Créteil

Administrative centre of Val-de-Marne département, situated in the southeast suburbs of Paris, France; population (1990) 75,000. The district is largely residential, with a range of commercial, office, and light industrial functions. There are law courts and a university, as well as a major regional shopping centre.

The original village of Créteil was expanded with housing built between 1920–40, and again greatly enlarged during the 1970s and 1980s by the construction of high-rise apartment blocks. The town is located on the floodplain near the confluence of the rivers Marne and Seine, and former gravel pits have been converted to form lakes for recreation. Since 1974 an extension to the métro system has provided an efficient link to central Paris.