Copenhagen vs Lille

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Copenhagen (Danish: København [kʰøpm̩ˈhɑwˀn] (listen)) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. As of 1 January 2020, the city had a population of 794,128 with 632,340 in Copenhagen Municipality, 104,305 at Frederiksberg Municipality, 42,989 at Tårnby Municipality, and 14,494 at Dragør Municipality. It forms the core of the wider metropolitan area of Copenhagen (population 1,330,993) and the Copenhagen metropolitan area (population 2,057,142). Copenhagen is located on the eastern shore of the island of Zealand; another section of the city can be found on Amager, and it's separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road. Originally a Viking fishing village established in the 10th century in the vicinity of what is now Gammel Strand, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century, it consolidated its position as a regional centre of power with its institutions, defences, and armed forces. During the Renaissance the city functioned as the de facto capital being the seat of government of the Kalmar Union, regulating the whole present day Nordic area in a personal union with Sweden and Norway ruled by the Danish monarch serving as the head of state. The city prospered as the cultural and economic centre of Scandinavia under the marriage for well over 120 years, beginning in the 15th century up until the beginning of the 16th century when the marriage was dissolved with Sweden leaving the union through a rebellion. After a plague outbreak and fire in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of redevelopment. This included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and heritage of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After further disasters in the early 19th century when Horatio Nelson attacked the Dano-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, rebuilding during the Danish Golden Age attracted a Neoclassical appearance to Copenhagen's architecture.

Afterwards, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the growth of businesses and housing along the five urban railroad routes stretching out from the city centre. Since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural growth, facilitated by investment in its infrastructure and institutions. The city is the cultural, political and economic centre of Denmark; it's one of the major financial centers of Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Copenhagen's economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and fresh technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become increasingly integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö, forming the Øresund Region. With a number of bridges connecting the various districts, the cityscape is overrun by parks, promenades, and waterfronts. Copenhagen's landmarks such as Tivoli Gardens, The Little Mermaid statue, the Amalienborg and Christiansborg palaces, Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Frederik's Church, and lots of museums, nightclubs and restaurants are important tourist attractions. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen Business School and the IT University of Copenhagen. The University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs. The yearly Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. The Copenhagen Metro, launched in 2002, serves central Copenhagen. Additionally, the Copenhagen S-train, the Lokaltog (private railway), and the Coast Line network serve and join central Copenhagen to outlying boroughs. Serving roughly two million passengers per month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the busiest airport in the Nordic countries.

Source: Wikipedia

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Lille ( LEEL; French: [lil] (listen); Dutch: Rijsel [ˈrɛisəl]; Picard: Lile; West Flemish: Rysel) is a city at the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord department, and the main city of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. As of 2017, Lille had a population of 232,787 within its administrative limits, and Lille is the first city of the Métropole Européenne de Lille with a population of 1,146,320, making it the fourth-largest urban area in France after Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. More broadly, it belongs to a vast conurbation formed with the Belgian cities of Mouscron, Kortrijk, Tournai and Menin, which gave birth in January 2008 to the Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, the first European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which has more than 2.1 million inhabitants. Nicknamed in France the "Capital of Flanders", Lille and its surroundings belong to the historical region of Romance Flanders, a former territory of the county of Flanders that is not part of the linguistic area of West Flanders. A garrison town (as evidenced by its Citadel), Lille has had an eventful history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Very often besieged during its history, it belonged successively to the Kingdom of France, the Burgundian State, the Holy Roman Empire of Germany and the Spanish Netherlands before being definitively attached to the France of Louis XIV following the War of Spanish Succession along with the entire territory making up the historic province of French Flanders. Lille was still under siege in 1792 during the Franco-Austrian War, in 1914 and 1940.

It was severely tested by the two world wars of the 20th century during which it was occupied and suffered destruction. A merchant city since its origins and a manufacturing city since the 16th century, the industrial revolution made it a great industrial capital, mainly around the textile and mechanical industries. Their decline, from the 1960s onwards, led to a long period of crisis and it was not until the 1990s that the conversion to the tertiary sector and the rehabilitation of the disaster-stricken districts gave the city a different face. Today, the historic center, Old Lille, is characterized by its 17th century red brick town houses, its paved pedestrian streets and its central Grand'Place. The belfry is one of the 23 belfries in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Somme regions that were classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2005. The construction of the new Euralille business district in 1988 (now the third largest in France) and the arrival of the TGV and then the Eurostar in 1994 put Lille at the heart of the major European capitals. The development of its international airport, annual events such as the Braderie de Lille in early september (attracting three million visitors), the development of a student and university center (with more than 110,000 students, the 3rd largest in France behind Paris and Lyon), its ranking as City of Art and History since in 2004 and the events of Lille 2004 (European Capital of Culture) and Lille 3000 are the main symbols of this revival. In 2020, the European metropolis of Lille will be "world capital of design".

Source: Wikipedia