Al Ain العين
—  city  —
Al Ain
A view over Green Mubazarrah
Flag
Al Ain Location of Al Ain in the UAE
Coordinates: 24°12′27″N 55°44′41″E / 24.2075°N 55.74472°E / 24.2075; 55.74472Coordinates: 24°12′27″N 55°44′41″E / 24.2075°N 55.74472°E / 24.2075; 55.74472
Country	United Arab Emirates
Emirate	Abu Dhabi
Subdivisions	Towns and villages Al Jimi Al Qattara Al Muaiji Al Mutaredh Al Tuwayya Al Foah Al Masoudi Al Khrair Al old Sarooj
Government
• Type	Constitutional monarchy[citation needed]
• Sheikh	Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
• Crown Prince	Mohammed Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Population (2009)
• Total	374,000
Time zone	UAE Standard Time (UTC+4)

Al Ain (Arabic: العين‎, al-ʿayn, literally The Spring), also known as the Garden City due to its greenery, is the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the fourth largest city in the United Arab Emirates. With a population of 374,000^[1] (2009), it is located approximately 160 km east of the capital Abu Dhabi and about 120 km south of Dubai. Al Ain is the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the United Arab Emirates, and it has the country's highest number of Emirati nationals.

View of Alain from top of Jebel Hafeet

Al Ain is located in Abu Dhabi, inland on the border with Oman. The freeways connecting Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai form a geographic triangle in the center of the country, each city being roughly 130 kilometers from the other two.

History[link]

Historically known as Tawam or al Buraimi Oasis, Al Ain, which means "the water spring", became a distinct location following independence in 1971. Al Ain has been inhabited for over 4,000 years, with archaeological sites showing human settlement at Al Hili and Jabel Hafeet. These early cultures built "beehive" tombs for their dead and engaged in hunting and gathering in the area. The oasis provided water for early farms until the modern age. The forts currently in Al Ain were built in the late 19th or early 20th century to solidify Abu Dhabi's control over the oasis.

Wilfred Thesiger visited Al Ain in the late 1940s during his travels across the Empty Quarter. He met Sheikh Zayed and stayed with him at Al Muwaiji Fort. These network of fortresses served as the trading and slaving posts for the area.

In 1952, Saudi Arabia sent raiders to capture Al Ain's fortresses and incorporate the oasis into the Saudi kingdom. Forces from the Trucial Oman Scouts as well as the army of Oman arrived to recapture the oasis. With British intervention, the Saudi forces withdrew, leaving the oasis back in the hands of Abu Dhabi and Oman.

Prior to independence, Al Ain was part of the Arabian slave trade network that extended from east Africa into the Persian Gulf. In the 1960s, Sheikh Zayed abolished formal slavery. Today, many families in both Al Ain and Buraimi are descended from these slaves.

In 1971, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Hilton Hotel, still in use, during her tour of the Persian Gulf. Following independence in 1971, Al Ain experienced rapid growth and investment as part of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, quickly becoming larger and more successful than Oman's Buraimi. In 1972, Oman and Abu Dhabi agreed on the final borders to divide Buraimi and Al Ain. Until Sheikh Zayed's death in 2004, Al Ain's municipal code forbade construction of buildings over four stories, with the exceptions of the Hilton, Intercontinental, and Rotana hotels.

Until 2006, Buraimi and Al Ain shared an open border. This border was closed in November, 2006, and passport controls were imposed.

Geography[link]

Al Ain is located in the eastern region of Abu Dhabi Emirate just south of Dubai and east of Abu Dhabi. The Eastern region covers an area of approximately 13,100 km². Oman lies to the east, Dubai and Sharjah to the north, Abu Dhabi to the west and the Empty Quarter desert and Saudi Arabia to the south. The topography of Al Ain is unique and varies as you travel to the east. Jebel Hafeet (Hafeet mountain) is considered one of the monuments of Al Ain, lying just to the southeast and rising to 1,300 meters in elevation. Sand dunes of varying texture that are tinged red with iron oxide lie to the north and east of Al Ain.

Weather[link]

In Al Ain, the mean annual rainfall is 96 mm and the average relative humidity is 60% (United Arab Emirates University, 1993). Low humidity in Al Ain, particularly during the summers, makes it a popular destination for many people at that time of year. Boer (1997) classified the UAE climate as hyper-arid and divided it into four climatic regions: the coastal zone along the Persian Gulf, the mountain areas northeast of UAE, the gravel plains around Al Ain area, and the central and southern sand desert. More rainfall and lower temperatures occur in the northeast than in the southern and western regions. The monthly average rainfall around Al Ain was (100–120 mm) from the period 1970 to 1992.^{[citation needed]}

Present-day Al Ain[link]

Al Ain has a higher proportion of Emirati nationals than elsewhere in the country, but the majority of its residents are expatriates particularly from the Indian sub-continent. Many people are from Pakistan and some from Afghanistan.^{[citation needed]} There are fewer other expatriates than in the larger centers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Al Ain is often called the 'Garden City of The Gulf' given the many oases, parks, tree-lined avenues and decorative roundabouts within the city. Strict height controls on new buildings, to no more than four floors, emphasise the greenery of the city.

The city is known for its relatively empty roads; this is a growing concern, however, as the population is increasing and the roads have not been able to accommodate the excess traffic

Tourism and recreation[link]

Al Ain is developing as a tourist destination. the dry desert air makes it a welcome retreat from the coastal humidity of the larger cities. Many Emirati nationals in Abu Dhabi have holiday houses in the city making it a popular weekend destination for families from the capital city. Its attractions include the Al Ain National Museum, the Al Ain Palace Museum, several restored forts and the Hili Archaeological Park site, dating back to the Bronze Age. Jebel Hafeet, a 1340-metre-high mountain, dominates the surrounding area. It is popular to visit to the mineral springs at the base and to drive to the mountaintop at sunset. Other attractions include the Al Ain Oasis in the city centre, other oases dotted around the area — all cool retreats in the middle of the summer heat — Al Ain Zoo, an amusement park named "Hili Fun City", many well-maintained parks popular with families in the summer evenings, and a heritage village. Opened in 2012, Wadi Adventure is located near Jebel Hafeet and provides a range of water-based activities including surfing, kayaking and rafting.

Al Ain has three major malls — Al Ain Mall in the town center, Al-Jimi Mall in the Al-Jimi district, and Bawadi Mall located in the Al-Khrair District. Most commercial activity is centered in and around town center.

The city is home to the successful football club, Al Ain Club.

Another popular pastime for Emiratis and expatriates alike is spending time in coffee shops and Shisha cafes. There are many cafes in Al Ain, ranging in size and quality.

Al Ain also has an International standard Go-Kart circuit. Al Ain Raceway was selected to host the 2007 Rotax Max World Karting Finals, an event which saw 220 drivers from over 55 different countries compete for the Karting world title. Al Ain Raceway opened to the general public in May 2008 and proves a popular activity for local Emiratis and tourists alike. It was announced in late 2010 that the 2011 Rotax Max World Karting Finals will be held at Al Ain Raceway, this will bring nearly 1000 tourists to the small garden city.

Like the rest of the UAE, Al Ain has strict laws governing the consumption and distribution of alcohol. Four facilities in the city currently serve alcohol, three of which are hotels. The Al Ain Rotana, Hilton, and Intercontinental hotels all have pubs, bars, or night clubs. In addition to the hotels, the Al Ain Palms Sports Resort in Al-Maqam also serves alcohol.

Currently, there are only four locations that sell alcohol for private use — Spinneys near the Al-Jimi district, an outlet to the left of the Hilton hotel (next to the hotel's staff quarters), High Spirits Bottle Shop behind Lulu Hypermarket Sanaiya and the North Africa Market in Sanaiya.

The city has two English-speaking radio stations 100.1 Star FM, which plays English-speaking hits alternating with Arabic-speaking hits, and 105.2 Abu Dhabi Classic FM, which plays classical music.

Oasis[link]

The falaj irrigation system at Al Ain Oasis.

Al Ain Oasis.

Al Ain's oases are known for their underground irrigation system "falaj" (or qanāt from Arabic قناة‎) that brings water from boreholes to water farms and palm trees. Falaj irrigation is an ancient system dating back thousands of years and is used widely in Oman, UAE, China, Iran and other countries. Al Ain has seven oases; the largest is Al Ain Oasis, near to Old Sarooj, and the smallest is Al Jahili Oasis. The rest are Qattara, Al Mutaredh, Al Jimi, Al Muaiji, and Hili.

Commerce and industry[link]

Al Ain is an important services center for a wide area extending into Oman. There are three major shopping centers, Al Ain Mall, Al Jimi Mall and Al Bawadi Mall (opened in 2009 in the Al Khrair area) as well as traditional souks for fruit and vegetables and livestock. Industry is growing, but is still on a small scale, and includes the Coca Cola bottling plant and the Al Ain Portland Cement Works. The water in Al Ain is very good. Service industries such as car sales, mechanics and other artisans are located in the area known as Sanaiya and Pattan Market.Social and governmental infrastructure includes United Arab Emirates University, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi University (Al Ain campus), well-equipped medical facilities including the teaching hospital at Tawam, military training areas and Al Ain International Airport.

Education[link]

Al Ain is home to the main federal university in the UAE, United Arab Emirates University, and to two campuses of the Higher Colleges of Technology - Al Ain Men's College and Al Ain Women's College. There are also several private higher education institutions including the Al Ain University of Science and Technology and Abu Dhabi University (Al Ain campus). Many of Al Ain's private schools, catering mainly to the expatriate population, are located in the Al Manaseer area. These include the Al Ain English Speaking School, Al Dhafra Private School, Al Sanawbar School, Liwa International School, Al Madar International School, Global English School, Emirates Private School, a branch of the International School of Choueifat, and an Institute of Applied Technology campus. Other private schools include the CBSE affiliated school Indian School Al Ain. Al Ain is also the home of Horizon International flight academy where Etihad Airways Cadet pilots undergo training.

Health[link]

The first hospital in Al Ain was Oasis Hospital, established in 1960 at the invitation of Sheikh Zayed. Oasis serves all nationalities, and provides training for medical students from UAE University. Ground has been broken for a new hospital to be completed in 2011.^{[citation needed]} Oasis Hospital is part of CURE International.

Al Ain is the home of Tawam Hospital, a training and research hospital linked with the UAE University. It was officially inaugurated on 17 December 1979. In March 2006, Johns Hopkins Hospital (Johns Hopkins Medicine International) (JHMI) took over the management of Tawam hospital.

Al Ain Hospital (abbr: AAH, also known as Al Jimi Hospital) is the general hospital delivering health services to all Al-Ain patients regardless of their nationality. It is centrally located in the Al Jimi district and is linked with the UAE University. Al Ain Hospital still occupies old 1970s buildings, but a new building is planned. AAH currently has about 450 beds and provides services in all medical disciplines. In September 2007, the Medical University of Vienna International^[2] (MUVI) took over the management of AAH.

Sport, culture, and the arts[link]

Al Ain is a cultural retreat for residents of Dubai and Abu Dhabi cities. It is home to a major festival of classical music.

Al Ain City is the home of Al Ain Club, which is one of the most successful football clubs in the UAE and Asia.^{[citation needed]} It has many titles and championships to its name.^{[citation needed]}

Hili Fun City hosts two ice hockey teams, the Al Ain Vipers and Ghantoot. Each team has adult and youth teams starting from age 4. The Al Ain Vipers Men's Team won the Emirates Hockey League in the 2009-10 season.

The Palm Resort to the west of the town hosts a popular rugby club with adult and youth teams, and the Al Ain International Soccer Club which has three youth teams, including one for 7-9 year olds.

References[link]

See also[link]

• Qanat water management system

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Al Ain (Abu Dhabi)

• Al Ain Expat
• Al Ain Municipality
• Al Ain: Oasis in the Desert (Photographic essay from Al Ain Women's College)
• Al Ain Bank - rakbankdirect.ae

Ain
—  Department  —
Prefecture building of the Ain department, in Bourg-en-Bresse
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Ain in France
Coordinates: 46°5′N 5°20′E / 46.083°N 5.333°E / 46.083; 5.333Coordinates: 46°5′N 5°20′E / 46.083°N 5.333°E / 46.083; 5.333
Country	France
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Bourg-en-Bresse
Subprefectures	Belley Gex Nantua
Government
• President of the General Council	Rachel Mazuir (PS)
Area1
• Total	5,762 km2 (2,225 sq mi)
Population (2007)[1]
• Total	574,377
• Rank	42nd
• Density	100/km2 (260/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	01
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	43
Communes	419
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Ain (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃]; Arpitan: En) is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation. It has an excellent transport network (TGV, highways) and benefits from the proximity to the international airports of Lyon and Geneva.

Ain is composed of four geographically different areas (Bresse, Dombes, Bugey and Pays de Gex) which – each with its own characteristics – contribute to the diversity and the dynamic economic development of the department. In the Bresse agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk and cheese production as well as poultry farming. In the Dombes, pisciculture assumes greater importance as does viticulture in the Bugey. The high diversification of the department's industry is accompanied by a strong presence of the plastics sector in and around Oyonnax (so-called "Plastics Valley").

Due to its industrial character and a close-meshed tissue of small and medium enterprises, Ain ranks among the departments with the fastest growing economy in the country. Its unemployment rate lies far beneath the national and regional average. Besides the export-oriented SME's, several large enterprises with a leading position on national and international markets have settled in the department.

Although looking ahead, Ain attaches nevertheless great importance to its historical and cultural heritage as illustrate its gastronomy (restaurant of Georges Blanc in Vonnas), its annual poultry competitions in the Bresse ("the three glorious") and its tourism (346 classified monuments such as the famous church of Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse, 14 museums of France, eco-tourism and ski tourism).

History[link]

Artemare, village in the department

The first inhabitants settled in the territory of today's Ain about 15000 B.C. The menhir of Simandre-sur-Suran dates from this era.

In the year 58 B.C. Julius Caesar's military action against the Helvetians advancing towards Gaul on the territory of today's Ain marked the beginning of the Gallic Wars.

Under the Merovingians, Ain belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy. In the beginning of the 6th century A.D. the diocese of Belley is created. Important abbeys of the order of Saint Benedict are established in the valleys.

In 843 Ain was assigned to the kingdom of Lothar I by the Treaty of Verdun. The first big fiefdoms ("Seigneuries") emerge between 895 and 900 in Bâgé-la-Ville and Coligny. Numerous castles are erected. In the 12th century the romanic architecture prospers.

In the 11th century the Counts of Savoy and Valromey settled in the region of Belley. In 1272 they receive the Bresse and – by the Treaties of Paris in 1355 – the territories Dauphiné and Gex on the right bank of the Rhône. In the beginning of the 15th century almost the whole region of Ain is united under the banner of Savoy. New monasteries are founded in the cities, churches are constructed or reshaped according to the gothic style of architecture.

In the beginning of the 16th century – the Duchy of Savoy was at the peak of its power – Ain was a inherited by Margaret of Habsburg, the widow of Philibert II, Duke of Savoy. In Brou she erects a church and a monastery in late-gothic style. Bourg-en-Bresse becomes a bishop's see. After Margaret's death Francis I of France, a nephew of the Dukes of Savoy, claimed the Duchy for himself and conquers it in 1536. The future department of Ain is now French. However, following a Treaty concluded in 1559 Savoy, including the territory of Ain, was restored to the Duke of Savoy who immediately starts fortifying it. Shortly after, Henry IV conquered the region again, but the citadel of Bourg remains impregnable. The Treaty of Lyon of 17 January 1601 ends finally the conflict. Ain now belonged to Burgundy.

In the 17th century sculpture, painting and literature prosper. During the 18th century streets and small industries emerge. On 28 March 1762 the Count of Eu, son of the Duke of Maine, cedes the region Dombes to Louis XV.

In 1790, during the French Revolution, the departments of Ain and Léman are created. Ain is subdivided into 9 districts, 49 cantons and 501 communes. The Revolution does not claim many victims in the department, but it destroys numerous extraordinary valuable historical monuments. During the first French Consulate (1802) the districts are abolished. The Congress of Vienna dissolves the department of Léman and assigns the arrondissement Gex to the department of Ain.

During the French Revolution and the First Empire a large number of churches were destroyed, but in 1823 the diocese of Belley is refounded. The Curé of Ars becomes famous. During the Second Empire numerous churches are reconstructed, agriculture changes profoundly, and the railway expands.

Due to its distance from the frontline the department is spared the destruction of World War I (1914–1918). However, the majority of the vineyards can no longer be cultivated and disappear. Industrialization of the department starts in Oyonnax and Bellegarde. The barrage of Genissiat is constructed in 1936.

World War II (1939–1945) vehemently strikes the department of Ain and takes its toll: 600 people are deported, half of them do not return. The monument of the Maquis in Cerdon, the memorial of the children of Izieu and the museum of the resistance and deportation in Nantua commemorate this tragic era.

In the second half of the 20th century the industrialization of the department proceeds, favored by a narrow street and railway network.

Geography and transport networks[link]

Ain is a department of geographic contrasts: In the north the plain of Bresse is bordered by the river Saône and rises slightly towards the north-east. In the south-east the territory of the Dombes has more than a thousand ponds and lakes. In the east the mountain chain of the southern Jura overlooks the plain of Bresse. The busy transport axes to Italy and Switzerland crisscross the valleys. The Gex region is separated from the rest of the department by the last eastern mountain chain of the Jura where the highest elevation in the department, the Crêt de la Neige (1720 m), can be found. Gex belongs geographically to the Lake Geneva basin.

The river Saône represents the western border of the department. It is fed by three smaller rivers: the Reyssouze (76 km), the Veyle (68 km) and the Chalaronne (52 km). The river Rhône represents the departments border in the east and the south. Its main tributaries are the Seran (50 km) and notably the river Ain (190 km) which is fed itself by 118 small rivers and creeks.

Ain is situated at the crossroads of a large national and international flow of commodities and is therefore an important transit region. More than 4000 km of transport routes serve the department. In addition to a well-developed transport network of former national roads, which were transferred to the department in 2007, the Department of Ain is crisscrossed by 220 km of highway.

For national and international flights the international airports of Lyon (Saint-Exupéry) and Geneva (Cointrin) are located within a rather short distance. The department of Ain disposes moreover of two waterways, the rivers Saône and Rhone, on which building material is shipped (gravel etc.). The most important harbour is situated in Jassans-Riottier at the river Saône.

Last but not least the railway network is of great importance, in particular the TGV-connections Paris-Geneva (with a stop in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine) and Paris-Lyon (passing by the Saône valley). A new TGV-connection through the Haut Bugey is under construction. It will reduce the actual travel time between Paris and Geneva by another 20 minutes. The regional TER (train and bus) network is important mainly as concerns the connection to Lyon.

Demographics[link]

The department of Ain is marked by very dynamic demographics. The population has grown from 471,019 inhabitants in 1990 to 515,207 in 1999 and 565,000 in 2006 (estimates of the French statistics office INSEE). This increase is primarily due to a positive migration balance testifying the department's attractiveness.

The average population density is 97 inhabitants/km² (Rhône-Alpes: 136; France: 112). While the Saône valley, the Côtière, Bourg-en-Bresse und the Gex region have a high density of population, only 16 inhabitants/km² live in the mountainous canton Brénod.

Economy[link]

General data[link]

With an unemployment rate of only 5 % (compared to 7 % in the region Rhône-Alpes and 8 % in France), a close-meshed tissue of 11,500 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and a fast growing, export-oriented economy (main clients: Germany, Italy and Spain) the department of Ain is in economic terms one of the most dynamic regions of France.

Industry[link]

Despite its rural image the department of Ain is highly industrialised. In addition to a multitude of SME's several big enterprises of international reputation are situated in Ain (e.g. Roset-Cinna, Grosfillex, Volvo, Carrier, Smoby-Berchet, CIAT, Renault Trucks, Tréfileurope). With more than a third of all employees working in the industrial and public works sector Ain is holding the 6th rank of all departments as regards the degree of industrialisation and it is the most industrialised department within the region Rhône-Alpes. The small and medium enterprises contribute most to the industrial development of the department. While enterprises with more than 500 employees represent only 27 % of all industrial employment, the businesses with less than 100 employees count for 47%.

Half of the industry's employees (apart from the public works sector) are working in one of the three branches of the department:

The plastics industry, which is located mainly around the city of Oyonnax, is a highly productive branch of the economy and enjoys an excellent reputation. The "Plastics Valley" comprises 10 % of France's plastics industry which constitutes the highest concentration of plastics enterprises in Europe. The 349 enterprises which have settled here employ about 11,000 persons, more than a fourth of all employees of the tertiary sector (without public works). In the Oyonnax basin, three of four employments are directly or indirectly depending on the plastics industry.

The agricultural industry, mainly located in the Bresse, counts for more than 5,000 employees. It represents more than a fifth of the employees in the area of Bourg-en-Bresse who work in the meat industry and in tinned food factories. The pillars of the agro-industry are an efficient agriculture providing for a significant number of high quality products as well as the presence of several leading companies of this branch. The emblematic poultry industry in the Bresse employs only 350 persons.

In 1992 the City of Bourg-en-Bresse, the department of Ain and the local Chamber of Industry and Commerce founded the technology platform "Alimentec". Its tasks are, among others, applied research, technical support, technology transfer and the advanced technical education in the agro-industrial sector. The activities of Alimentec focus on three priorities: ventilation systems, plastics packing and applied hygiene.

The industrial tissue of the department of Ain is also a result of its metal processing (cables, wire drawing, electrical wires) and engineering industry (automobile industry, France's most important site for truck production) as shows the presence of several major companies in this sector (Tréfileurope, Alcatel Cables, Renault Trucks). Foundry, metal processing and electrical industry occupy approximately 8,200 employees. Due to the diversity of the activities of these industries and their dispersion over the whole department, polarisation effects similar to those in the plastics sector have not yet been observed.

Counting more than 12,900 employees, the public works sector represents a significant share of the department's economy. About a quarter of all industry employees are working in this sector. The future development of the building sector benefits from the department's economic and demographic growth.

Thanks to its vast forests (more than a third of the department's surface) the timber industry employed in September 2007 approximately 4,500 workers.

The nuclear industry represents another economic factor. The nuclear power plant in the Bugey produces about 4,2 % of French electricity, employs more than 1,350 workers and secures moreover numerous employments in the enterprises of the supply chain. Every day between 300 and 1,000 external employees are working in the power plant. Its importance for the local economy can not be underestimated.

Ain disposes finally of several industrial parks. Apart from the aforementioned Plastics Valley and numerous smaller business parks which have been founded by local initiatives the large industrial park of the plain of Ain has to be mentioned. With 700 ha this park will certainly become a centre for heavy industries in the region Rhône-Alpes.

Agriculture[link]

The diversified agriculture (cattle and poultry breeding, milk and milk products, cereals, vegetables and viticulture) generates products of national and international reputation. In particular have to be mentioned the Bresse poultries ("volaille de Bresse"), the mold cheese ("Bleu") of Gex, Grièges and the Bresse, carps and sturgeons of the Dombes region as well as the wine of the Bugey.

The total number of farms in the department amounts to 5,170, including 2,750 full-time farms. During the previous 25 years the number of farms has steadily diminished. While there were 14 600 farms in 1979, only 11,320 were counted in 1988 and 6,320 in 2000. The total farming surface of the department amounts to 268,361 ha, containing 150,917 ha arable farm land and 118,000 plant cultures (range land, viticulture, fruit meadows, tree nurseries). The value of the departments agricultural production reaches 545 million €. 52 % of this amount (274 million €) are allotted to animal products (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, carp, milk) and 44 % (240 million €) concern crop (cereals, oil plants, wine, vegetables, flowers).

Commerce[link]

The commercial sector comprises 5,861 enterprises including 717 wholesalers and distributors (12,2 %), 539 automobile dealers and garages as well as 1,643 retailers and repair businesses (28 %) (source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Ain, 2006).

With a total of 22,973 employees and 9,000 self-employed persons the commercial sector contributes significantly to the overall employment in the department (source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Ain, 2006).

More than three thirds of the expenses of the private households amounting to 4,4 billion € per year are feeding the commercial businesses inside the department which stand their ground vis-à-vis external competition.

Services[link]

The strongly expanding services sector represents 46,6 % of all enterprises and about 55 000 employees (source: Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Ain, 2006). Since 2003 the services branch employs more people than any other economic sector. Within the sector, services for enterprises represent 32,2 % of the employees. Consulting and IT-services are of growing importance. Educational services as well as health and social services are also sought after. They represent about a quarter of all employees in the services sector.

Handcraft[link]

More than 9,000 handcraft businesses in the department of Ain highlight the particular economic importance of this sector. The handcraft, which employs approximately 29,000 persons has always been an essential element of the local economy. Within the sector, the production is of particular importance, followed by the construction, the services and the alimentary sector.

Tourism[link]

Church and monastery of Brou

In economic terms tourism in the department of Ain means 300 million € of business volume and 10,000 direct jobs as well as another 10,000 indirect employments. In December 2006 2,9 % of the department's employment was related to the tourist sector (source: Committee for Tourism in the Department of Ain, 2006).

In 2006 700,000 tourists visited the sites of interest in the department (museums, castles, religious monuments, gardens and caves). During the winter 2006/2007 winter sports activity was strongly restrained by the lack of snow. The number of daily skiing tourists amounted to 238,000 (180,500 for alpine skiing and 57,000 for cross-country skiing). The previous average amounted to 465,000 daily tourists per winter.

The angling and cycling tourism (27 circuits with altogether more than 1,500 km) attracts numerous visitors each year. The tourist infrastructure is good and divers. The hotel and hospitality sector counts about 1,100 establishments (hotels, camping grounds, bed and breakfast (so-called "gîtes"), holiday apartments, guest rooms etc.). Their joined capacity amounts to 40,850 beds. During the season 2006 2.5 million nights have been passed in the department compared to 2.7 million in 2002 (source: Committee for Tourism in the Department of Ain, 2006). 15,000 hunters are registered in the departments, 3,000 to 4,000 of whom hunt in the Dombes, one of the best hunting regions for water birds in France.

Research and higher education[link]

Several colleges and research institutions which are situated in Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellignat have settled in the department of Ain. In the Centre for University Studies which, has been relocated from the University Jean Moulin Lyon III to Bourg-en-Bresse, 540 students pursue their studies in 6 different branches : 4 "DEUG" (diplôme d’études universitaires générales = 2 years of studies) in law, modern foreign languages (English-German; English-Spanish), economic and social administration and business administration as well as a "Licence" (= 3 years of studies) and a "Maîtrise" (= 4 years, corresponds to the masters degree) in law (the "Maîtrise" with a specialisation in commercial and trade law).

Altogether 700 students are attending courses at Alimentec, the research and technology centre for applied nutritional sciences located in Bourg-en-Bresse (faculties: biology, energy sciences, informatics and biotechnology), or are qualified by the commercial college of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Bourg-en-Bresse. Furthermore, a branch of the Lyon faculty of education is situated in Bourg-en-Bresse providing 450 places for future school teachers.

In Bellignat, in the heart of the Plastics Valley, a polytechnic university was founded in 1992 which is placed under the direct control of the Ministry of youth, education and research. The Ecole Supérieure de Plasturgie provides 140 places for future plastics engineers and disposes of a pluridisciplinary research laboratory which qualifies advanced students (notably PhD students).

Although it is headquartered just across the border in Geneva, Switzerland, most of CERN's Large Hadron Collider lies in parts of several communes in the Arrondissement of Gex in Ain.

Administration and Representatives[link]

Administrative organisation[link]

Prefecture (view from the parc)

The department of Ain consists of 4 arrondissements, 43 cantons and 419 communes.

The biggest cities are Bourg-en-Bresse (40.300 inhabitants), Oyonnax (23.200 inhabitants), Ambérieu-en-Bugey (12.600 inhabitants) and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (11.400 inhabitants) (estimates INSEE, 2006).

List of arrondissements, cantons and communes of the department of Ain[link]

• Arrondissements of the Ain department
• Cantons of the Ain department
• Communes of the Ain department

Corps of Prefects[link]

Mayors of the largest cities[link]

57 of the department's 419 mayors (13.6 %) are women as well as 1,894 of the 5,763 members of the department's municipal councils (32.8 %). 3 out of 17 cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants (Trévoux, Miribel and Saint-Genis-Pouilly) are governed by a mayor belonging to a left-wing party.

Conseil général (General Council)[link]

The President of the General Council is the Socialist Rachel Mazuir since the French cantonal elections, 2008, when the left-wing coalition seized control of the right-wing Ain.

Representatives in the National Assembly and the Senate[link]

According to its four constituencies, the département of Ain sends four representatives to the French National Assembly. All of them are members of the right-wing UMP. Apart from former departmental President Charles de La Verpillière (2nd), the others are Xavier Breton (1st), Étienne Blanc (3rd) and Michel Voisin (4th).

The Senators from the Ain are Jacques Berthou (DVG), Sylvie Goy-Chavent (UMP), Rachel Mazuir (PS).

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ain

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (French) Ain Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• (English) Tourism site

References[link]

Alain Clark
Alain Clark, Westerpop 2008
Background information
Birth name	Alain Clark
Born	(1979-06-04) June 4, 1979 (age 33)
Origin	Haarlem, Netherlands
Genres	Soul, pop
Occupations	Singer
Years active	2004–present
Labels	8BallMusic,
Website	www.alainclark.com

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alain Clark

Alain Clark (born 4 June 1979 in Haarlem, The Netherlands) is a Dutch musician and producer.

Biography[link]

Alain Clark is born in Haarlem, the Netherlands. He went to there to the Coornhert Lyceum and also lived in the USA for 3 years to work on his songwriting skills. His first album was released in 2004, written and produced by himself, in Dutch and contained the hitsong Heerlijk.

As a producer he worked with Ali B and many others. He produced the debute album of singer Boris. He won the Dutch Zilveren Harp in 2004.

In January 2007 Clark worked on his first album in English. Steve Gadd played all drums on Live It Out, an album that went Gold after within 3 months. Today the album is 3 times Platinum, which means 180.000 copies are sold. The album contains hitsingles like This Ain't Gonna Work, which went straight to the Top 3 and stayed in the Dutch charts for 12 weeks, and the famous duet with his father Dane Clark titled Father and Friend. Dane Clark was the singer of the band Dane and the Dukes of Soul. After these two hitsingles, Blow Me Away reached the Dutch Top 10 as well. In the end of 2007 Alain received a Mega Award. In 2008 he received a 3FM Award and in 2009 he won the high respected Edison Music Award.

After his succes in The Netherlands, Alain Clark released the album in the United Kingdom, and reached the charts inItaly and Switzerland.

In 2010 Clark released his album Colorblind. It went Gold on the first day. It contains the singles Love Is Everywhere, Good Days and a duet with Diane Birch titled Too Soon To End. The album was released in Italy, Switzerland, Brasil and Latvia.

After Live It Out and Colorblind, both very successful records full of melodic soul, 32-year old Alain returns on Generation Love Revival to the passion of his youth: the groove. Alain: ‘At fifteen I mainly listened to hiphop artists. Like them I was only interested in rhythm and minimal melody. Those were my roots, that’s the way I started making music. On Generation Love Revival I return to that groove-based way of composing. And of course: I use all the experience of the years in between.’

‘I am proud of the cast. Besides Pablo Penton and Pablo Minoli, Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave (drums), Pino Palladino (bass) and Cleo ‘Pookie’ Sample (keyboards) contributed to the record.’ They also played on the last records of soul star D’Angelo and Adele.

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alain Clark official Dutch web site
• Alain Clark official UK web site
• Alain Clark French web site
• Review of Alain Clark's UK Showcase
• Alain Clark interview
• New album review
• Interview on Central FM, Spain. Click to listen

Alain Soral
Born	(1958-10-02) October 2, 1958 (age 53) Aix-les-Bains, France
Occupation	Essayist, journalist, film maker
Nationality	France
Alma mater	École des hautes études en sciences sociales
Subjects	Capitalism, communitarianism, feminism

Alain Soral (born October 2, 1958) is a French essayist, and film maker, as well as being the author of several polemical essays. He is the brother of the actress Agnès Soral. Soral lives in the French Basque Country. Since June 2004, he has been a boxing coach. Alain Soral considers himself to be in the political "avant garde" of French society, claiming that his remarks and comments are always at first condemned and later widely accepted by the mainstream French public.^[1]

Life and career[link]

Soral was born in Aix-les-Bains, Savoie and grew up in the suburbs of Annemasse (department of Haute-Savoie), where he attended a local primary school. When Soral was about 12, his family moved to Meudon so that he could go to a reputable private Catholic high school, the Collège Stanislas de Paris.^[2] Soral spent two years doing small jobs before being accepted into the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts at 20, where he studied for two years. Soral was then taken in by a family of academics, who encouraged him to enrol at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he attended lectures given by Cornelius Castoriadis.

Following his studies, and working with Hector Obalk and Alexandre Pasche, Soral wrote a book on the sociology of trendiness: Les mouvements de mode expliqués aux parents, as well as a fictionalised autobiography: Le Jour et la nuit ou la vie d'un vaurien. The latter work sold badly, and this led Soral to turn away from writing for a time.

Soral then focussed on cinematic techniques, and after 2 promotional films, wrote and directed his first short film: Chouabadaballet, une dispute amoureuse entre deux essuie-glaces. After a stint as a reporter in Zimbabwe, Soral wrote and directed his second short film: Les Rameurs, misère affective et culture physique à Carrière-sur-Seine.

In the mean time, Soral had joined the French Communist Party. He became interested in the works of Karl Marx and other Marxist thinkers such as Georg Lukács, Henri Wallon, Lucien Goldmann and Michel Clouscard. He published Sociologie du Dragueur ("sociology of the womaniser"), his most successful^{[citation needed]} sociological essay to date.

Soral performed in Catherine Breillat's 1996 film Parfait Amour !, in the role of Philippe.

He then published another polemical essay: Vers la féminisation ? - Démontage d'un complot antidémocratique ("Towards feminisation? analysis of an antidemocratic plot"), and spent the following couple of years writing and directing his first full-length movie: Confession d'un dragueur ("Confessions of a womaniser"), which was a commercial and critical failure^{[citation needed]}. Disgusted by what he called "a lynching"^{[citation needed]}, Soral gave up cinema altogether and returned to writing. He published Jusqu'où va-t-on descendre? - Abécédaire de la bêtise ambiante ("Down to where are we descending? ABC of ambient stupidity"), followed by Socrate à Saint-Tropez (2003), and Misères du désir (2004).

Soral's penultimate book, CHUTe ! Éloge de la disgrâce (subtitled Roman (novel)), was published in France on 6 April 2006.

In the 2007 he became part of the central committee of Front National, trying to place social issues in the program of the party. He left the party in the 2009.

His latest essay Comprendre l'Empire^[3] will be published in France on February 10, 2011.

Views[link]

Besides the sociological marxist analysis of the modern-day society, Soral's books tend to focus on seven main themes^{[citation needed]}:

• criticism of communitarianism
• criticism of feminism, especially neo-feminist movements
• criticism of the media and the society of spectacle in general
• criticism of capitalism and USA imperialism
• criticism of the mainstream culture
• the Arab-Israeli conflict
• the dismembering of Yugoslavia, and possibly of France

Notably, Soral has written:

Soral's analysis of society focuses on what he terms "desire society",^[5] promoted by the media and the cult of celebrity^{[citation needed]}. He has especially criticised monthly women's publications, which he believes alter the conscience and relegate women to the status of "objects".^[6]

As part of the debate on 'laïcité' in French schools, Soral claimed to prefer the Muslim veil to thong underwear.^[7]

Soral defined himself as a Marxist, and was a member of the French Communist Party in the early 90's. He left the PCF because of his opposition to the party's renunciation of revolutionary content^{[citation needed]}. Soral supported left-wing dissident candidate Jean-Pierre Chevènement during the 2002 presidential election^{[citation needed]}.

In 2005, Soral turned to the far-right, joining the National Front's campaign committee; he was given responsibility for social issues and for the suburbs under the authority of Marine Le Pen. Soral's personal journey has led some to compare him with Jacques Doriot, one of the neo-socialists in the early 1930s and Collaborationist under Pétain.^[8] He supported the Bloc identitaire's distribution of food in January 2006.^[8]

Since 18 November 2007, Soral has been a member of the central committee of the National Front which he left in early 2009 because of some ideas he was in conflict with (especially the menace of Islam which is not an actual threat for him).

In 2007, he founded the group "Egalité et Réconciliation",^[9] a think tank led by the ideas he developed in his books and his several interviews (an innovative mix between social and economical ideas from Left, and Values like Nation or morality from Right).

Controversy[link]

Alain Soral and "gay communitarianism"[link]

Alain Soral has denounced communitarianism as a "poison".^[10] He has been especially critical of the rise of communitarianism in the gay community, a term that he has sharply criticised, arguing that many homosexuals have nothing to do with Gay Pride ideology^{[citation needed]}. For Soral, Gay Pride involves promotion of the "Gorgeous Guy" model, youth, parties, drag queens, etc., and obscures homosexuality as experienced by older or working-class homosexuals.

The association Act Up rounded on his publisher,^[11] Éditions Blanche. Act Up stated that through books like those of Alain Soral or Éric Rémès, Éditions Blanche spread negative feelings and even hatred towards homosexuals. Act Up asked the director of publication at Éditions Blanche to stop publishing books by Soral and Rémès, and vandalised Éditions Blanche's offices^{[citation needed]}. The head of Éditions Blanche claimed that members of Act Up physically assaulted his executive assistant, and threatened to press charges. Act Up denied those accusations.^[12] No legal action has so far been pursued.

Alain Soral and feminism[link]

In his book Vers la féminisation ? Démontage d'un complot antidémocratique, Alain Soral argues that women have always worked (in trade or agriculture, for example). To him, they would have invented feminism by tiring of their role as mothers. Soral distinguishes two types of feminism: that of the "flippées" ("freaked-out") such as Simone de Beauvoir, and that of the "pétasses" ("bitches") like Élisabeth Badinter. Soral claims that the most problematic inequality is not between men and women, but between rich and poor, and that feminists, who generally come from the upper classes of society, attempt to distract attention from this struggle.^[13]

Accusations of anti-Semitism[link]

In a report on the television programme Complément d'enquête (in its episode devoted to the controversial French humorist Dieudonné M'bala M'bala), broadcast on the French television channel France 2 on 20 September 2004, Alain Soral said:

These comments sparked much controversy and Soral estranged himself from his show-bizz friends like Thierry Ardisson, a French TV host and producer, though they knew each other for more than 25 years.^[15] Anti-Semitism is the subject of Soral's latest book: CHUTe ! Éloge de la disgrâce. Soral defended himself some days later on the website oumma.com, claiming that his words had been taken out of context.

Following this programme, on 29 September 2004, Soral and several others were the victims of an attack by about twenty people wielding baseball bats, while he was signing copies of his book Misères du désir in a book shop called Au Pays de Cocagne in Paris's IIIe arrondissement. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the police investigation has found no leads so far^{[citation needed]}. Soral himself believes the act to have been the work of an extremist Jewish group such as the Betar or the Jewish Defense League.^[16]

In a 2005 interview given to the magazine VSD, Soral announced his intellectual support for the equally controversial Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, with whom he worked on the Euro-Palestine list for the European elections of 2004, before his withdrawal led Dieudonné to do likewise. During the France 2 programme mentioned above, Dieudonné is visible in the background, listening to Soral.

Break-up of Yugoslavia and France[link]

Alain Soral believes that Yugoslavia was dismembered by the USA, which saw an opportunity to gain political ground and influence in South-Eastern Europe by arming Albanian separatist movements in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Soral believes that community-ism in France could have a similar effect, if the French Republic fails to apply its prestigious 1905 Law of Separation of Church and State, which is enshrined in the French constitution.^[17]

According to a recent TV interview (Direct 8 / 88 minutes), Alain Soral stated; "that today, no-one was surprised to see French presidents, prime ministers and other high French political figures meet elusively with the Jewish representing body every year in Paris, meetings that go against the laws of France and send mixed signal to the Republic".^[17]

Soral finished by stating that such a course could only push other minorities to form political religious movement in order to be heard.^[17] According to Soral, this would be a step likely to divide France into its various religious communities, which would then weaken the independence of the country.

Bibliography[link]

• Les Mouvements de mode expliqués aux parents, with Hector Obalk and Alexandre Pasche, Robert Laffont, 1984

reissued by France Loisirs and Le Livre de Poche

• Le Jour et la nuit ou la vie d'un vaurien, roman, Calmann-Lévy, 1991

reissued under the title La vie d'un vaurien, Éditions Blanche, 2001

• Sociologie du dragueur, Éditions Blanche, 1996
• Vers la féminisation ? Démontage d'un complot antidémocratique, Éditions Blanche, 1999
• Jusqu'où va-t-on descendre ? Abécédaire de la bêtise ambiante, Éditions Blanche, 2002

reissued under the title Abécédaire de la bêtise ambiante, Pocket, 2003

• Socrate à Saint-Tropez : Texticules, Éditions Blanche, 2003
• Misères du désir, Éditions Blanche, 2004
• CHUTe ! Éloge de la disgrâce, Éditions Blanche, 2006
• Comprendre l'Empire, Editions Blanche, 2011.
• Pour en finir avec l'antisémitisme Éditions Blanche, 2012

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

• 1996 : Parfait Amour ! de Catherine Breillat : Philippe.
• 2012 : L'antisémite de Dieudonné

Director[link]

• 1990 : Chouabadaballet, une dispute amoureuse entre deux essuie-glaces (5 minutes)
• 1993 : Les Rameurs, misère affective et culture physique à Carrière-sur-Seine (10 minutes)
• 2001 : Confession d'un dragueur, avec Saïd Taghmaoui et Thomas Dutronc

References[link]

External links[link]

• www.alainsoral.com - Site officiel - Official site (in French)
• Alain Soral at the Internet Movie Database

Alain de Botton
Born	(1969-12-20) 20 December 1969 (age 42) Zürich, Switzerland
Occupation	Writer, documentary maker
Nationality	Swiss
Period	1993–
Influences Seneca, Marcel Proust, Montaigne, Stendhal, Gustave Flaubert
www.alaindebotton.com

Alain de Botton, FRSL (born Zurich, 20 December 1969) is a Swiss writer, philosopher, television presenter and entrepreneur, resident in the United Kingdom.^[1] His books and television programmes discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. At 23, he published Essays In Love (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997), Status Anxiety (2004) and The Architecture Of Happiness (2006). In August 2008, he was a founding member of a new educational establishment in central London called The School of Life. In May 2009, he was a founding member of a new architectural organization called "Living Architecture".^[2][3] In October that year, de Botton was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture.^[4] In 2011, de Botton was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).^[5]

Early life and family[link]

Born in Zurich, de Botton comes from a Sephardic Jewish family, originating from a small Castilian town of Boton (now vanished) on the Iberian peninsula. His ancestors include Abraham de Boton.^[6] His paternal grandmother was Yolande Harmer.^[7] His father, Gilbert de Botton, was the co-founder of Global Asset Management. His wealth was estimated by one source to be £234 million in 1999.^[8] He has one sister Miel and they received a secular upbringing.^[9] De Botton spent the first twelve years of his life in Switzerland where he was brought up to speak French and German.

Education[link]

He was sent to the Dragon School, a boarding school in Oxford, where English became his primary language. Describing himself as a shy child, he boarded at Harrow School, before going up to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read History (1988–1991), graduating with a double starred first (MA), and subsequently completed a Master's degree (MPhil) in Philosophy at King's College, University of London (1991–1992).^[10] He began studying for a PhD in French philosophy at Harvard University,^[11] but gave up this research to write books for the general public.^[10]

Writing[link]

De Botton has written in a variety of formats to mixed response. Positive reviews of de Botton's books claim that he has made literature, philosophy and art more accessible to a wider audience.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

Ambivalence is apparent in the following example,

de Botton's idea of bringing philosophy to the masses and presenting it in an nonthreatening manner (and showing how it might be useful in anyone's life), is admirable; the way he has gone about it is less so. —The Independent^[12]

Negative reviews allege that de Botton tends to state the obvious from a position of privilege^[17][18] and have characterized some of his books as pompous and lacking focus.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Essays[link]

De Botton has written books of essays in which his own experiences and ideas are interwoven with those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. These have been called a "philosophy of everyday life."^[23][24]

Fiction[link]

In his first novel, Essays In Love (titled On Love in the U.S.), published in 1993, de Botton deals with the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book is unusual because it mixes elements of a novel with reflections and analyses normally found in non-fiction. In 2010, Essays in Love was adapted to film by director Julian Kemp for the romantic comedy My Last Five Girlfriends.

Non-fiction[link]

In 1997 he published his first non-fiction book, How Proust Can Change Your Life, based on the life and works of Marcel Proust.^[25] It is a mixture of a "self-help" envelope and analysis of one of the most revered books in the Western canon, In Search of Lost Time. It was a bestseller in the US and UK.^[26]

This was followed by The Consolations of Philosophy in 2000. The title of the book is a reference to Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, in which philosophy appears as an allegorical figure to Boethius to console him in the period leading up to his impending execution. Though sometimes described as works of popularization,^[10] Proust and Consolations were attempts to develop original ideas about friendship, art, envy, desire, and inadequacy, among other things, with the help of thoughts of other thinkers.^[3] In The Consolations of Philosophy, de Botton attempts to demonstrate how the teachings of philosophers such as Epicurus, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Seneca, and Socrates can be applied to modern everyday woes such as unpopularity, feelings of inadequacy, financial worries, broken hearts, and the general problem of suffering. The book has been both praised and criticized for its therapeutic approach to philosophy.

De Botton then returned to a more lyrical, personal style of writing. In The Art of Travel, he looked at themes in the psychology of travel: how we imagine places before we see them, how we remember beautiful things, what happens to us when we look at deserts, stay in hotels, and go to the countryside.

In Status Anxiety (2004), de Botton examines an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned directly: what others think of us; about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser.

In The Architecture of Happiness^[27] (2006), he discusses the nature of beauty in architecture and how it is related to the well-being and general contentment of the individual and society. He describes how architecture affects people every day, though people rarely pay particular attention to it. A good portion of the book discusses how human personality traits are reflected in architecture. He ends up defending Modernist architecture, and chastising the pseudo-vernacular architecture of housing, especially in the UK. "The best modern architecture," he argues, "doesn't hold a mirror up to nature, though it may borrow a pleasing shape or expressive line from nature's copybook. It gives voice to aspirations and suggests possibilities. The question isn't whether you'd actually like to live in a Le Corbusier home, but whether you'd like to be the kind of person who'd like to live in one."

In The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (2009),^[3] a survey of ten different jobs, including accountancy, rocket science and biscuit manufacture, which includes two hundred original images and aims to unlock the beauty, interest and occasional horror of the modern world of work.

In response to a question about whether he felt "pulled" to be a writer, de Botton responded:

So I think where people tend to end up results from a combination of encouragement, accident, and lucky break, etc. etc. Like many others, my career happened like it did because certain doors opened and certain doors closed. You know, at a certain point I thought it would be great to make film documentaries. Well, in fact, I found that to be incredibly hard and very expensive to do and I didn’t really have the courage to keep battling away at that. In another age, I might have been an academic in a university, if the university system had been different. So it’s all about trying to find the best fit between your talents and what the world can offer at that point in time.^[28]

In August 2009, de Botton replied to a competition advertised among British literary agents by BAA, the airport management company, for the post of "writer-in-residence" at Heathrow Airport. The post involved being seated at a desk in Terminal 5, and writing about the comings and goings of passengers over a week. De Botton was duly appointed to the position. The result was the book, A Week at the Airport, published by Profile Books in September 2009. The book features photographs by the documentary photographer Richard Baker, with whom de Botton also worked on The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.

In January 2012, de Botton published Religion for Atheists, a look at some of the more interesting and consoling benefits of religions for those who happen not to believe in them. As de Botton put it: 'Religions are in the end too complex, wise and fascinating to be abandoned simply to those who happen actually to believe in them'.

Newspapers, lecturing and television[link]

De Botton writes regular articles for several English newspapers, and from 1998 to 2000, wrote a regular column for The Independent on Sunday. He also travels extensively to lecture on his works. He owns and helps run his own production company, Seneca Productions, making television documentaries based on his works.^[29] De Botton has given lectures at TED conferences. In July 2011, he spoke in Edinburgh about "Atheism 2.0", an idea of atheism that also incorporates our human need for connection, ritual and transcendence.^[30] In July 2009, he also spoke in Oxford about the philosophy of failure and success, and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments.^[31]

Other projects[link]

[edit] The School of Life

De Botton's project from 2008 is The School of Life – a new cultural enterprise based in central London aiming to offer instruction on how to lead a fulfilled life. In an interview with metkere.com^[32] de Botton said:

The idea is to challenge traditional universities and reorganize knowledge, directing it towards life, and away from knowledge for its own sake. In a modest way, it’s an institution that is trying to give people what universities should I think always give them: a sense of direction and wisdom for their lives with the help of culture.^[33]

[edit] Living Architecture

In May 2009, de Botton was named as the chief inspiration for a new architecture project called "Living Architecture"^[34] – which proposes to build a series of innovative houses in the UK using leading contemporary architects. These include Peter Zumthor, MVRDV, JVA, NORD and Michael and Patti Hopkins. The houses will be rented out to the general public. De Botton's aim is to improve the appreciation of good contemporary architecture – and seems a practical continuation of his theoretical work on architecture in his book The Architecture of Happiness. In October 2009, de Botton was appointed an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture.^[4]

Personal life[link]

De Botton has described his relationship with his father as difficult, stating: "When I sold my first bestseller (and a million dollars was peanuts for my father) he was not impressed and rather wondered what I was going to do with myself."^[35] When his father died, his family was left a large trust fund,^[36] although de Botton says his income is derived solely from the proceeds of his book sales.^[37][38][39] His stepmother Janet de Botton is a prominent patron of the arts and competition bridge player.^[40] De Botton lives in London.^[41]

Publications[link]

• Essays In Love (1993), also published as On Love: A Novel (2006)
• The Romantic Movement (1994)
• Kiss and Tell (1995)
• How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997)
• The Consolations of Philosophy (2000)
• The Art of Travel (2002)
• Status Anxiety (2004)
• The Architecture of Happiness (2006)
• The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (2009)
• A Week at the Airport (2009)
• Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion (2012)

Filmography[link]

• My Last Five Girlfriends (based on Essays in Love)

TV series[link]

• Philosophy: A Guide To Happiness (from The Consolations of Philosophy)

1. Socrates on Self-Confidence
2. Epicurus on Happiness
3. Seneca on Anger
4. Montaigne on Self-Esteem
5. Schopenhauer on Love
6. Nietzsche on Hardship (featuring Cathal Grealish)

• Status Anxiety (film)
• The Art Of Travel Prix européen de l'essai Charles Veillon
• The Perfect Home (from The Architecture of Happiness)

Radio[link]

In 2011 he presented a series of talks for the BBC Radio 4 series A Point of View.

• What Humanities Should Teach: Arguing teachers of humanities in universities have only themselves to blame for cuts in funding.
• News and Concentration: Examining our inability to concentrate.
• The Ecological Sublime: A philosopher's take on ecological dilemmas.
• Are Museums Our New Churches?: Argues that museums could learn from churches with regard to getting their message across.
• In Praise of the Nanny State: Asks why the idea of a Nanny State is so unappealing.
• On Marriage: Muses on why a bookish life is a poor preparation for marriage.
• In Praise of the Zoo: Muses on the value of exotic animals in giving perspective on our own lives.
• The Art of Conversation: Questions why we put so much effort into social encounters but leave conversation to chance.
• What's in a Marriage?: Argues that expecting one person to be a good partner, lover and parent is, almost, asking the impossible.
• On Social Climbing: Argues that social climbing should be seen as evidence of a natural curiosity about the modern world.
• Modern Parenting: Takes a witty look at modern parenting.
• The Advantages of Pessimism: Why pessimism is the key to happiness.
• A Point of View: podcast

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2012)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alain de Botton

• Alain de Botton official site
• Alain de Botton official Twitter
• Living Architecture
• Open Library. Works by de Botton
• Compendium of reviews of The Consolations of Philosophy
• Archived web chat
• Interview with 3AM Magazine (2002)
• Alain de Botton interview: "The City as a Cure for Loneliness"
• Alain de Botton at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Colin Marshall
• Alain de Botton at TedGlobal filmed on July 2009: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success
• Audio: Alain de Botton in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The Forum