Planoise

Planoise
Top: Planoise from Rosemont Hill. Centre: the tower of Planoise; Époisses sector; the Diversity statue. Bottom: View from the hill of Planoise.
Planoise
Location within Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region  Planoise
Coordinates: 47°13′17″N 5°58′05″E / 47.2214°N 5.9681°E / 47.2214; 5.9681Coordinates: 47°13′17″N 5°58′05″E / 47.2214°N 5.9681°E / 47.2214; 5.9681
Country	France
Region	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department	Doubs
Area1	2.5 km2 (1.0 sq mi)
Population (January 2006)2	21,000
• Density	8,400/km2 (22,000/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (GMT +1) (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	25056 /
Website	http://planoise-forever.skyrock.com/
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Planoise is an urban area in the western part of Besançon, France, built in the 1960s between the hill of Planoise and the district of Hauts-de-Chazal. It is the most populous district of Besançon, with 21,000 inhabitants (17% of the total inhabitants). Its inhabitants are called Planoisiens and Planoisiennes.

The area is constantly changing and developing. Despite difficult economic and social conditions, Planoise has become a commercial crossroads and a multicultural sector; the area is home to people from over 50 different cultural origins. It is a highly urbanized area (8,700 inhabitants per square kilometer) with few monuments or sites of interest, but the area contains notable buildings like the Departmental archives of Doubs and the Statue of Diversity.

The first traces of life in Planoise date back to 3000 BCE, during the Middle Paleolithic era. Objects were found in the Epoisses area during archaeological excavations, including a flint point dating to the Middle Paleolithic, three bracelets dating to the end of the Iron Age (500 BCE), and an oil lamp dating to Hellenistic Greece (between the first and fourth century BCE.) The objects are conserved in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie de Besançon (Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology.)

During the 13th century the territory of Planoise officially became part of the Imperial city of Besançon, according to Jean de Chalon (earl of Bourgogne). In the 15th century the clergy of Besançon bought the territory and the hill of Planoise. The name "Planoise" first appears officially in records in 1435. The name comes from the Latin word "planesium", which means "plain." At that time, the sector consisted of a large wood and had few inhabitants, mostly farmers.

Between the Middle Ages and the modern era, the area continued to be almost uninhabited. It was an agricultural area, farming mainly potatoes. The prince of Liechtenstein wanted to take the city of Besançon in 1815. He sent an army, which was stopped at Planoise. They abandoned their plans to take the city.