and at the 128 Nearly two-thirds of the population owned their housing, an individual pavilion in 52.6% of cases and 22.7% of the population were housed in a low-cost dwelling.

In 2010, the median tax income per household was €37,735, which placed Draveil in 3,959th place among the 31,525 municipalities of more than 39 households in metropolitan France.

Economy: Industry In 2016, the city houses a factory of the Nexans group.

Sport A wide range of sports facilities are available at the "Base de loisirs du Port-aux-Cerises" namely, canoëing, kayaking, sailing, football field, tennis courts, minigolf, skatepark and horse-riding.

A rowing club and a yachting club are based on the banks of the Seine. Two other swimming pools (Caneton and Mainville) that offer different activities like aquagym are also available.

In the Bergeries quarter of the town, the COSEC Ferdinand-Buisson offers facilities for handball, table-tennis, badminton, gymnastics and martial arts. Other sports complex around the town organise activities such as volleyball, tennis, athletics, basketball, boxing, roller-blading, etc.

Health A survey in 2010 found that there were thirty-eight doctors (general practitioners and specialists), fourteen dental surgeons, eleven pharmacists, etc.

Transport: Public Many buses ply between many areas in Draveil round-the-clock on a regular basis. Fares for the buses are included in the Navigo pass. Buses from Draveil also serve Juvisy, Orly Airport, Rungis International Market and other neighbouring towns. Draveil is not directly linked to the Paris Métro network. This is a result of a decision taken by the local authorities in order to keep land developers at bay and preserve the town's provincial charm. The Paris metro network can be reached from Juvisy station, which is across the Seine. Juvisy station has two RER lines to reach the centre of Paris within 15 minutes: RER line C and RER line D. This station is located in the neighboring commune of Juvisy-sur-Orge, 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town centre of Draveil.